Get Us to This Nunnery: Former Convent Hits the Market in California for $2.5M

A former nunnery on an acre of land in Sherwood Forest, CA, was just listed for $2.5 million.

An order of Catholic Franciscan nuns bought the 4,625-square-foot property in 2007 and used it as their convent until they moved out recently.

“Their mission is around education—most of these nuns are teachers,” says listing agent Gerardo “Jerry” Ascencio, with San Fernando Realty, Inc.

The Franciscan Nuns of the Immaculate Conception used the nine-bedroom, nine-bath, 1944-era building as their residence and added a few features as needed, related to their religious practice.

“It has been basically converted to their use, including a full chapel, altar, tabernacle, sacristy, and a library,” Ascencio explains. “The Franciscan Sisters are an order that has a lot of meditation, a lot of prayer, so it’s a place that just breathes and puts out an aura of peace and tranquility.”

Sister act

Prior to the nuns buying the property, it had been a single-family home that needed some divine intervention—or at least some remodeling. Even the lawn got the sisters’ touch.

“When the sisters bought this property, it was in complete shambles,” Ascencio says. “The weeds were grown, and the whole thing looked like a wild forest. Over the years, they trimmed it down and made it manicured landscaping,”

He adds that because of recent water restrictions, the back of the property now has more of a California desert landscape, with at least one water feature.

“There is a pool area and a recreation place for the nuns to go and enjoy the outdoors during their study and prayer time,” Ascencio notes.

He says the interior is now a bit outdated, because it hasn’t been renovated in quite a while.

“It’s very clean and orderly and pristine and very beautiful,” he observes, adding that the mechanicals are newer, and the clay-tile roof is in good shape. “That gives it a charm that is a bit hard to describe.”

Ascencio estimates a buyer would need to spend roughly “a quarter-million dollars to bring it up to today’s standards in terms of finished look and feel inside.”

The Franciscan order is selling the property because the nuns have moved to another location nearby and no longer need this space.

“The proceeds from this sale go to the order of nuns to their general fund for them to continue their mission,” Ascencio says, noting that the property does not belong to the diocese. “It belongs to the individual order that bought the property originally and improved the property.”

Several types of buyers have shown an interest in the convent. Religious orders, nonprofits, commercial entities such as assisted living facilities, and developers looking to build multiunit dwellings are among the potential new owners.

However, the former nunnery once was a single-family home. And it could be again.

Another “category is somebody who falls in love with it and wants to live in peace and tranquility and wants to use it as their single-family residence,” he explains. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own this unique real estate.”

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