"I would never have thought to look for closed churches."

The real estate market has been hard for many people to crack into ever since home prices skyrocketed in 2020, after the rise in remote work allowed many people to leave the city centers near their jobs in favor of more suburban and rural regions.

Several years later, those home prices are still sky high, leaving many people without a clear path to homeownership. However, some people have found alternative ways to find a new home, like one woman who has gone viral on TikTok.

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In a video, the woman explains how she lives in a church before giving her followers tips on how they can find cool, unique, and affordable housing alternatives.

Her advice is super easy to follow and very cool, since she shows off some step-by-step instructions on how to find churches that have been listed for sale all over the world. While her example features buildings in Scotland, it's clear that these tips can be used pretty much anywhere. Trust me, you have to see this to believe it.

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If you're in the market for a cool new home and are willing to consider living in an old church, then you'll want to see what TikToker @the1870studio has to say about things. That's because she's well-versed in hunting for unique real estate, since she has lived in a church or two herself.

So, what's her tip? In the video, she pulled up the website for the Church of Scotland and showed her followers how to scroll down to the bottom of the page, where there's an option to view "properties for sale."

From there, she was able to pull up dozens of church listings, with some that said they were accepting offers on churches that cost as little as $50,000.

Once you find a building you like, she says you have to do a bit more research, which includes reading through the property schedule, which details the permissible use of the space. Not all of the churches listed on the website are allowed to be used as residential buildings, and some can only be used for community enrichment.

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People were thrilled with the TikToker's advice, and they took to the comments to share their excitement. "I love [your] energy [so much] I feel like I'm on a side quest to buy a church," one person wrote.

"This is super interesting, thank you! I’m in the U.K. where house prices are through the roof, I would never have thought to look for closed churches," another person added. However, many people wanted to know how to find churches in specific areas around the U.S.

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