Does anyone have experience or anecdotal evidence about Mega Churches effects on surrounding land values (net positive or negative) in suburban, SFR neighborhoods?
It's an interesting thought. Churches are a source of community stability for so many people. I like to think of mega churches like a mega corporation.
If we use the same logic that we would with Detroit, we know that Detroit felt the strong affect of a changing auto industry. Your average analyst would characterize Detroit as a 'one-industry' town. Once the one industry had problems, so did the city.
If we look at Churches through the same lens, then we should be worried about the destabilizing effects a mega church can have. Here is a great example from Seattle. Ultimately, like work options, they need to be diversified and spread out. This is a characteristic that makes Little Rock attractive. You wouldn't want to invest in a place that has 100 factories and 50 houses. Likewise, you may not want to invest where the local stability and commercial (space) economy is dominated by a single religious offering.
@Trevor Ewen - I will be more than happy to share what I learn when I finish my first deal! HA! About to make an offer on our first buy/hold property right now!
Hey everyone! I am a bit bias, but I love Little Rock! Central Arkansas is a great place to invest!
To the OP, @Jefferson Kim as a Realtor, I would say that both Schools and Churches have a positive impact on the overall community, but both Schools and Churches have a negative impact on surrounding property value (if residential) & taxes. Both of these issues however can be addressed with great city planning and community involvement. The town with 51 churches in Texas sounds like they have had poor city planning in the past. The new church buildings should increase surrounding property value for special use or commercial use if planned and developed correctly which should increase the tax base. Maybe they have had trouble attracting businesses to their town. Not sure. The same can be said for Schools. Everyone wants fantastic schools but no one wants the traffic congestion in their neighborhood or their backyard to back up to the school and the property used for the school is a strain on the tax payers. And what do you do with "bad schools"?? However, a well run, beautiful, nice, well placed school should increase property values overall which increases the taxes taken in by the cities long term.
Keeping in mind that sometimes "positive cashflow" for a city is "money out" of the citizens pocket when viewed through the lens of scarcity of resources. As a capitalist, I tend to believe that money can be created through small business, entrepreneurs, investors, and even faith based non-profits (e.g. Churches) or other non-profits who work to improve the community. As a Christian, I have to note that if we believers were all doing what we are supposed to be doing then we could all save our cities money by getting rid of the social programs because the Churches would be taking care of those in need and cities would welcome them with open arms, but that is a soapbox discussion for another forum. For now, I'll just do my part.
In summary, I have clients who move into our area and decide on where to live based on churches and schools so the net effect is positive.