Searching out a new location for a church is incredibly exciting. But if it’s your job to help a church client find that perfect property, it can also be an overwhelming task.
In fact, this may be one of the most substantial expenses the church will ever incur. Get it right, and the new location will fuel the mission of the church for decades. Get it wrong, and your client may never recover.
No pressure.
In spite of the high stakes, many churches navigate the real estate gauntlet with the confidence and experience of a 15-year-old student driver. Churches often task a staff member or a church committee—oftentimes with no experience in real estate development—to find a property. And this is where an architect or design consultant can step in and help guide the process.
Here are five steps your church clients should know about and follow when looking for church property.
1. FIND THE RIGHT PARTNER
A seasoned leader’s first call should be to a commercial realtor who specializes in working with churches. But, you’d be surprised how rarely this happens. Instead, most novice leaders start by leveraging one of three resources: the most prominent church member who sells houses, Google, or the local commercial broker whose name they discovered on a vacant property.
All three have varying degrees of risk.
Hiring an expert will help your client navigate the journey and will help them discover possible new locations beyond the traditional Google search. An outside expert will also represent the church well against any cutthroat seller who’s hoping to get rich.
Keep in mind that a good commercial agent has access to information you and your client don’t about every property in a community, even property that isn’t currently on the market.
Keep in mind that a good commercial agent has access to information you and your client don’t about every property in a community, even property that isn’t currently on the market. And they can work anonymously behind the scenes on your client's behalf, approaching property owners for real estate that fits the desired profile to see if the owner is interested in making a deal.
2. ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
In the real estate world, it’s rarely “what you know” that knocks you off balance. In fact, one of the biggest challenges that you may face is knowing what questions to ask in the first place.
Again, this is where a good agent pays off—especially one that specializes in church real estate. An agent who specializes in helping churches should help you determine things like:
- What’s the minimum acreage or square footage you’ll need at the new location?
- Will your client buy or lease?
- What’s your client's strategy for funding the entire project?
- What’s the timeline for completion of the project?
- Is the new location strategically appropriate for the people you’re trying to reach?
3. COUNT THE COSTS
Many churches don’t often consider leasing and renovating existing spaces. The mindset of most churches is that they need their own undeveloped piece of dirt so they can build a new building exactly the way they want it.
On the surface, many people inexperienced in development think raw land is the cheapest option because the price per acre appears low compared to the purchase price for developed property. But typically, that’s not the case, as you well know.
Raw land often is the most expensive move.
For most churches, designers may recommend that raw land development be the last resort—especially in denser urban and suburban areas. Raw land often is the most expensive move.
When developing a working budget for a new site, it’s important to think broader than a price per square foot. A new site means you need to provide utilities like water (public or well), sewer (or septic), electricity, storm water, and possibly others (gas, cable, phone, etc.) to the site.
If public utilities aren’t already present at the property your client might have to extend them hundreds of feet down the road to the property. They may also have to pay tap fees and impact fees, and they’ll probably need to provide an environmental site assessment (often referred to as a “Phase 1”) and traffic studies.
That might also mean you have to widen the road, provide sidewalks and a turn lane, or even add a traffic light. This will cost a significant amount of money.
Another important consideration: is the site wooded? That’s beautiful, but it also means you’ll have to clear a large area for building pads, parking lots, ball fields, etc. This will also cost a significant amount of money.
Is the site hilly or rocky? It may be picturesque, but that also means lots of grading (cut-and-fill) and maybe even blasting or drilling rock to make areas level enough for parking lots and the building pads and foundations.
And again—that will cost.
You understand the picture — and you can help your clients get it, too. A site that is already developed (or even partially developed) should already have most, if not all, of these things in place. Maybe you’ll need to expand parking, or expand the building, but in general, there has already been a significant investment made by someone else that the church will get to use without having to take it out of the construction budget.
The cost of purchasing developed land is higher than raw land, but typically not as high as doing all the infrastructure yourself from scratch.
4. GET PERMISSION
It's possible that your church clients have never heard of “entitlements.” These are the approvals they need from the authorities with jurisdiction over the piece of property or building they want to buy.
In many jurisdictions around the country, churches must beg for permission to exist by way of Conditional Use or Special Use Permits and approvals.
The dirty little secret is that most jurisdictions don’t like churches to buy property because they don’t pay property taxes, and so often they make the approval process cumbersome, costly and time-consuming.
Know what you’re getting into before you pull the trigger on a property.
4. ANALYZE THE OPPORTUNITY
Don’t forget the top mantra of real estate agents: location, location, location.
Real estate is a little more nuanced when working with churches. People are willing to “hunt” for your client's church if they give them a good reason to come but the location still matters.
Ideally, the location would have both accessibility and visibility, but if you have to choose, accessibility is generally more critical. A church with excellent visibility from the interstate might sound great until you have to go five miles past it to the next exit and then navigate back to it through a maze of country roads.
Ideally, the location would have both accessibility and visibility, but if you have to choose, accessibility is generally more critical.
Pay attention to population density and market penetration. “Penetration rate” is a retail term that looks at how many people “shop” at a store compared to other similar stores in a community.
It sounds a bit crass to talk about ministry this way, but like it or not, your church client has a penetration rate in their community compared to other churches. So, if you’re looking at two “equal” properties (related to the quality and costs), and Property A has 200,000 people within a 20-minute drive radius, while Property B has only 100,000 people within a 20-minute drive radius, then Property A is the better location.
It sounds a bit crass to talk about ministry this way, but like it or not, your church client has a penetration rate in their community compared to other churches.
The church's penetration rate will help you, as an architect or designer, program the master plan accordingly to accommodate growth at full build-out.
Also, don’t sell demographics short. If your church client is looking at properties in different areas, analyze who they're currently reaching and who they want to reach. Will these people come to the location your clients wishes to purchase? If not, it’s not a smart move to buy it, no matter how good the deal looks.
To sum up, with the right team members, the right attitude, and the proper process, you can help your church clients successfully navigate toward the right location.
This story was supplied by Visioneering Studios. For more information see www.visioneeringstudios.com.
