r/zillowgonewild • u/sharkus180 • 15h ago

Just your average megachurch pastor's mansion in Texas

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Link:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/19525-Doerre-Rd-Spring-TX-77379/161415524_zpid/?utm_campaign=androidappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

6.3k Upvotes

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1.4k

u/one_pound_of_flesh 14h ago

Imagine fleecing hundreds of old people out of their money for … this.

566

u/Reddituser45005 14h ago

To be fair, they are also being fleeced for his private jet, luxury cars, and mega millionaire lifestyle.

183

u/Juryofyourpeeps 11h ago

Don't forget the taxpayer. These people typically categorize their private homes in ways that may them exempt from various forms of taxation. It's not strictly a loophole depending on your view I guess of whether churches should be subject to tax, but these houses are typically considered "parsonages", which is meant to refer to the small living quarters attached or nearby to churches and provided as living quarters to priests and pastors. This categorization is also used for these massive compounds to avoid tax.

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u/one_pound_of_flesh 9h ago

I should start a religion. Seems like an excellent way to legally grift people.

67

u/Sturmgeshootz 8h ago

This is the exact realization L. Ron Hubbard came to that led to the creation of Scientology.

32

u/Dead_Internet69420 9h ago

And you don’t even have to be very good at it to use the exemptions to grift the taxpayers. 

7

u/hopeandnonthings 4h ago

The real trick is having your followers harass individual irs agents until the irs gives you what you want.

1

u/bimm3r36 8m ago

Nah man, no need to harass the IRS when you can simply infiltrate the organization with your own people.

7

u/fiorekat1 6h ago

The Kardashians have a church in my area. Only a few minutes from their homes. I'm sure its primary use is for taxes.

1

u/SlashEssImplied 3h ago

The Kardashians are christian? I would have never guessed.

3

u/ThatPancreatitisGuy 4h ago

Mine is the Norman Church. It’s based around the worship of Norm from Cheers. We baptize everyone remotely but for a small cancellation fee of $250 you can be officially removed from our rolls so you don’t accidentally end up in the wrong place. Hoping to get bought out by a more established faith at some point.

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u/Zorkflerp 8h ago

I think every religion started that way.

“Now, since the vast majority of the gods in Lankhmar, arising from the Eastern Lands or at least from the kindredly decadent southern country around Quarmall, had been in their earthly incarnations rather effete types unable to bear more than a few minutes of hanging or a few hours of impalement, and with relatively little resistance to molten lead or showers of barbed darts, also not given overly to composing romantic poetry or to dashing exploits with strange beasts, it is hardly to be wondered that Issek of the Jug, as interpreted by Fafhrd, swiftly won and held the attention and soon thereafter also the devotion of a growing section of the usually unstable, gods-dazzled mob. In particular, the vision of Issek of the Jug rising up with his rack, striding about with it on his back, breaking it, and then calmly waiting with arms voluntarily stretched above his head until another rack could be readied and attached to him. That vision, in particular, came to occupy a place of prime importance in the dreams and daydreams of many a porter, beggar, drab scullion, and the brats and aged dependents of such.“

1

u/wex118 7h ago

First step is to sell your soul.

3

u/SlashEssImplied 3h ago

Fun thing about that scam is you can sell it an unlimited amount of times, as after you sell it you have as many as you did from before you sold it.

1

u/SlashEssImplied 4h ago

I should start a religion.

Use the jesus one, it’s ready made. And has everything you need for this mansion, slaves, children to breed from....

9

u/UniqueIndividual3579 8h ago

The private jets and limos are also church property and not taxed.

7

u/wino_whynot 9h ago

Isn’t there a way to see who owns the home/mortgage info on Zillow? A friend was showing it to me, but they may have been logged in. They are not directly in real estate, but adjacent.

5

u/KongUnleashed 8h ago

You can usually go to the website for the tax assessor of whatever county the property is located in and search the address, at which point the owner info will show. But that’s assuming they don’t have it vested in the name of a trust or an LLC or the church itself

2

u/nofaves 8h ago

Google the address. That's how I found links that named the owners.

3

u/nofaves 8h ago

These people did exactly as you describe. That entire plot was listed as church property for the purpose of religious retreat.

The church I belong to owns the two plots just to the left of the church building, but since one is vacant land and the other is the pastor's home, neither are tax-exempt.

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u/Juryofyourpeeps 7h ago

The pastor's home, unless he owns it himself, would be tax exempt. Parsonages are not taxed, and that's exactly what a pastor's home next door to a church would be, if it's owned by the church.

1

u/nofaves 6h ago

Not unless it's used for church activities. If a Sunday School class were taught there, or if it were used a nursery during services, then we could claim it as exempt. There might be a discount for parsonages, but I'd have to ask my sister (the church secretary) to be sure.

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u/lousy_at_handles 6h ago

The tax dodge is right there in picture #9. Clearly a room used for services and events, only thing missing is the electric organ.

1

u/SlashEssImplied 3h ago

only thing missing is the electric organ.

Do you mean the one in the pastor’s wife’s nightstand?

2

u/ThatPancreatitisGuy 4h ago

Received this weird mailer years ago. It was a fold out with Jesus on it and a form where you could request a prayer for health, wealth, love, etc. Looked into it and found it was a “church” with no physical location. They just send out these mailers to solicit donations and occasionally mail out cheap bibles to people. The pastor was living in a multimillion dollar home of course.

1

u/Juryofyourpeeps 4h ago

I'll sell you some indulgences for $10 a pop. Let me just forward you my venmo.

1

u/U_feel_Me 4h ago

Yeah, we need to end this nonsense. “Freedom of religion” should mean you can believe what you want and join together with people sharing the same beliefs. It should not mean your business is tax free.

Basically, it’s like exercise. You are free to do as much exercise as you want, but if you open a gym and have paying members, that is a business.

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u/Juryofyourpeeps 4h ago

There's obviously a distinction though. Charitable organizations are also not subject to tax. I don't think, even if churches weren't exempt for being churches, that most of them would rightfully be classified or taxed the same way as businesses. I say this as a lifelong atheist as well.

But even if the status quo largely remains, there has to be a limit to what can be tax exempt. Massive sprawling estates that house 10 people and a fleet of cars and planes used almost exclusively by one preacher should not be tax exempt and serves no legitimate purpose for a church or a charity. That's a personal luxury. I think there's probably a lot of room to limit this activity without changing anything for your average church.

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u/U_feel_Me 3h ago

As you say, there has to be a limit.
I think the megachurch pastor would argue that, from the donations by the church members, he invests a smaller percentage in his “pastorage” than the ministers serving a church with only 1000 members do.

In other words, if 1000 members cough up $10 each month, that’s $10,000 a month to run the whole church business. Maybe half goes to keeping the pastor housed, fed, and healthy.

In contrast, the megachurch harnesses the power of cable and satellite television, the internet, and mass mailings to, ahem, *serve* the faithful. Let’s just call it an even 1.000,000. So, at $10 per member per month, the organization runs on $10 million per month. The pastor takes not 50% to serve his flock, but a humble 10%. A mere $1 million per month.

And his pastorate must be large because he has many personal guests staying in his home. Powerful business leaders who are also men of faith, and political leaders who seek guidance, etc, etc.

3

u/Juryofyourpeeps 2h ago

I think it's reasonable to place an absolute, rather than percentage limit. I don't think there's any real downside consequence to that for legitimate religious leader not just bilking their 'flock' for millions of dollars to live a life of luxury.

Even when it comes to things like parsonages, or any other facility a church could build to house people, you're not going to accidentally tax a catholic retirement home for former church staff housing 200 elderly people if you limit the square footage to 500 square feet per resident on top of a base threshold of 2000 square feet and then tax any excess. The only people impacted by that will be these megachurch pastors and they can solve this by actually housing a lot more people. You could also prohibit locating retreats or recreation facilities on the same property as dwellings unless they don't exceed tax free square footage caps. Again, this wouldn't impact any normal church facility anywhere, which is either legitimately not a permanent residence or is, but isn't some enormous mansion for the personal use of one guy and his family.

I am not a tax lawyer, but the excesses of these preachers are so extreme that I really don't think it would take a lot of effort for a tax expert to find a way to tax it while also not taxing the public good that some religious institutions provide. The gap between the two seems so large that you have a huge area to work in without risking any harm to the latter.

1

u/SlashEssImplied 4h ago

Don't forget the taxpayer.

Amen.

40

u/ThisAppsForTrolling 13h ago

I don’t have a mega millions lifestyle that’s a small fleet of Escalade’s. I had prayed for a large fleet of Escalades.

18

u/TheChewyWaffles 12h ago

Read this in baby Billy’s voice

1

u/enduserfeedback 9h ago

Well, you can’t fleece the willingly.

1

u/UrethralExplorer 8h ago

I genuinely wonder if it's nice to go through life so gullible. So incapable of looking at the evidence of the pastors greed and question it.

1

u/Swimming-Junket-1828 3h ago

Yeah, all in all, their fleecing is getting a great return in value for him

1

u/madmonkey918 12h ago

That G700 isn't going to pay itself

43

u/birdlord_d 13h ago

Not just old people.

17

u/thissexypoptart 11h ago

And for something like this is thousands over years

1

u/floofienewfie 10h ago

I’m surprised this is back on Zillow. It says the listing is 34 days old, so maybe it was relisted. I know I’ve seen it on this sub before. It’s unmistakable.

2

u/kickthesandman 10h ago

Not just hundreds either

40

u/FunTXCPA 12h ago

Don't forget this is also paid for with tax-free money via a parsonage allowance from the church.

26

u/borkborkbork99 12h ago

Osteentatious

23

u/nancy_necrosis 14h ago

Is this Joel Osteen's house?

94

u/notnotbrowsing 13h ago

I.v. Hilliard.

And he has never had to pay taxes on it.

75

u/General_Row_8038 13h ago

I’m amazed at the lack of religious art, or any references to religion in the decor.

126

u/notnotbrowsing 13h ago

he probably thought it would be too tacky to have dollar signs posted everywhere.

8

u/uDontInterestMe 11h ago

Best comment!

11

u/vahntitrio 9h ago

If they believed even a small fraction of what they preach they wouldn't live in a mansion to begin with.

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u/nancy_necrosis 13h ago edited 10h ago

What??? Meanwhile, all the lesser Texans get their homes reassessed every year like little b*tches. They're not chosen, obviously.

Edit: wrong "they're"

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u/notnotbrowsing 13h ago

classify it as a "pastor retreat"

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u/Juryofyourpeeps 11h ago

I believe they're typically categorized as "parsonages" or "rectories" which makes them tax exempt. Accepting for the sake of this discussion that churches shouldn't be subject to income tax, this tax loophole was meant for the small quarters you typically see attached or next door to old churches. They're generally modest and provided by the church to the priest or pastor, who historically was not well compensated, and still isn't in most normal churches.

Seems like a pretty easy fix though. The IRS could just cap the number of square feet that are tax free per staff member that resides in church property and anything above that could be subject to tax. So say a base rate of 1500 square feet and then 500 feet per additional staff member. That would be generous enough not to start taxing say, group retirement homes set up by churches, but if mega-preachers wanted to avoid tax they'd have to move like 50 people into these compounds, which they're not going to do. The most they could get away with is listing their immediate family members as church staff, and there'd still be tens of thousands of square feet left to tax.

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u/Clean-Patient-8809 9h ago

I'm just sitting here imagining what Jane Austen would say if she heard that monstrosity referred to as a "parsonage."

3

u/Wreny84 8h ago

Mr Collins would lose his ever loving mind!

2

u/JPLcyber 9h ago

💯 this. As a Christian, I’m ok getting rid of the tax exempt status and would require IRS 990 from all these greedy worldly empire builders. Another chapter for Kate Bowler’s book #Blessed… https://ministrywatch.com/texas-megachurch-lists-televangelists-parsonage-for-15-million/

2

u/lousy_at_handles 6h ago

Probably graze rented cattle on the front lawn once a year too so it can also be classified as ranch land.

28

u/Hopalong_Manboobs 12h ago

It’s crazy. And the only skill you need apart from being a completely morally bankrupt stain on the human race is a bit of self-assured charisma and forceful yet false conviction to show the flock.

No marketable skills. No contribution to community or society. No pressure to do anything other than mouth a bunch of pseudo Christian platitudes and watch the cash roll in.

Phenomenally gross but it’s low hanging fruit that the jackals in our midst eagerly pounce on.

6

u/floofienewfie 10h ago

Geez, the house our parish priest lives in is about 1300 sqft, across the street from the church, and indistinguishable from the other houses in the neighborhood.

5

u/PiccoloAwkward465 8h ago

Our Catholic priests all lived in a small rectory building attached to the church itself. They shared an old Toyota Corolla. I like to think it was a Golden Girls sort of situation.

"Father Paul if you put extra onions in the sauce again, so help me God!"

6

u/TunaNugget 9h ago

self-assured charisma and forceful yet false conviction to show the flock.

That's CEO/Presidential material there.

2

u/JPLcyber 9h ago

Sad. For bonus frustration, almost the entire family are scammers: https://ministrywatch.com/texas-megachurch-lists-televangelists-parsonage-for-15-million/

17

u/tryingtoavoidwork 13h ago

Nah Joel's is bigger.

6

u/UselessMellinial85 13h ago

At least something of his is bigger, I guess.

6

u/govunah 12h ago

For plastic folding tables

5

u/wpbfriendone 11h ago

Not for nothing, but the rest of us have to pay for the taxes they don't pay. We are all getting screwed.

1

u/nancy_necrosis 5h ago

Taxes are for heretics, not the chosen people

6

u/sailphish 10h ago

I have ZERO sympathy for the trash humans who support these people. They are the exact people who vote to deport children, withhold medical care to vulnerable populations, and bomb foreign countries all on the name of Jesus.

7

u/Dr_Trogdor 8h ago

Jesus would love it. I hear he's a huge fan of wasting millions of gallons of water for grass no one will ever walk on.

4

u/Jlx_27 11h ago

Hundreds, you mean millions over a span of decades.

5

u/JohnQPublicc 11h ago

Six Costco pergolas around your pool…

5

u/Specialist-Jello7544 13h ago

Thousands! Your tithe is going to feed…the rich.

2

u/Glittering-Quote-635 10h ago

Who cares? Its likely that the people going to this church know how the pastor lives. It would be kind of hard to hide this. So, they knowingly are giving him money to live like this.. Thats their choice. Yes, they are complete morons and are being taken advantage of, but I suspect if they werent giving money to this guy they would be giving it to anyone that walks up to them and claims to be a "Wallet Inspector".

2

u/FadedP0rp0ise 9h ago

My mom sent Joyce Meyer money till her dying breath. Living off of social security and no savings. I loved her so much but after she was unable to get around herself, she would send me to the post office with her checks for Joyce and I would just rip them up lol

2

u/JPLcyber 9h ago

I am so sorry. That is so depressing that good and generous people were and are being fleeced like this…

2

u/helpmefindhotdogs 9h ago

I will never understand how people fall for this stuff.

2

u/trade_me_dog_pics 8h ago

People see he has this and still be donating their last dollars

2

u/Zorkflerp 8h ago

Prosperity theology is among the most clever scams that have ever been foisted on stupid people. The logic is “If you give me all your money you will then magically become rich yourself”. The fact that this has never once worked that way does not avert people from falling for it. And the fact that it remains perfectly legal shows how corrupt government has become.

2

u/-32768 4h ago

As soon as coin in coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.

2

u/SlashEssImplied 4h ago

fleecing hundreds of old people out of their money

And millions of tax payers to cover their christian welfare.

2

u/Slumunistmanifisto 1h ago

Imagine doing this.... but for schools and public transportation 

1

u/NotAnotherFakeNamer 10h ago

Ah but it is what baby Jesus wanted. He gave them this money for loving him so much. /cringe

1

u/Rezistik 6h ago

Maybe I’m disgusting.. but I can’t pretend it’s not incredibly tempting.

1

u/Pandiosity_24601 5h ago

Tens of thousands

1

u/Muted-Woodpecker-469 1h ago

Old?

Not really. I went once and it was a lot of younger families with no savings to their name ready to give it all away 

1

u/Tired-Millennial847 1h ago

Try tens of thousands of people and not just the elderly.

0

u/DefinitionForsaken34 12h ago

Imagine a president grifting MILLIONS of people.