The Story


This appears to be happening…
For 10 months now, Church of the Beloved has been gathering to worship together in an historic 100 year-old mansion, an Edmonds landmark, called Rosewood Manor. We moved here in part with the understanding that the owner (a fellow Christian) would be interested in selling it to us after a period of two years for the amount which he owed on the property, meaning essentially that he would not profit from the sale. Blessed by his generosity we were encouraged and hopeful that, come the end of 2011, we would have ‘first rights’ to purchase the property for $566,000. As a Guiding Group, we looked at each other we thought, “what a nice two year runway we have to pray, think and plan for the possibility of owning this special place!”

That plan was soundly thwarted this past May when the owner contacted us to say that he was being forced by the bank to sell the property immediately. He reiterated his hope and prayer that we could make the purchase…he was listing it for $599,000 and he suggested that we make an offer of $500,000. We brought this news to the entire Church of the Beloved community…and we looked at each other and honestly wondered, “is this really the beginning of our third move in less than 3 years?”

So, we waited. We prayed. We crunched numbers. We watched various buyers tour the property. We stayed in communication with the owner. And, we watched the listing price drop to $529,000. We looked at each other and asked, “is this really happening? Is there a scenario where we could actually purchase Rosewood Manor?”

We began to have serious discussions with both the ELCA Northwest and National Leadership to see what it would take for us to make an offer and finance the purchase and renovation of Rosewood. A wave of things began to happen…

  • We were visited by a special review delegation from the ELCA, and ultimately pronounced ‘ready’ to officially pursue such a purchase…
  • The ELCA Northwest leadership communicated that they were strongly supportive and prepared to take a Council vote to co-sign a loan in support of the purchase…
  • The Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA offered to receive a loan request from us to cover the purchase and renovation…

Thus, with prayer and the holding of our collective breath, we submitted an offer of $450,000 on Tuesday July 20. That offer was accepted, pending lender approval from both sides, on Tuesday July 27, with a planned closing date of October 5. With many details and a some very important contingencies ahead of us (such as a full professional inspection and loan approval), we look at each other today and begin to comprehend, “this appears, by God’s grace and provision, to be happening!”

Click here to go back to the COTB Rosewood Purchase Page…

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