Hi! I am currently semi casually looking for a house to buy that is closer to my work. As the gas prices are currently, I am spending around $250 a month for my daily commute. My rent is currently $720, but will be increasing to 780. If I move closer to work, I could cut my commute cost down to almost nothing if I walk. Currently, I have about $70,000 for a down payment which doesn't include my emergency fund or my retirement, and I made about $50,000 a year. So, ideally I want to keep it under $200,000 if possible. Around my area of work though, the average price for something decent is around $250,000. Now, the church conversion.
I spotted a new listing for an old church that had been partially converted in the basement to offices. It is kind of insanely big, 3000 square feet, which is more than I need, but it is listed as $180,000. Then walking around and looking at the listing, I can tell that the roof needs to be reshingled and obviously a shower and bathtub would be necessary to add to the bathrooms. There's already a kitchen. All of that is mostly in the basement area. Apparently, there was a weird conversion done earlier as the main floor above is separated into one large room and a full size or nearly full size basketball court indoors. So, at least I would get hardwood floors out of it? The area could be partitioned off into various rooms. So, what really would the feasibility of this place be? Also I would have to get it changed from business / commercial to residential.
Feasibility of church to residential conversion?
byu/Sorceress683 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Sorceress683
10 Comments
I mean, you’re not gonna convert it to any livable standard for $20k. So no way in hell that’s gonna be a option if you want to stay under $200k.
How high are the ceilings? Do you want high gasoline bills or high climate control bills?
Someone did this a few years ago in Savannah, Georgia and it turned out beautiful.
https://savannahmagazine.com/homes/former-church-becomes-inviting-residence/
I know a couple who converted an old (de sanctified) church to an art gallery and the offices into small apartment to live in. That way they only had to really heat one smaller space instead of the giant main space (and the offices were set up on a different smaller furnace anyway).
So it’s not impossible, but probably not as cheap as you would like to convert and operate.
Is it zoned for residential? Probably need to cross that box before you consider or you won’t get an occupancy permit.
(Assuming those are considerations where you live.)
Depending on where you are, zoning changes can be really hard. Small towns hate changing anything that doesn’t fit their idea of what the town should be and will resist it. Bigger towns have a lot of inertia and you’ll have trouble getting anyone to walk you through what it takes.
I’d recommend calling someone with familiarity with your local zoning board before making a call. Could easily be five grand where I am going into escrow for engineers reports and stuff, and you may not get much back.
How old is it? In the construction up to code? Keep in mind that its probably not constructed like a residential building, so any maintenance or repairs/upgrades may need a more expensive commercial contractor, not a residential one.
Also consider property taxes (possibly much higher than a similar residential building) and insurance – can you get a standard homeowner’s policy on it?
Save yourself the time and energy…this will never happen. There’s a million reasons why. And be thankful it *won’t* happen, because if Jesus himself descended down upon this building and somehow made this deal go through for you, later on you’d be kicking yourself thinking “oh god what have I gotten myself into?”
Check into property tax implications. Make sure what those taxes will cost before committing.
If you have to ask here, infeasible