Church Owned Property

[iggy905]

I got an assignment to do an appraisal on a single family detached that is OWNED by a church. The zoning for this property is residential and not certain if the property is currently being used for service or as a residence. Since this type of request is first for me, I just want to get some feedback as to how to go about this assignment. Any comment would be appreciated. Just go easy on me. :new_newbie:

 

[Ted Martin]

The owners occupation should have no bearing on the appraisal, unless they have made substantive modifications that change the physical characteristics of the property which make it unsuitable for residential use.

 

[Michigan CG]

Do an interior inspection. if it looks like a house, is zoned for a house, can be used as a house, then it appears you have a house to appraise.

If it is being used for religious purposes I would state that it is used as a house of worship...do not use the word church.

 

[Amy Perkins]

I saw a sale of a house the other day, sold for the same price as if it were a regular house.

 

[DWiley]

You might find that if the property is chuch owned that is exempt from real estate taxes. I had such a property just last week.

I noted this in the report an included an estimate of real estate taxes if the property were owned by a non-exempt entity.

 

[iggy905]

Thank you all for ur quick responses. It seems like I was over thinking assignment. One of my concerns was the tax exemption. Thank you DWiley for answering that and if there were any other issues you ran into or things that I should be looking for, please advise.

 

[Lee Lansford]

I got an assignment to do an appraisal on a single family detached that is OWNED by a church. The zoning for this property is residential and not certain if the property is currently being used for service or as a residence. Since this type of request is first for me, I just want to get some feedback as to how to go about this assignment. Any comment would be appreciated. Just go easy on me. :new_newbie:

Intended Use?

Intended User?

Is there anything unusual about the Subject property other than who the current owner is?

 

[Walter Kirk]

Churches may own houses for their own use, parsonage, office, mission, etc or they may own houses which have been donated of willed to the church. These should be approached like any other property however a cost to cure for modifications may be necessary. Don't worry about the tax exemption since that will go away when the church sells the property to a non exempt entity.

 

[Flygirl 152]

I appraised a house that was located next to a church/temple, and was owned by the church/temple. There were multiple weird things about the house so I stopped by the planning department after the inspection, and boy was I glad I did!

The planning department told me all kinds of information about the property which very important for my client to know, including the zoning which allowed multiple uses of the property. They even told me about active violations on the property which needed to be corrected.

I highly recomend a call or visit to the planning department to find out if there is anything you need to be aware of that could affect the value, and disclose the results in your report. Your client will appreciate your due diligence.

Good luck.

 

[hglenbetts]

Churches may own houses for their own use, parsonage, office, mission, etc or they may own houses which have been donated of willed to the church. These should be approached like any other property however a cost to cure for modifications may be necessary. Don't worry about the tax exemption since that will go away when the church sells the property to a non exempt entity.

I would still state the tax status of that property. Keep in mind that just because it is owned by a tax exempt religious organization, doesn't mean that specific property has a tax exemption. If it was/is an investment property, it may be subject to local property taxes. Governments are fussy that way.

Also, in the case of my church( and many others) the "house of worship" structure and the Pastor's church owned residence, may occupy the same parcel of land. :new_angel::new_angel: