INVESTING FOR ETERNITY NOT UNLIKE REAL ESTATE, THE COSTS OF CEMETERY PLOTS AND FUNERALS CAN SKYROCKET. PREPLANNING CAN EASE THE BURDEN ON SURVIVORS.

Byline: Barbara Correa Staff Writer

Rising real estate prices don't apply exclusively to the brick-and-mortar house you live in. They also impact prices for property of a more eternal nature: cemetery plots.

Funeral directors say Southern Californians who pre-purchase a plot or cremation niche - frequently the priciest item in a funeral package - can lock in prices that will almost certainly rise in the future.

``It's like California real estate - it makes sense to buy it now because it's only going to become more expensive,'' said John Warren, senior vice president of marketing at Forest Lawn Memorial Parks & Mortuaries, which owns cemeteries in five locations in Southern California.

A niche in a columbarium - an above-ground receptacle for cremation remains - that cost $400 for a World War II veteran in 1946 at Forest Lawn's Glendale cemetery is now valued at $7,000, said Jack Springer, executive director of the Cremation Association of North America.

Springer's grandparents purchased the niche. Forest Lawn let him use the difference in its appreciated value as a credit toward buying another one in the same building, which is decorated with Michaelangelo-style statues and a reproduction of ``The Last Supper'' for his father's ashes.

``But it's all sold out,'' said Springer.

As in residential real estate, the price of space in a cemetery varies according to desirability of location. Cemetery plots at the Hollywood Hills and Glendale Forest Lawn sites start at $1,500, while plots in the Long Beach, Cypress and Covina locations start at $1,100.

Amenities also play a major role in prices. Private estate lots or mausoleums with bucolic vistas of gardens and perfectly manicured lawns can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars at Rose Hills, the sprawling Whittier cemetery, one of the world's largest.

Basic cemetery plots there start at $1,700, said Gregg Williamson, an executive vice president at Rose Hills.

And while memorial parks say a majority of clients do buy plots or niches ahead of time, pre-paying - known in the industry as a ``pre-need contract'' - is controversial in an industry that has seen its share of fraud and predatory sales practices over the years.

Preplan vs. prepay

``It does make sense to pre-plan, but prepaying is not necessary,'' said Bridget Small, director of consumer protection at seniors advocate AARP.

``The problem is portability. If you sink your money into one location ... if people want to move or have a divorce or remarriage or relocation, they're going to have an enormous difficulty in selling that cemetery plot. It's a piece of property with a limited market.''

As for cemeteries claiming that prepaying locks in the price for an appreciating asset, Small said, ``They're saying that because they're in the business of selling cemetery plots.''

As with any type of contract, it's up to the individual to read the fine print before signing.

``What we find with pre-need is people do that, then they say, everything is taken care of, don't worry,'' said Kevin Flanagan, a spokesman for the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau of the California Department of Consumer Affairs.

``Then the day of the funeral hits and not everything is taken care of. People say, 'Grandma told us she was going to get this,' but then it's not in the contract.''

The bureau's consumer guide (www.dca.ca.gov/cemetery) advises making sure any contract with a specific cemetery or funeral home includes a cancellation clause (some establishments also offer relocation clauses to cover burials occurring out of state).

In California, pre-need funds are required to be held in a trust, which should be viewed like any other investment. Other prepayment options include a pay-on-death bank account, life insurance policies that cover funeral expenses, or special funeral insurance, purchased through a funeral establishment.

Plenty of people don't have money floating around to sink into a future funeral. But anyone can invest some time in pre-planning for an event that averages $3,500 (that doesn't include the cemetery plot) in California.

And there are ways to save money.

For a small fee, groups such as the Los Angeles Funeral Society offer discounted services with member mortuaries and crematories and will work with clients to secure the most reasonable arrangements consistent with the religious or other preferences of the deceased.

Cremation is always cheaper than interment, because it doesn't necessarily require buying cemetery property and doesn't require as much work.

Cremation - which averages $1,200 for the basic process - is on the rise nationwide, and the top reason for choosing it is that it's less expensive, according to a 1999 survey conducted by market research firm Wirthlin Worldwide.

California's cremation rate is almost twice the U.S. average, in part because of looser ties with tradition and a larger population of out-of-state residents who live hundreds of miles from family. Cremation is simpler to arrange from a distance.

Shop around

For those who lean toward the traditional, one way to save money on a funeral is to shop around and buy the casket - sometimes the largest expense - at a retailer instead of a funeral home.

Selling caskets retail was illegal in California until the Federal Trade Commission opened the industry in the 1980s, said Albert Barnes, owner of Casket Warehouse in Riverside. In the 1990s, however, casket sellers began popping up in areas with a concentration of funeral homes.

``We average about 50 (percent) to 60 percent of what (the casket) would cost at a funeral home because we don't have the overhead,'' said Barnes, who opened his store and one in Victorville after suffering sticker shock looking at caskets for a family funeral at Rose Hills.

Caskets at his stores range from $250 to $395 for a cloth-covered pine or particle board casket to a $12,000 bronze casket. Sales average $1,100 to $1,200.

Barnes offers another money-saving tip: Consumers should beware of paying extra for a casket promoted as airtight or sealed.

``The caskets do not completely resist the entrance of grave-site elements ... (They) accelerate decomposition and can rupture from the build-up of gases,'' according to a California class-action lawsuit against SCI California Funeral Services and casket manufacturer Batesville.

Casket sellers are required to post a disclaimer on all sealable caskets that says there's no such thing as an indestructible casket, but some consumers still do pay extra for them.

But at the same time, consumers are savvier about comparison shopping - even for a funeral - than they ever have been. The National Funeral Directors Association attributes a growing comfort level with death and funerals to the success of the television series ``Six Feet Under'' and to the aging of the baby boomers, who have their own ideas about how things should be done, including funerals.

The industry has had to respond with greater transparency.

``I was amazed when I got into this business that it was the last closed monopoly until the FTC intervened,'' said Barnes, who also serves as president of the California Casket Retailers Association. ``The funeral industry is changing and it's becoming more consumer-oriented. It's had to.''

For proper funeral, compare costs

The cost of a funeral depends on so many variables that it's difficult to generalize. But the average cost in 2001 was about $5,180, according to a National Funeral Directors Association survey of price lists, which every funeral home is required to provide to prospective clients.

The three largest expenses in most funerals are professional services, which include undertaking, staff and fees for things like digging a grave, the space in a cemetery - either in a mausoleum, plot or cremation niche - and the casket, in the case of a burial.

Basic service, not including caskets or real estate, can be purchased for $500 to $600 for cremation and under $2,000 for burial.

Deluxe funeral packages, including organists, flowers, limousines, a casket coach and a tape recording of the ceremony, can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

The rules of thumb for a funeral are to comparison shop, ask to see a price list and review it carefully. Most funeral establishments tack on extra charges for Saturday service and transporting a casket from another location.

- Barbara Correa

Barbara Correa, [phone]

barbara.correa(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Forest Lawn's Glendale cemetery has open plots. Sites with a view or a hillside lot often cost more.

(2) John Warren, Forest Lawn's vice president of marketing, stands among plots in the Glendale cemetery.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(3) Gregg Williamson of The Rose Hills Co. overlooks a portion of the single largest property in the world open for burials.

Keith Durflinger/Staff Photographer

(4 -- color) no caption (Flowers)

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) For proper funeral, compare costs (see text)

(2) TRENDS AFFECTING CREMATION

(3) PERCENT OF DEATHS CREMATED

SOURCE: Cremation Association of North America

Daily News