For funeral directors

A referral resource for the property questions families ask you.

Funeral directors serve families at a moment when property decisions surface but property expertise is nowhere in the funeral home's scope of service. Auction Ohio provides a discreet, no-pressure referral resource: a phone call the family can make, on their timeline, that gives them clarity about the house, farm, or land the loved one left behind. No pressure, no obligation, no cost — for the family or for the referring funeral home.

Discuss a referral relationship Call (614) 846-3302

The referral

The property conversation the family will eventually have — routed through someone who's not selling them anything.

88 Ohio counties covered by the Auction Ohio roster. A funeral director anywhere in Ohio — urban Cuyahoga, rural Adams, or anywhere between — can refer with confidence that a licensed auctioneer covers that ground.

Every funeral director eventually hears the question, in some form: "What do we do with the house?" It's rarely a question the family is ready to answer at the moment they ask it. Sometimes it surfaces during the arrangement conference. Sometimes it comes up two weeks later, in a follow-up call. Sometimes it doesn't come up at all — until months later, when the estate has stalled and the siblings are calling one another about maintenance bills.

Auction Ohio's role is to be a name and number the funeral director can hand the family — not a pitch, not a listing appointment, not a marketing funnel. A phone call. When the family is ready. Could be a week after the service. Could be six months.

If auction turns out not to be the right answer for the property, the auctioneer says so and refers the family elsewhere. The point of the resource is a clear-headed conversation with someone who has no obligation to close a sale on any particular timeline — not a sales appointment dressed as a service to the family.

Referral terms

What the referral looks like on paper — for the funeral home and the family.

Ohio counties served — a referral works from anywhere in the state

Fee to the referring funeral home — no revenue share, no kickback

1 day

Response to the family within one business day of first call

Opt-in

Referring director notified of family follow-through only with permission

Referral terms are held to the same standard whether a funeral home refers once a year or once a week. No volume tiers, no incentives — the resource is either useful to the families a director serves, or it isn't.

The mechanics

What a referral looks like, step by step.

The point of documenting the process this way is so a funeral director knows exactly what is being handed off — and what is not. The ask on the funeral home's side is minimal by design.

Step 1

The card is handed to the family.

The funeral director gives the family Auction Ohio's card or website link — during arrangements, in a family resource packet, or during a later check-in. That's the entire ask on the funeral home's side.

Step 2

The family calls when they're ready.

Could be a week. Could be six months. There is no outreach from Auction Ohio to the family — the family initiates. No timeline is imposed by the referral itself.

Step 3

An initial conversation, nothing more.

An auctioneer talks with the family by phone about the property and the situation. No visit is scheduled unless the family wants one. If auction isn't the right answer, the auctioneer says so.

Step 4

If the family engages, Auction Ohio handles it.

The funeral director is not involved further and receives no fee. This is a professional courtesy extended between two services the family needs at different moments — not a paid channel.

Multi-location

For funeral home groups and multi-location operators.

Framed as service, not revenue

Formal referral partnerships are treated as an enhancement to the funeral home's family-care team — not a channel. There is no revenue share to structure, no volume commitment to sign, no lead-quality dashboard to review.

Groups and multi-location operators sometimes want more than a business card in a folder. For those funeral homes, Auction Ohio can put a formal referral partnership in writing — one that gives the family-care staff at each location a consistent, reliable resource to hand out.

A formal partnership typically includes:

Co-branded family-resource cards or inserts sized for the funeral home's existing packets
A dedicated point of contact at Auction Ohio for the group's family-care team
Quarterly check-ins covering how the resource is being used and any adjustments the group wants
A written understanding on communication, confidentiality, and how the funeral home is (or is not) mentioned to the family

None of this involves a fee flowing to the funeral home. The purpose of formalizing the arrangement is consistency — so that a family served in one location gets the same resource as a family served in another, and so that the funeral home's brand is protected in whatever material the family receives.

Common questions

Questions funeral directors ask before referring the first family.

These are the questions that come up in the first conversation with a funeral home considering the referral. Anything not covered here is answered directly by phone at (614) 846-3302.

What does a referral cost the funeral home?

Nothing. There is no fee, no minimum, no volume commitment, and no annual renewal. A funeral home can hand out the card once a year or once a week — the terms are the same.

What does it cost the family?

Nothing, until the family signs an auction agreement — at which point a standard commission structure applies and is spelled out in writing before anything is committed. Initial conversations, property review, and the recommendation on whether auction is even the right answer are provided at no cost and with no obligation.

Does the funeral home receive a kickback or referral fee?

No. This is a professional courtesy, not a paid channel. Being seen accepting fees on family property referrals is a reputation risk that Auction Ohio will not put a funeral home in — regardless of what the funeral home might be open to. The absence of a fee arrangement is what makes the referral defensible if a family ever asks how it came to be recommended.

How does a funeral home know Auction Ohio treats the family well?

References from Ohio estate attorneys and probate counsel are available on request. Attorneys who work regularly with Auction Ohio on estate property see how the families are handled from the first call through closing, and are willing to speak to that record directly with any funeral director considering a referral.

What if the family isn't ready for auction — or the property isn't a fit?

The auctioneer tells the family so. Sometimes the answer is a traditional listing with a residential agent. Sometimes it's a private sale to a neighbor or family member. Sometimes it's holding the property for a year until the estate is settled. The initial conversation is diagnostic, not transactional — if auction isn't the right mechanism, the family is told, and referred elsewhere if a specific direction is warranted.

Can a funeral home co-brand a family-resource card?

Yes, for formal referral partnerships — usually with funeral home groups or multi-location operators. Co-branded materials are produced at Auction Ohio's expense and sized to fit the funeral home's existing family packets. The funeral home approves the layout and language before anything is printed.

What if the family lives out of state?

Auction Ohio handles remote sellers regularly. Adult children living in another state, executors serving from out of state, and heirs scattered across multiple households are common — most of the process, from initial conversation through closing coordination, works by phone and email. The property is here in Ohio; the family doesn't have to be.

Is there any way this comes back on the funeral home if it goes badly?

Formal referral relationships include a written understanding on communication and confidentiality — including how the funeral home is (or is not) referenced in materials the family receives, and how the funeral home is notified if the family later has a concern. For informal referrals — a business card handed to a family at arrangements — the funeral home's exposure is limited to having recommended a resource, the same standard that applies to any professional referral a funeral director makes.

For estate attorneys

The attorneys a funeral home already works with.

Auction Ohio has ongoing working relationships with Ohio probate attorneys — the ones who show up repeatedly on estate matters where real property is part of the file. If a funeral home works closely with a specific estate attorney or firm, an introduction can be arranged at the funeral director's request, at no cost to either side.

The point of the introduction is professional, not commercial: an attorney who has a reliable auctioneer to bring into an estate conversation can advise the family more completely, and the funeral home's referral network becomes tighter as a result. For a broader description of how Auction Ohio works with executors directly, see the executor-facing page at /for-executors/.

Related pages you can share

AFTER A LOSS

Written for the family directly

The page to share with a family that has just been named to administer an estate.

View resource →

FOR EXECUTORS

Written for the estate representative

For the executor or estate attorney managing the sale under court supervision.

View resource →

FARMLAND

When the estate includes land

How agricultural estates are handled by farmland specialists on the same platform.

View resource →

Give the families you serve a name they can call when they're ready.

Discussing a referral relationship takes one phone call — twenty minutes on the funeral home's schedule. There is nothing to sign at the first conversation, nothing to buy, and nothing the funeral home is asked to do differently for the families it already serves well.

Discuss a referral relationship Call (614) 846-3302