Realty Specialists Find Calling in Selling ‘God’s Little Acres’

Want to buy a nice little church or synagogue? How about a roomy church in Tarzana going for $3.1 million or a starter synagogue in West Hills for $1.5 million?

A little more than you had in mind? Well, real estate agents for the Almighty, so to speak, have other listings.

But brokers who spend all or part of their time handling houses of worship warn that it is not like buying a private residence. Few financial institutions make loans to churches.

“Banks don’t like to foreclose on God,” said Tom Riley of Trinity Real Estate in Van Nuys. “They don’t want the bad public relations of foreclosing on a religious group,” echoed a spokeswoman for Raphael Realty, which focuses on Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

“Generally they are cash transactions, funded partly by denominations, or the seller carries a loan,” she said, speaking from the experience of a realty office that has dealt exclusively with religious properties for 15 years.

Christian Commercial Services of Rancho Cucamonga, which began in 1992, may be distinctive in that owners Bill and Dawn Lowder and associates begin each workday with prayer. “And we take problems that the churches have and pray about them,” said Desi Nascimento, an independent broker who works in the same office.

Many of the brokers also deal in other commercial properties, since it is difficult to earn enough just dealing in churches. One agent estimated that on average it takes a year for one congregation to purchase another congregation’s church.

“The sales are not single persons’ decisions but rather those of boards and committees,” said Sue Horowitz, who is with Capital Commercial Real Estate in Encino.

One of her listings is Shomrei Torah Synagogue in West Hills, which has outgrown its 225-seat worship facility on Shoup Avenue and now expects to have a new synagogue ready to occupy in June on Valley Circle Boulevard.

“We wanted to move to much larger facilities in order to attract more members and offer more programs,” said Stan Podolosky, vice president of Shomrei Torah’s building and development committee. “We didn’t want to list it for sale until we knew when we could move out of our old building.”

Some other houses of worship are put on the market because they become too costly for congregations with declining membership.

For example, Encino Community Church in Tarzana has dwindled to about 150 members since the founding minister retired, said Larry Moon, president of the church’s board. “With a sanctuary that holds 450 people, the church is just too large for us,” Moon said. “We would like to move to a smaller location.”

Riley’s listing for Encino Community Church describes the beautiful grounds, a large fellowship hall with kitchen facilities, 10 classrooms, a center courtyard and parking for 160 to 180 cars.

“As you enter the church . . . you first notice the book store/gift shop on your right. As you proceed through the narthex [entryway], you enter the breath-taking sanctuary with a 40-foot stained glass cross built into the wall behind the chancel . . . ,” began Riley’s write-up of the church.

It would not be unusual, however, for a church building to be converted into a synagogue or vice versa.

Sinai Temple in Westwood, now celebrating its 90th year, operated in two previous locations closer to downtown Los Angeles that are now Korean churches. Last year, a small-membership Baptist church on Roscoe Boulevard in Northridge was purchased and reconsecrated by a Hindu temple group.

“Many of the churches in the San Fernando Valley are land-rich but day-to-day poor because the original congregations have a shrinking population,” Riley said.

That vacuum has been filled, he said, as ethnic congregations move from gathering in homes and rented halls or sharing facilities in a predominantly white church to looking for a place of their own.

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Many growing congregations dream of building their own facility, but brokers say that some church people are notably naive about the difficulties of obtaining city permits or even knowing about legal restrictions that may be insurmountable obstacles to new construction.

“There is no question that it is more practical and less time-consuming to be able to go into a commercially zoned area or into an existing facility,” Horowitz said.

One broker who asked to remain anonymous said that her company concentrates on church real estate because its agents enjoy the delight of finding good properties for congregations. But she also said she was quickly reminded that good business practices are a must.

“I also used to think that I wouldn’t have to worry about people cheating, but once during a church sale and merger, a pastor tried to end up with the money personally,” she said. “I found you still have to be careful.”