Would you rent/buy a house next to a Funeral Directors?

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

We own a rental property. 5 years ago when we last advertised for tenants, it went in a day (it's in a very handy location for a hospital, train station, bus routes, motorway access etc, and unusually for the area has off street parking and a garden).

But... It was next to a florist. Florist shut, and it's now a Funeral Directors.

Honestly .. would it put you off? It's just the shop bit, none of the 'working' bits of the funeral business (not sure how to phrase it exactly). The larger premises for that is around 100m away.

It wouldn't put me off as long as the parking couldn't easily be blocked. I would feel too sorry for mourners to ask them to love if I couldn't get my car out and people aren't always thinking straight if they are grieving!

The first house we owned was two doors down from a funeral directors. And we had the 'working' bit, private ambulances coming in and out.

The funeral directors only bothered me when their bloody alarm went off in the small hours of the morning. Although I did joke occasionally about being the first to go in the event of a zombie apocolypse!

Honestly, given another equal option that wasn't next to a funeral director, I would definitely go for the one that wasn't. Don't know if I'd go for it or keep looking if I wasn't in that position.

Might be illogical, but then ... people often are!

Yes it would put me off but I’m a wuss. If I’m ever spending the night alone I have to check all the wardrobes and under the beds because I’m scared of my own shadow too many horror films as a teen.

I once knew someone who lived next to a cemetery. They used to laugh and say the dead can’t hurt you..... I’ve not been able to watch any of the walking dead!

No. I'm not particularly superstitious but no, I wouldn't choose to live next to funeral directors, or cemeteries either.

Wouldn't have put me off in the least before, till a pp mentioned the zombie aocalypse...

Wouldn’t bother me

Wouldn't bother me, especially if it was just the 'shop' bit.

But people can be a bit weird about these things. You may have to knock a bit of the rental price per month to encourage people who might otherwise be a bit reluctant.

The only thing that might bother me is the coming and going of the private ambulance during the night as I'm a light sleeper.

Wouldn’t bother me. As you say, it would just be the office.

Wouldn’t mind a cemetery (if it had high walls and locked at night) - usually would be quiet neighbours

I grew up in a little terrace that looked out across a car park onto a funeral directors, and it never bothered me in the least. But I am not English. In all my years living in England, I've found there to be quite a strange embarrassed attitude to death as if it only happens to an unlucky minority, like some Embarrassing Bodies-type affliction and I imagine it would be quite likely to put off a significant number of potential tenants.

When we sold our house it went really quickly (twice after the first buyer fell through due to redundancy). There will be some who will be put off, but honestly, people will find anything and everything to quibble about buying a house if its not the one for them.

@HappyDinosaur parking was a nightmare, they had their own forecourt but for some reason people often didn't use it. One day I told a woman she had parked really badly. She had taken two spaces, her friend in the car had gotten out and suggested she parked it better. She saw me walking past and basically said 'oh I'm a women, people will understand we can't park!' which really got me annoyed, so I agreed with her friend that it was badly parked and she should move it. I wasn't rude, but I felt awful for saying anything at all when I saw them going into the funeral parlour .

Certainly wouldn't put me off, and I've lived next door to a cemetery too - quieter neighbours than some of the living.

Wouldn't care if it was a rental. If anything a positive as you know there won't be any issues with noise.
Buying would have to consider it a bit more because of concerns about trying to sell it in the future if lots of people find it off-putting.

Are you getting viewings (virtual or otherwise)? If not, I'd guess the problem is not the FD - it may just be lockdown-related.

If you are getting viewings but no takers, ask whoever does the viewings to mention that the FD is just an office. Personally the FD wouldn't bother, but I can imagine that some people would be put off by bodies next door, so it can't do any harm to reassure them.

Wouldn't bother me one little bit

We found a beautiful house, for various reasons we couldn't proceed and I always drive fondly by wondering what if. ..... That was until the funeral directors moved in 3 doors down and I am grateful if didn't go thru now. Parking looks shocking !

I'd see the positives - not likely to be a lot of noise coming from that place at any point. I'd much rather that than a smelly take away.

I started a similar thread on here a year ago. I’d say 20-30% of people were bothered. Apparently it knocks 10% off your house price living next door to one.

The shop next door to me got turned into a funeral directors. Personally I’m not bothered. It could have been worse, I was dreading it Becoming a takeaway with all the noise and parking. A funeral directors is the epitome of a quiet, considerate neighbour. There is less traffic and coming and going than when it was a shop. It’s not the sort of business with people coming and going all day.

Oh and my neighbours isn’t just the shop.....they have cold storage!

It's the call out aspect that would bother me, OP (having called them out outside working hours ourselves!) but you say that bit is further away and not actually next door? That would be OK.

I’m not wild about being near any commercial premises but actually a funeral director would be on the better end of the scale. Lived above a hairdresser once as a student - noise and smells were awful, never again. They did do me free trims though which was helpful as a skint undergrad!

As others say the only thing about an undertakers specifically that would put me off buying would be resale, so it’s a weirdly circular issue.

I used to live overlooking a church graveyard. Used to frighten the willies out of me when foxes started making that awful noise they do.

With my set up the yard is the other side of the building so I don’t hear cars coming and going in the night.

I used to live by a graveyard. And what's more, the house was such that the graves were right by the wall. Somebody once asked me, doesn't it bother you living next to graves like that? I told her - it's not the dead ones you have to worry about.