Joining a growing number of people who are selling their burial plots for some extra income, Elsie Poncher is auctioning her late husband’s crypt on eBay, hoping to use the proceeds to pay off the $1.6 million mortgage on her house in Beverly Hills. As NPR reports, Poncher has an advantage over most grave sellers: the crypt she’s selling is above Marilyn Monroe‘s. The original winning bid for $4.6 million fell through, but the runner-up bid will likely be in the multi-million neighborhood. [%comments]
Very Pricy Real Estate
TAGS: cemeteries, movies
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One could consider amazing the amount of money someone would dare to pay for a piece of property the size of a bathroom or maybe less. However, thinking as an economist it is arguable that a good location is a very influential determining factor when buying or selling property. If you were to buy a property in from of Central Park in New York it would undoubtedly cost significantly more than a property that does not have a park view right in from. This is a similar case.
Getting to the real point, in my opinion this property many would consider to not have such value as was given to it in the auction. I, for example, would not pay very much to have a grave above Marilyn Monroe. Who am I to judge anyway, this property may have such a value for some people but is it truly conscientious to spend millions of dollars to buy a small plot where you will rot away when the world is facing a catastrophic economic recession?
It is rather incredible what an economic recession is capable of doing. If we were to travel 50 years back in time, I am sure to say, that it would’ve been out of the question to sell your burial plots. I totally understand why this is being done, nevertheless, I believe that there comes a point when we shouldn’t allow the economy to intervene with our morals.
Even though, I necessarily don’t agree with this action, I still find it astonishing that in times like these there are individuals who are willing to pay millions of dollars for a burial next to Marilyn Monroe. For those who are willing to pay this amount of money (for the burial), I advice to invest that money on something which will bring you more income then a dead grave.
So much for people making rational choices!
4+ million for the privilege of your body to be eaten by the worms who descended from the worms who ate Marilyn Monroe… go figure.
We all have our unique sets of values, so who’s to say what’s “rational”? To some it may be worth a lot to be able to say “My body will be next to Monroe ‘s when I die.” Of course he loses that ability when he dies. He loses everything when he dies.