CFS Blog

Have you ever heard someone describe a particular land parcel could be purchased inexpensively? There is usually a good reason for that. You get what you pay for. Cheap land usually requires exorbitant cost to prepare it for vertical construction. Trying to compare land costs is like trying to compare watermelons and kiwi. They are not closely comparable! Some sites […]

Just like your personal home payment, Advisors recommend that a church’s total facility expenses should not exceed thirty-three percent (33%) of a church’s annual income. These facility costs include both debt service (principal and interest payments) and the costs to operate the property (utilities, exterior maintenance, mechanical system maintenance, interior cleaning, insurance, trash, snow removal, etc. Advisors generally figures that […]

An expanding church’s goal is to create a fully functioning church facility at the lowest possible cost that will succeed in retaining existing members and capturing new attendees. By “fully functioning” we mean all project costs including formulating a strategic planning document, acquiring real property, retaining professionals for engineering, designing, fund raising, financing, construction, installation of audio, visual, lighting, security […]

Development Advisors, LLC is pleased to announce that Crossroads Community Church purchased the former Burt Chrysler Jeep Dodge Automobile property, located at Lincoln Avenue and Twenty Mile Road in the Town of Parker, Colorado, on February 29, 2012, for $4.5 million. This 45,449 square foot building sits on a 8.7 acre site, was constructed in 2007, and appraised back in […]

Development Advisors is pleased to announce the availability of another Denver area Class “A” Church property. This 51,200 SF Church property, located along I-70 in Genesee (just west of Golden) at 24887 Genesee Trail Road, was previously home to Lookout Mountain Community Church. Constructed in 2002 for approximately $11.8 million, today it is being offered for sale for only $4.98 […]

Here are my thoughts and those of Ben Richards (Share Financial-Dallas, TX). Passing the plate is not the most effective way to collect tithes and offerings, even though most churches still deploy this long standing collection tradition. Today, more and more churches are not passing the plate, instead are opting to have a dedicated place in the church building where […]

This question is frequently contemplated by church leaders across the country. The logical answer is… a church should relocate when it has outgrown its current facility. This means that the church can no longer grow in its current space. Maybe your church needs more seats or maybe you need more children’s space. The bottom line, though, is that a church […]

Advisors is proud to report that our client, Crossroads Community Church, has successfully raised 100% of its new facility debt resources through a bond underwriting conducted by Share Financial. This allows Crossroads to acquire the 45,000 square foot, former Burt Chrysler, Jeep automobile dealership located at 9900 Twenty Mile Road in Parker, Colorado. Like most bond issues, CCC’s bond underwriting […]

Today, at the church that I attend, Pastor Jim Dixon spoke about how happiness and joy come from responding to God’s calling. God calls us to confess that Jesus is Lord (as Peter did in Matthew 16:16) and to focus our lives in service to Him. If we do this, then we will begin to experience happiness and joy. Development […]

In addition to cash and fund raising efforts, nearly every church facility relocation project today requires a certain amount of debt in order to be accomplished. Most lenders will tell you that a church’s total facility expenses should not exceed 35% of its annual budget. In fact, in a bond underwriting, this is a statutory limit. Even at 35%, this […]

We just learned that churches, who desire to lease instead of own their facilities, will likely end up paying real property taxes to the owner of real property who is obligated to pay these taxes to the State of Colorado regardless of the occupant of the building. We think this is just plain wrong. In our opinion, the intent of […]

With the continuing malaise plaguing the economy and consumer spending at its lowest level in a decade, unprofitable retailer operations are being shuttered leaving vacant spaces in retail shopping centers across American. According to Mary Beth Jenkins with the Laramie Company, who recently reported at the Rocky Mountain Real Estate Expo, there are 54 retail boxes currently unoccupied in the […]

At the Rocky Mountain Real Estate Expo, we heard that interest rates are projected to increase in 2011 primarily as a result of competition from the US Government. Apparently a $6 Trillion pool of available debt capital will be reduced to only $3 Trillion because of this new competition. This new demand will put pressure on this supply thus causing […]

We are pleased to report that, after talking with Denver Planning, city staff met and discussed the current Denver Zoning Code’s treatment of church and similar public assembly uses, and revisited how or whether the New Code should change that treatment. Denver Planning has agreed to remove the assembly area size restriction (see our previous update entitled Denver Proposing Strict […]