Articlr

We are all looking for conversions as instructed in the great commission. However, the conversions I am talking about today are a little different; converting a commercial building to a church. If you have plans to build a church you need to read this.

In the past few months I think we have heard far too much about how bad things are; the constant drone in the media about the banking crisis, the car manufacturing crisis, the home foreclosure crisis. If I hear one more crisis I just might go around the bend.

I think it is interesting that there are two characters in Chinese that make up the word CRISIS, those characters when taken separately translate into DANGER and OPPORTUNITY. There are plenty of people talking to us about the dangers of our times; I prefer to direct our attention today to the opportunities that are already starting to manifest themselves.

In March of this year I attended our national sales meeting. On the program was a discussion on the economy and the short run outlook by a panel of bankers and church lending experts. The bottom line was that there is a commercial foreclosure wave that should hit late this year or early next that could make the residential foreclosure problem look like a cake walk.

Having been involved in several conversion projects in the past from grocery stores to movie theaters to car dealerships and based on what the bankers had to say we began a search for buildings that would fit the opportunity side of the equation and we have already identified a few of them and expect many more as time goes by.

It didn't take long, in a matter of days I had identified several. Some were already foreclosed, some were no longer needed by the commercial user, some were investor owned and the investor wanted out. This makes a good situation for the buyers, especially end users like churches.

So how do you take advantage of these bargain properties? As I work with churches one of the first suggestions I make is that you get your money (and/or your banker) in your pocket. Especially in distressed situations seller's want to know that the buyer can close and usually close quickly. There is no time to get a loan approval AFTER finding the property. Get those commitments first.

Another of the key steps is to get the proper professionals to assist you. Before you can convert a building you have to find one that has the potential. many churches try to use a member agent, but do yourself a favor and get the best commercial broker you can find and hopefully one that has successfully handled several church projects (check references). Keep in mind that the buyer's broker is almost always free, the seller almost always pays the brokerage fees.

When I evaluate a building to convert to church my construction management team consists of an architect, engineer, interior designer, engineer, HVAC expert and contractor. With the proper team you should navigate past the landmines and save your church a lot of money.