A Pennsylvania couple bought an old church for $40,000 and turned it into a home

With rent prices rising, the thought of buying a house is getting more and more frustrating and out of reach. However, one couple, Priscilla and Morton Houliston, has made this happen in just $40,000, according to The Daily Dot's March 8 report. The duo has been living in a church for the last few years and can’t help but share how it is a hidden treasure for those looking for affordable housing. Known as the 1870 Studio, the name comes from the Pennsylvania church, built in that year. The woman, who won a Grammy for songwriting (Run Mississippi) in 2018, had to pass on the finds and is now sharing what other church people can buy. 

Priscilla moved to Scotland in 2001 and has been living there since. It was where she met her husband, Morton, a miller and retired printer. In 2015, they came across the church in Pennsylvania and fell in love with the scenery and the environment. They purchased for $40,000, she revealed in a clip shared on March 6. Undoubtedly, it required a lot of work to make it a home they could love. Priscilla mentioned that she had no heat for the first two years until they figured out the system. As an artist, painter, crafter, and more, the woman went into a deep-cleaning mode and eventually painted the space to make it feel like her own.

Eventually, what seemed like a huge and questionable investment became a boon. She and Morton were able to use the spacious rooms not just as their home but also as a studio, for workshops, and more. The husband particularly enjoys creating art and artisanal bakes. After marking a decade of living in a church, Priscilla believes it's beyond a great opportunity and encourages others to follow suit. In a clip shared on February 28, she shared a list of churches available for sale across different states, all under $100,000. There are cons, mainly the amount of work and investments to be made to turn the space into a home. But for the Houlistons, it was all worth it.

With three generations now living under the same roof, they have no regrets. “More work than you can experience and a money pit. But we wouldn’t change this experience for any other home in the world,” Priscilla wrote in her caption. The most striking part about living in a church, for her, is that it's full of "positivity and possibilities,” and it's evident from how they have been working and living, all under the same roof. She also shared churches for sale in Scotland and mentioned that there’s no shortage of churches; it’s just a decision that requires one to dare to be creative. According to the Pew Research Center, the housing reality has become a devastating one in today’s time. More and more Americans are getting concerned about the housing structure in the years to come. 

The benchmark for housing was under 30% of household incomes. Based on that criterion, 31.3% of Americans are cost-burdened with housing expenses. Over the last few years, the state-level house pricing has increased for every U.S. state from anywhere between 22.6% to 82.3%. It’s making the idea of owning a home restricted to being just a dream. To top that, four in ten households (51.6 million) are struggling with mortgage payments. In such a dire situation, Priscilla’s idea to live in a church doesn’t seem all that crazy. And a lot of people are considering, or at the very least, admiring it. @beautiful_fields wrote, "I love your story. Thank you for giving us faith in whimsy.” @goldamy73 added, “You and Morton are an amazing blueprint to replicate.” 

You can follow Priscilla Houliston (@the1870studio) on TikTok for more content on housing. 

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