Are Churches Commercial Influences?

[mark hurlock]

I prefer to use the nondenominational term "place of worship" in my reports if I have to mention it.

Secondly, I lived across the street from an Episcopalian church for 13 years and it definitely had a negative impact. There were almost constant weeknight events (choir practice, various other organizations using the space, etc.) and so the street was jammed with cars coming and going and sucking up all the available parking. Then there were the Saturday weddings and of course the Sunday services. Occasionally the security alarm would go off in the middle of the night and it would blare for an hour while someone had to be woken up to come shut it off. It was a hub of activity and I'll never make that mistake again when choosing a place to live.

A little trivia - according to the principles of Feng Shui, living in close proximity to any place of high emotion, whether good or bad, is negative. The recommendation for those living across the street from churches is to paint your front door red to deflect the bad juju.

.

El,

Thanks for the comments. When you sold your house, was there quantifiable external depreciation that you could actually prove from proximity to the church or are you just saying that you were personally inconvenienced while living there.

 

[eld2310]

Mark, in my particular case the neighborhood was semi-urban, just outside the downtown core. The surrounding streets were a mixture of 2-4 family residential, some single family (like mine), several churches and schools, and a few small retail and service establishments. Great for walking to shops or restaurants, but not the most peaceful place to live. I think in my case the church proximity would not be singled out as an adverse influence because of the overall mixed use of the neighborhood. I assume when it was appraised that the comps were chosen from similar areas. This was before I was an appraiser so I never really thought about it.

.

 

[OSU Beavers]

It is not so much the building (Church, School, Fraternal Club) but the traffic and activities that are the negative factors.

 

[sputnam]

Like everything else, it's going to depend on the particulars of the market. Here, mostly there's little or no negative impact, since most of the churches traffic is for a few hours Sunday mornings. The rest of the week, most churches are fairly quiet neighbors.

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

Personally, I'd appreciate having a large adjacent parcel that's probably populated 1 or 2 days a week . . .

 

[Artemis Fowl]

Why has this gone past "This has nothing to do with Cert 17."?

Clearly identify it by its name. Do you refer to your comps as "the adjacent residential site" or "12345 Next Door Rd"? Investigate to determine if influence is positive or negative. You might have to actually talk to someone. Report it as if you know what the hell you're talking about because you researched it. Collect fee. Repeat.

 

[mark hurlock]

Why has this gone past "This has nothing to do with Cert 17."?

Clearly identify it by its name. Do you refer to your comps as "the adjacent residential site" or "12345 Next Door Rd"? Investigate to determine if influence is positive or negative. You might have to actually talk to someone. Report it as if you know what the hell you're talking about because you researched it. Collect fee. Repeat.

Art,

I appreciate your opinion and thank you for responding. However, how does the identification of an address compare to informing the client of a particular occupant's religious faith when identifying a church by name?

Why would I want to use my appraisal to communicate the particular faith of any religious establishment for any reason?

I can not think of any reason for doing it but I am open to learn new things.

I know why I want to identify a property by address.

 

[Artemis Fowl]

Most important reason...because it's a fact. I believe this was already stated.

According to your logic...the sign on every church should read "Church" so as not to offend anybody driving by. A vacationing family stops you on the street to ask directions to "Church" but they cannot say which demonination. Where do you send them? You are afraid to ask for fear of offending them.
The phone book has 14 pages of listings for "Church" all with different number and address...which one do you call? Is the ridiculousness sinking in?

"The Every Day Church of Branding Llamas In the Parking Lot During the Holy Loudest Motorcyle Engine Contest" is going to be relevant to your analyses of influence.

 

[mark hurlock]

Most important reason...because it's a fact. I believe this was already stated.

According to your logic...the sign on every church should read "Church" so as not to offend anybody driving by. A vacationing family stops you on the street to ask directions to "Church" but they cannot say which demonination. Where do you send them? You are afraid to ask for fear of offending them.
The phone book has 14 pages of listings for "Church" all with different number and address...which one do you call? Is the ridiculousness sinking in?

"The Every Day Church of Branding Llamas In the Parking Lot During the Holy Loudest Motorcyle Engine Contest" is going to be relevant to your analyses of influence.

Art,

with all do respect, there are many things which are fact but have no place in an appraisal report. Do I really need to point that out?

Secondly, I never said anything of offending passers by. Why would you deliberately make up such a false statement?

And last, I do not need to identify a particular religion in order to disclose an adverse effect from a neighboring property.

Would you care to give this another try?

 

[Artemis Fowl]

Nope



1234567