CHURCHES / RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS

Collins and Associates provide dependable and accurate appraisals in Anaheim, Orange County, Southern California and beyond. Principal David R. Collins is a licensed Certified General Appraiser, with appraisal designations (G.A.A., S.C.R.E.A.) with over 50 years of experience. We appraise churches and religious buildings, providing the type of reliable values that banks, major lending institutions, courts, Internal Revenue Service and you require.

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Older churches are frequently constructed of stone masonry, with bell towers, steeples, stain~glass windows, pews, and an organ. The labor costs of other modern types of construction and this type of construction is rare in newer buildings.

If a congregation intends to sell the church to an investor and lease it back, or if a congregation that will make use of these element can be found, these elements might contribute to market value. This type of transaction is more likely to be feasible in more affluent areas with wealthy congregation. In these instances, the church's seating capacity, classrooms, and parking, and the balance between these, are important considerations.

More often, however, these elements do not contribute to the highest and best use and those that are severable, i.e. stain-glass windows, pews and organs, are best sold separately. Fortunately, there are active secondary markets for these elements.

Adaptive re-use of a church is relative common when it changes ownership. Churches have been converted to multi-family residences, offices, senior living facilities, and recreational centers. When one of these uses represents the higher and best use of the subject facility, the property is appraised by deducting the cost of conversion from the value after the conversion to the alternative use.

However, typically churches and other religious facilities are a special use property. Typically commercial church appraisals only use the cost approach and the market approach when appraising a church. Since most churches are owned and are not rented the income approach is rarely applied.