Old church converted to SFR

[VolcanoLvr]

Have you ever appraised a church building converted to a SFR? Or perhaps reviewed any reports of same?

Use ended as a church in 1960. Owner completely re-habbed the structure in early 2000’s.

Anything major I should consider when doing this assignment??

Searching for comps for a similar building will be difficult, as there is no MLS category for 'old church.'

Total living area includes the main level, plus finished basement, adding up to 4,500 s/f. Due to original use, it is larger than most other homes in the area.

The home still retains the bell tower and pointed arch windows. The building itself dates from 1889, when this community was originally settled.

 

[residentialguy]

I did one a long time ago. Good luck. :icon_lol:

It will take a lot of talking with other RE professionals in the area. Search every where within 50 miles and back 3 years for comps to help give you an idea of market reaction. The problem is that you can't search for a church conversion...other than people, that is.

A lot of subjectivity.

 

[Michael S]

There's an old church in Pullman, WA that was converted to apartments. I used to live near it in college. I never went inside but I heard the units were pretty nice. Here's an article about it: http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/index.php?id=180

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Searching for comps for a similar building will be difficult, as there is no MLS category for 'old church.'

Seen several in rural areas. Churches and one room School houses - I can think of at least 3 in Oklahoma, 1 in Arkansas. You would need to be familar with the area. One thing is that in rural areas there was typically a school house in each township. Many old school districts consolidated in the 40s - 60s and the buildings were sold off. One in the panhandle of OK on Hwy 3 was pretty large building, with a bus barn and a gymnasium. It sold and was made a house but burned down a few years later. I think the Gym still stands. If I recall correctly it sold for $5000 in say early-mid-80s.

 

[TxArmadillo]

I think we have an old monastery in my local city that has been converted to condos. We didn't do any work with it but it would have been interesting.

 

[Meandering]

We have a few here that have resold over the past few years. The quality of construction is typically better on a church here, than on a house, but being that old, maybe not.

Looks like a weekend of looking at MLS photos.

 

[mark hurlock]

Have you ever appraised a church building converted to a SFR? Or perhaps reviewed any reports of same?

Use ended as a church in 1960. Owner completely re-habbed the structure in early 2000’s.

Anything major I should consider when doing this assignment??

Searching for comps for a similar building will be difficult, as there is no MLS category for 'old church.'

Total living area includes the main level, plus finished basement, adding up to 4,500 s/f. Due to original use, it is larger than most other homes in the area.



The home still retains the bell tower and pointed arch windows. The building itself dates from 1889, when this community was originally settled.

Would you consider it particularly more or less unusual than a condominium conversion from a church, old industrial building, hotel or motel, school, etc?

If so, does it rise to the level of specialty market analysis?

And has the client indicated any specific assignment conditions when you told them what you discovered during the inspection?

I wouldn't offer you my advice without first seeing the subject and considering these questions.

 

[mark hurlock]

Have you ever appraised a church building converted to a SFR? Or perhaps reviewed any reports of same?

Use ended as a church in 1960. Owner completely re-habbed the structure in early 2000’s.

Anything major I should consider when doing this assignment??

Searching for comps for a similar building will be difficult, as there is no MLS category for 'old church.'

Total living area includes the main level, plus finished basement, adding up to 4,500 s/f. Due to original use, it is larger than most other homes in the area.

The home still retains the bell tower and pointed arch windows. The building itself dates from 1889, when this community was originally settled.

Just out of curiosity, I searched, “church converted to house” and found some pretty interesting and wide ranging homes with lots of photos and articles.

The ones I looked at appear to be more of a restoration of grand cathedral architecture rather than destroying the remains of a church for the purpose of another use.

Does not appear as unusual as one might think.

Is your subject of similar restoration, architecture, method of construction, etc?

This would definitely effect my opinion.

 

[VolcanoLvr]

I maintain a personal e-mail list of appraisers in my regional area. I sent them a message similiar to my OP, and received info back from an appraiser who actually has been to this property. (I have not, yet.)

Turns out the structure is mixed use commercial/residential/artist studio/performance hall. The appraiser provided me this web site link:

When you open the web site, click on the ‘studio’ tab and you’ll see photos of the building history and rebuild.

[url]http://www.bendything.com/PastEvents.htm[/URL]

The issue for the assignment is the ‘potential’ commercial use of the property for music performances as the web site shows (but I’m not sure are still being done), possible space for an artist studio, and use of some part of the building as a residence. Appraiser actually had a prior assignment for this property, and did not complete it as a residential appraisal.

>>to answer Mark....no, the client is actually in the dark about the property. This often happens with specialty properties when the owner doesn't reveal everything when discussing a loan.

Fortunately I don't have the inspection scheduled until the 20th. That's one reason why I put out my message asking for advice. But now that I know more about the property from someone who's actually been there, I'll let the client know what this critter is, and let them decide what to do about an assignment.

 

[Vermonter]

Seen several in rural areas. Churches and one room School houses

Did a school house to SFR conversion appraisal in 09. Believe it or not, had 2 school house to SFR comps and a library to SFR comp in the same county within a year.

Have seen one church to residential conversion listing, but it never sold (think the wrap around graveyard could've had something to do with it). Church to commercial conversions are quite common.