Probably not the same conversions you are most accustomed to discussing in your church, but these conversions can save any church that has plans to build a church a lot of time and money.

It seems like everywhere you turn today someone is reporting another problem with the economy and I don’t know about you but I have had about all of it I can stand.

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.

Armed with this information I began a search of retail and commercial properties that could potentially be converted to church and very quickly found a few to evaluate. We have been involved in several conversions in the past ranging from grocery stores to movie theaters and even car dealerships so the concept is not new to us.

Some of these buildings have been foreclosed, some are owned by businesses that no longer need the space they once required, investors that can no longer hold the property, there are a myriad of reasons why these owners want to sell.

So how do you take advantage of this new opportunity? First things first. When shopping for any property but especially disressed properties you need to have your money (and/or your banker) already in your pocket. Distressed sellers want to know that the buyer they are negotiating with has the capability to close and usually they want a relatively fast close. Get your financial commitments first.

Next, surround yourself with a team of professionals. You need a real estate broker that understands the requirements of churches as well as zoning, parking issues etc. Hire the best you can get, it costs you nothing in the vast majority of cases.

I recommend using a construction management team. The team I use consists of an architect, interior designer, engineer, HVAC expert and contractor. With the proper teamyou can quickly determine which properties you should make offers on.