Real estate in the high-end parts of the L.A. area has always been known for its steep prices, however this prime piece of real estate isn’t necessarily a place that you’re going to be “living in.” Is your dying wish to spend the afterlife next to Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner? Now you can make this wish come true. All of this for the low price of 2 million dollars! That’s the asking price for a crypt located near the final resting place of these stars.
The Location
Oleg Alexandrov at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
When it comes to real estate, location is everything! In a very sad and eerie way when it comes to final resting places, there’s probably none as chic as Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles. The mausoleum is home to stars such as Natalie Wood, Dean Martin, Farrah Fawcett, and Truman Capote. We already mentioned Monroe and Hefner. Oddly enough, the presence of Monroe, even in death, drove the prices of the crypts up enormously. That’s why the family of composer Jerry Herman is putting his crypt up for sale!
Dealings With The Dead
Bert Parry, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
As we mentioned, the particular crypt that is up for sale belonged to the late composer Jerry Herman. The man behind such hits as “Hello, Dolly!” and “La Cage aux Folles,”. Don’t worry, though, he wouldn’t be moving out so that a new tenant can move into the crypt. Herman actually bought the spot in 1997. When he passed away in 2019 though, he was ultimately laid to rest in New Jersey. His goddaughter, who is serving as the real estate agent for the burial spot mentioned recently,
“He’s next to the two sexiest people that were ever alive.”
2 Million Dollars Isn’t The Largest Sale For A Crypt In The Spot
Certainly, 2 million dollars can seem like a very steep asking price for any mere mortal. Especially for such a small bit of real estate. 2 million is not necessarily all that close to the highest price that a crypt in that same area has gone for. That honor belongs to the crypt that currently houses businessman Richard Poncher he famously told his wife,
“‘If I croak, if you don’t put me upside down over Marilyn, I’ll haunt you the rest of my life,’”
Not wanting to take any chances of being haunted for the rest of her life, his wife bought a grave spot directly above Monroe for $4.6 million!
Scoping The Market
Is 2 million dollars a decent asking price, then? Honestly, we’ve been looking at the numbers, and it’s hard to get a good read on this market! For example, Hugh Hefner only had to pay around 75,000 to be able to obtain his grave site. There’s actually an empty spot to the left of Monroe and directly below the Poncher’s. That spot was first bought for about 300,000 but then flipped for double that money. In this economy, you have to a take hard look at all your assets to see what you can flip!