Reply #22: This sort of property comes on the market fairly regularly here in Pittsburgh, PA

[distantearlywarning]

And it's not enough of a big deal to write an article about. :-) The last one I saw for sale (a few months ago) was in a neighborhood bordering mine and cost less than $200,000. It was a gothic stone structure that included a 20-room rectory on the property. Of course, it probably needed several hundred thousand dollars worth of work, including a roof re-do.

ON EDIT: Actually, I found the ad for that church! http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/reb/1710907266.html

I once saw a magazine article with pictures of several Pittsburgh-area churches which had been rehabilitated and were now being used as single family residences. The piece de resistance was a church with huge vaulted ceilings, and the owners had put in a second story "loft" type space above the altar, which served as the master bedroom - the entire back wall of the master bedroom was a giant stained glass piece with an angel as the central feature. It was quite literally the most beautiful, unusual bedroom space I'd ever seen. I was totally speechless with envy at their good fortune and excellent design sense.

It's actually my dream to buy a church here and fix it up to live in. Someday I'll have the money to do that...maybe after I finish grad school.

It is also possible to buy other unusual living properties here for not too much money. I've seen old historic firehouses for sale, big warehouse spaces (there is a guy in town who turned an old 14,000 square foot industrial warehouse into a gated mansion complete with a custom garage to house his restored automobiles), factories, 200+ year old commercial buildings, victorian mansions with 1/2 acre lots hidden in the heart of urban neighborhoods, many many pre-war properties with amazing architectural detail, and so forth. It's a cool city.

For instance, take a look at these:

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/reo/1744723780.html
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/reb/1777511462.html
http://makeitmagnificent.com/FirehouseForSale/FirehouseForSale.html

See also this article about Pittsburgh churches for sale: http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2007/09/03/story7.html