Posted by Paul Macdonald on January 06, 1999 at 21:48:01:
I’ve only financed two pastors, both had housing funded by the church. My underwriters wanted to see the tax returns - which showed the housing payments -and said no problem.
You should be able to get the church to verify the housing payment. The church, by the way, is not responsible for paying the rent. They are responsible for paying the pastor a monthly sum to go towards his housing expense.
You want to check on the church’s economic stability? Find out how long they’ve been around. Other than that do you do a Dunn & Bradstreet commercial credit check. But do you do that much on your other tenants? If the church has been around more than a couple of years you’re probably as covered as you’d be with most small companies.
Ask for the job history of the pastor and projected future, you’ll get a pretty good handle if you’ve got a safe tenant or not.