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.

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.

You have probably heard that in Chinese there are two characters than make up the word CRISIS. One means DANGER and the other OPPORTUNITY. Since we have so many talking to us about the dangers I’d like to focus our attention on the opprotunities integral to a crisis.

This past March our company held its annual sales meeting and as a part of that meeting we had a panel of bankers talk to us about their outlook on the economy. The bottom line was this; there is a commercial foreclosure crisis on the horizon that will make the recent residential foreclosure crisis look like a Sunday afternoon picnic; estimated time of arrival late summer or fall.

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.

The next key step is to get the proper professionals on your team. I can’t emphasize this one enough. Especially for converting a property you need a real estate broker that understands the market as well as church. This will save you a lot of time in the evaluation process and keep you from hitting a real estate land mine.

In the case of a building conversion you will need a team that knows construction from A to Z. When we set out to evaluate the first of the buildings we found we partnered with a Construction Management group that is comprised of the project manager, an architect, interior designer all with experience in retrofitting buildings. Proper professionals will save you time and money and are often the difference between a successful project and a mess.

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