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You really need to read a little closer.
I have probably contributed more information in my last 100 posts than all of LXA fraternity manuals COMBINED. Sure, Mason, Cole, etc., contributed to LXA. I'll admit, it was a lot of their hard work and dedication that helped to produce the ultimate Lambda Chi Alpha Brother...me. I have passed on my knowledge many times, from how to make LXA perfectly diverse, new rules for making our finances available to the brotherhood and even how to run a successful nation-wide recruitment program. I have given easy, practical solutions to every single LXA problem that has occurred over the past 4 years. I can't make the blind see again. I can't make the deaf hear again. I can't make a cripple walk again. I can't make LXA follow my correct information and guidelines. I've given all the answers. Your aggression should not be towards me, but the leaders in our organization that have failed to carry out my words. Mason wasn't appreciated in his own time, neither was Cole. It is just a matter of time before you start seeing articles in C+C about the three of us, and our lasting legacy on LXA. |
Quote:
ZUZ |
If I knew of a smiley for beating a dead horse I would post it right now.
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If I knew of a smiley for always being right, I would use it every time I post.
Counselor/EM, it's nice to know that you agree with what I post, since the only thing you can attack my arguments with are insults and snide remarks. |
So, has any chapters that have been approached by LCAP determined a course of action yet?
How are the different chapters that are affected by this handling the situation? Any updates? |
No clue
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One that I know of, but I am not at to discuss it.
They are going to lose their house and that is it. Cannot afford what the price is.:( |
Here's a thought. Have a lawyer (Preferably LXA) set up a corporation that owns real estate. Make the shares in the corporation eligible for retirement accounts - IRA's, 401k, etc. Market the shares to other LXA brothers.
There's a lot of LXA alums (like 150,000?) and quite a few would be willing to risk 5 or 10 thousand of their retirement money to see another building stay in the fraternity. Somebody is going to own these buildings, it might as well be brothers. An alternative would be to sell to a sorority. Sororities like fraternity houses until they get too big and want to build. The typical sorority is 70 members (fraternities is 40) and their nationals have great housing corps that build fine new houses. You can sell the house with the first rights to buy it back in a few years, when the sisters outgrow and build their new house. Yhey'll be glad to have a willing future buyer. |
Found this on the Michigan State Lambda Chi Website- Sad.
Chapter Housing Update (5/20/08) - National's Refuse Gamma Omicron's Offer Date: 5/19/2008 8:00 AM Gamma-Omicron Zeta faces a crisis that could result in the loss of our historic 85 year-old chapter house. Please read the background information below and see how you can help. Most of you are aware that in 1993 the local housing corporation transferred ownership of the 128 Collingwood Avenue property to the national Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. The property was transferred at-cost to the national organization for $300,000. The $300,000 paid off the original mortgage, renovations and back taxes which the house cooperation owed. Since taking ownership, Lambda Chi Alpha Properties (LCAP) asserts it has lost a substantial amount of money on their entire 12 property portfolio. In conversations with Gamma Omicron Alumni, LCAP has stated that it has lost $15,000 annually on the East Lansing property over the last five years. The result of losses on the portfolio of properties is forcing LCAP to liquidate their entire portfolio of properties. The Gamma-Omicron Zeta alumni were offered the chapter house at the price of $806,000. The alumni formed a committee to evaluate the purchase price. The committee is comprised of: Richard Rennell (Class of 1971), Jay Holland (‘73), Richard Page (‘77), Eric Pelton (‘84) Eric Novak (‘95), Jeff Gignac (’97), , Jeremy Mourey (’99), Steve Arndt (‘00), Brock Barczyk (’02), Doug Moody (’04), David Van Kerckhove (‘04), Steve Gonda (’04), John Claya (‘06), Ryan Williams (‘06), and Marcus Belanger (‘07). The consensus among committee members was the $806,000 asking price is extremely high based on market conditions as supported by an independent appraiser and the original terms of the 1993 sale. The committee conducted due diligence and evaluated potential revenue on the property, current market conditions, had the property appraised, and investigated cost of renovations. Based on the aforementioned factors, the Gamma Omicron Alumni Association counter offered LCAP with a $300,000 offer. The offer was made with the knowledge that a minimum of $200,000 in initial renovations are needed to update the current chapter house. This counter offer was rejected and LCAP reaffirmed their $806,000 offer and will be listing the chapter house on the open market June 1, 2008 if an agreement is not reached. Alumni are now faced with the dilemma of either paying above market cost for the chapter house we have occupied continuously since 1927 or risk losing it on the open market. We are seeking a minimum of $650,000 in private alumni funding to ensure that the house stays in the hands of the Gamma-Omicron Zeta. Updates on this topic can be found on the local chapter webpage http://www.msulambdachi.org. In ZAX, Gamma-Omicron Zeta House Purchase Committee How You Can Help: (1) As soon as possible, write the Grand High Zeta and voice your concern with the process. Letters can be mailed to: Grand High Zeta 8741 Founders Road Indianapolis, Indiana 46268-1389 (2) Immediately call and/or email Executive Vice President Bill Farkas at bfarkas@lambdachi.org and (317) 803-7312 Click to see further details, updates, and to discuss this housing situation with other Gamma Omicron Alumni members Join the Gamma-Omicron SAVE THE HUT Capital Campaign: (1) Donate towards the “Gamma-Omicron ‘Save the Hut’ Mortgage Fund”. Contact John Claya at (248) 881-4653 or john.claya@gmail.com with your donation intent by June 3rd, 2008. Gamma-Omicron needs to secure a minimum of $650,000 in private funding to make a down payment on a mortgage, have initial operating funds to manage the property, and perform critically needed renovations to portions of the existing structure. Awards such as naming rights for individual and common area rooms will be available to the highest donors, as well as a permanent plaque of donors who participate. 2) Donate to a specific renovation project: Kitchen Remodel - $46,600 First and Second Floor Bathroom & Shower Room - $54,300 Basement living room and dining room - $25,100 Stairwells - $28,000 Replace interior doors - $23,600 Paint, carpet, tile in common areas - $15,000 Allowance of miscellaneous repairs - $19,000 Please donate on the website or make checks payable to Gamma Omicron Alumni Association and mail to: Gamma-Omicron Zeta House Purchase Committee C/O Eric Novak 7200 W. Saginaw, Suite 1 Lansing, MI 48917 Please note that at this time, donations will not be tax deductible. The Gamma Omicron Alumni Organization is currently filing for 501c3 status, but it is not in place at this time. To arrange large gifts with restrictions and/or stipulations or for any other questions, please contact committee treasurer John Claya at (248) 881-4653 or john.claya@gmail.com |
Yeah;
That is a real bummer, I hadnt heard anything about this situation outside my own chapter having it's house put on the market. And the whole furor over this story sort of subsided after a while, I figured people should know about this. In fact, a large part of this article was about writing letters of complaint to the GHZ etc. |
Since this thread was brought back up, LCAP is History as many may know!
Is it being handled properly, no! LCAP was a great idea and not properly run no matter who was in charge. It became a cluster fu*k up! Admit it, we know it as well as others of us that know it!:mad: I have been in contact with Brothers who have lost or are losing houses, not Brotherhoods. Can it kill those chapters, hell yes! Am I happy, hell I no and I am like you Pissed:mad: You bet your ass I am!!! I feel like our Fraternity has let us as Brothers down!:mad: From what I am gathering, IHQ is dumping property at the harm of chapters. Is this helping us, NO! Am I happy, of corse not and have tried to eplain this to IHQ! Are they listening, I hope so! You can get on the IHQ site and make your voice heard instead of just complaining here on and open web site! |
Tom, I agree 100%.
I hate to say it at this point, but I said all of that on these forums 4 years ago. The writing was on the wall. AN IDEA! How about we start an online petition? It would be MUCH easier to send all the chapters links to it, and it would be one source to have HQ hear our voices! Let all brothers and alumni sign an online petition. Also, I would like to praise GOZ for getting this going and trying to raise the funds. I wish Gamma Zeta was as well organized. I envy and admire your efforts. |
I think it is interesting that the LCAP dump of properties avoids one key item- the general fraternity meeting (be it GA or Leadership Seminar) in the summer. Look at the dates for how this was handled. The notices that the houses were being unloaded were sent to alumni about 6 days before thanksgiving in the fall, giving just about no warning to anyone to prepare for this- this date is also signifigantly after GA. Now they seem to be asking for above market prices (on houses that were basically given to them in the first place years ago) to cover for their own negligence; and note the deadline in the note from Michigan State's letter- June 1rst.
Which I believe is before GA so that the general membership that votes on items of interest to the general fraternity cannot be made part of that decision making process. I would think that if you could talk to all of the LCAP chapters and see the big picture, it would be shockingly bad/embarrassing, and a vote to suspend these sales pending a vote of the general fraternity would force some sort of action to make the prices more reasonable to let our chapters hold onto these homes. Really, the more you read the Michigan State letter, the more angry anyone associated with the fraternity would get regarding how chapters that trusted Indianapolis are now being treated. And as to Tom's point about this being on an open website- good, it should make people uncomfortable, upset and embarrassed to read about how lambda chi's are treating each other. Perhaps putting some small public spotlight might force people to do the right thing when they otherwise would not do that. And one more thing- if they were supposedly losing 15 k a year for years on the Michigan State house, then what business would continue to run that way? Why would you not change the structure of the leasing/pricing etc. to try to not lose the same amount every year? |
"And as to Tom's point about this being on an open website- good, it should make people uncomfortable, upset and embarrassed to read about how lambda chi's are treating each other. Perhaps putting some small public spotlight might force people to do the right thing when they otherwise would not do that."
Very well said Leno. What is right, is right. What is wrong, is wrong. It doesn't matter if it's LCAP, HQ, or the President of the United States. Once we start refusing to address issues in public simply for the "general good", we may as well duct tape our mouths shut. Who is with me on the online petition? It may be the quickest and cheapest way for us to gain support from the alumni and brothers throughout the United States. Some way for everyone to get together and tell HQ that what is going on is wrong. We could send email links of the petition to every chapter, or one liaison in each chapter, to have their membership sign it. As far as wording it, I would have no idea. I've said it many times on this forum before; if we don't start QUESTIONING the people in charge, or reviewing HQ's policies, or refuse to turn a blind eye to a topic, then we end up in a mess just like this. You have to remember, HQ has a serious conflict of interest. The same people that are supposed to put the brotherhood first, also have to make sure that the fraternity is in the black so they can get paid. What is good for the fraternity, isn't always good for HQ. What is good for HQ, isn't always good for the fraternity. |
my voice heard with IHQ and feel as I was told that the Chapters would be offered a better deal for taking back the houses. This did not come from IHQ but someone else.
I cannot remember where I saw this on a post, but LCAP was losing money each month I beleive it said @ $15,000. Now, was this from all chapter houses or just GO? If that was the case, then why did it go on for so long!:rolleyes: It seems like LCAP spent a lot of money on renavations and were they needed? Un. Mo. took it in the shorts and the house was sold from under them. Shippensburg got a house from Acacia I think and a lot of the Brothers Actives and Alums spent a lot of time and sweat and I would bet some of their own money in getting back into shape. One of our most historic houses, Gamma, UMass was taken away from them and it sounded bogus with some of the reports I have heard. As GammaZeta so well put, it is what is good for IHQ may not be good for the Brothers. But remember, it is The Brothers that make LXA! I am so very disappointed in reading about houses being lost and may as well just kill that chapter! |
It is very plain and simple.
LCAP allegedly put tens of thousands of dollars into "renovating" the Gamma Zeta house. Go up there TODAY, RIGHT NOW and SHOW me where all this money was spent improving the house. Bad management, no oversight, and contractors more than willing to take advantage of an absentee landlord. |
I have received some emails and one mentions the word transperancy from what we get from IHQ.
I cannot figure out the word, but in my estimation, it boils down to a lack of knowledge that is passed on to us as members. Oh, I guess that is what it means!:rolleyes: We all know we are a secret society, but when did it become so secret from we as members.:mad: As I mentioned and as GammaZeta said about funds going for interior renovations. These costs seem to be very extensive and costly. Why and where did the money go and to who? While I think that there are more open channels there still is not enough and I ask why? While none of use are involved in the day to day operations, where did all of this money go and why? Open site, yes it is, but this gives us and outlet to ask questions. What is going on and why! As all know, there is no one who has more PGG blood running through his veins than me! But I really want to know what the hell is going on!:mad: I do not need the pablem reports, I want to know the truth!!! That is my right as a Brother! |
PEOPLE WAKE UP!
THIS FRATERNITY IS MADE UP OF THE BROTHERHOOD, NOT HQ. If HQ was to disappear tomorrow, we would still have our brotherhood. If the brotherhood was to disappear, so would HQ. THIS IS WHAT WE DO: Demand that HQ post ALL financial reports on the website. Expenses, donations, money taken in, assets, property, EVERYTHING. MAKE THAT AVAILABLE TO THE MEMBERSHIP. IT'S OUR MONEY, IT'S OUR FRATERNITY. |
At this point you can see that by avoiding the scrutiny of the General Assembly Audience that there is something rotten here. From the surprise "pulling the rug out from under us" letter right before a major holiday to what I've seen with how this was handled at Shippensburg, and now Michigan State as well as Umass nothing has been handled in the best interests of individual chapters or the members in those respective memberships.
With all this talk of higher "core values" and being "true brothers" lets see some where it counts on the bottom line. Sell Michigan State their house at a price they can afford after having it analyzed by an estimator and a group of 12 alumni spanning 40 years. LCAP is the Enron of this fraternity, and I regret giving it my support and trust, as obviously just about everyone that has said anything about it. |
I copied the comments from the C&C article earlier this year- quite a few damning comments- I did edit out Earp's two comments- they were basically not understandable- Tom please understand!
Robert Teglia Says: February 2nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm University of Michigan, Michigan State, South Carolina–all major universities. Sadly, this is another indicator that the fraternity movement continues to lose steam in America. LCAP’s willingness to sell these properties to other fraternities or sororities on campus is a strong signal that all is not well with Lambda Chi Alpha. Bob Koch Says: February 2nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm To Brothers Tom Earp and Robert Teglia: While the Cross and Crescent article was brief please understand that much is being done by the LCAP board, and particularly Mike Smith it’s chairman, to work with the local alumni groups where LCAP properties exist and return those houses to the local brothers. Certain of these properties do not house Zetas currently. Shane Foley Says: February 2nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm Without commenting on what is going on with LCAP, I will say that there is a significant correlation (yes, I crunched the numbers) between chapter size and a chapter having a house. This does NOT mean that chapter houses make larger chapters. That point being made, there is value in members at all levels recognizing this relationship. Art Hebbeler Says: February 2nd, 2008 at 4:44 pm What I am reading in all this is another example of the General fraternity taking an action to gain control (owning chapter houses), and then, realizing that a mistake was made (or, more likely, poor prior planning), taking near-immediate action to bail out on the chapters. After telling chapters “what a great deal this is for everyone,” the chapters (and their alumni) are now being told, “You now have a handful of months to buy your chapter house back.” I am disappointed at the short-sightedness that appears to be at work here. Rick Hambright Says: February 2nd, 2008 at 10:29 pm I like how all of a sudden they figure out LCAP is millions of dollars in debt and the only way to get out is to liquidate all properties. Thanks a lot. They totally screwed over the chapters involved. No one saw this coming until now? Roger Pruger Says: February 2nd, 2008 at 10:53 pm Its funny how LCAP was so gung ho about us handing over our chapter houses, about the economies of scale, and the substantial savings that should have taken place. Poor money management, negotiating skills with builders, and lack of sound leadership by LCAP doomed what should have been a very successful and finacially profitable business model. The property, excluding building in Oxford is likely worth $500,000 plus dollars without the facility. LCAP exceeded their budget of rehab by 25% with renovations, and now are begging us to take the property back and the mortgage, even though we had no mortgage when we gave them the house. LCAP and the overall leadership failed to listen to our local alumni members and their concerns about the chapter. They failed to recruit enough new members when we came back and called it a close tight knit brotherhood, they failed to manage their budget, and they turned our house into a “Nursing Home”. Frustration and embarassment has lead to many alumni walking completely away from a group they really loved. I wouldn’t go to war without soldiers and a former general, yet LCAP jumped in without those individuals who have worked in property management or had a clue as to what was going. Lambda Chi Alpha has hung us out to dry. Todd M. Curro Says: February 3rd, 2008 at 7:13 am While the LCAP directors have my utmost respect, I was rather alarmed when I first heard about LCAP, and felt that the Fraternity was getting in over its head by branching out into property ownership at the Chapter level. This is a serious setback not only for the Fraternity at the International level, but also at the local level for those chapters that may soon be homeless. Todd M. Curro B 1233 (Maine ‘95) Gamma Zeta Says: February 3rd, 2008 at 8:46 am Well, the LCAP article is not 100% accurate. The Gamma Zeta alumni ARE interested in purchasing back the property. Only we do not have the means to carry it for very long, and we would have to take out a mortgage to purchase it. With no recolonization on the horizon, we wouldn’t have the means to keep the property, and we would end up selling it. So it doesn’t make much sense for Gamma Zeta to repurchase the property from LCAP only to turn around and sell it. We hope to work out an arrangement with LCAP that would essentially cut-out the middle-man (Gamma Zeta). If something is not worked out, Gamma Zeta would indeed purchase back the property and sell it. It is a shame that our first chapter house ever will be torn down. Claud Erickson Says: February 3rd, 2008 at 4:30 pm LCAP is a business, and nothing more. At Michigan State, they have put nothing into the house since buying it from the local chapter during the 90s, yet they are asking a ridiculous (not negotiable) price to buy it back. If Al Queda was looking for an East Lansing fortress, LCAP would sell our house to them in the blink of an eye if the price was right. Alan Garber Says: February 3rd, 2008 at 6:34 pm I am truly sad to hear about this decision. Any hopes of bringing back Lambda Chi to Colorado State University are now quashed. Without a the fraternity occupying the property, it surely will be sold. It’s really tough reading our Creed and not think that maybe things are not going well for the Fraternity as a whole. Has Lambda Chi lost it’s faith and hope? Chris Dodd Says: February 3rd, 2008 at 9:28 pm Few points that should be pointed out: LCAP dealt with less than approx.475 brothers in total - so while we spin our wheels over physical plants, what about the other 9000 men that deserve the attention, money and support from IHQ that is being funneled into the failing LCAP; if the General Fraternity continues to pour money into a ill managed and executed housing plan, what parts of overall fraternity operations do we put on hold or discontinue? How many expansions do we put off. I never heard anyone at HQ say this was a good situation. We have to acknowledge that LCAP is an open wound bleeding money. But it seems the General Fraternity would like to operate in the black and avoid what we heard about from the staff that operated in the red year after year. Finally I would caution all brothers to do a little homework and call 8741 Founders Road sometime, things are not bleak at all; a sold out winter retreat two weeks ago, close to 800 men at the leadership school last summer and campuses asking for us to return because of the new True Brother Initiative. Let us remember to celebrate that recruitment is up, being a consultant is an honor again, and advisers can be trained for free with quality education. And I thought it was cool when our consultant told us ALL manuals are being professionally redone in one year’s time (when they sat unchanged since the eighties up until now); with consistency in recruiting with values, educating with values and HQ teaching quality pre-initiation again, we cannot lose! To wrap up; I agree that LCAP is a horrible nightmare; but that is a bitter pill because none of us paid attention when the previous LCAP Board made some pathetic decisions that has held us all back (no wonder the power chapters like Arkansas sent them packing when they tried to get their house). I think the guys at HQ will make sure there are no “homeless” chapters bound for closure and we will be stronger in the long run. Keep the faith - I have called and talked to consultants and advisers who tell me this is one of the most exciting times to be a brother. So instead of acting like chicken little, call the staff, ask the hard questions, get the answers and celebrate the good - and our Creed will remain strong Larry Brinkley Says: February 4th, 2008 at 9:23 am Promises, promises that is what we got! We listened to LCAP and the fraternity say how great it would be to have the international fraternity run our chapter house. Listening to them we were going to have the best house on campus. Instead the brothers at UNT saw their house left to fall down around them. I agree that it is time for LCAP to go away, but I don’t agree that the zetas that entrusted houses to our Headquarters to take care of our properties should now find themselves deep in debt and struggling to figure out how they will keep the properties. I think the fraternity should take responsibility for its actions. If you make a mistake you don’t put it off on someone else to deal with if you are a true brother.You deal with it. I beg to differ with brother Dodd that it only affected the men at those chapters. It effected 1000’s of brothers unless I like my other brothers are no longer counted among the faithful. So Arkansas was lucky but that does not make them any better than our zeta. Lambda Chi Alpha has long stood for the rights of all brothers including the minority as well as the majority. We all should be treated equal. We will get through the crisis, but I think the fraternity should take some of the responsibility and help the zetas involved instead of putting all the mis-management problems back on them. A vote for LCAP at one point was for progress! Now the vote is to get rid of a virus. It fed on us and spent a lot of money and we now have nothing to show for its effort but ill will. I agree that the undergrads are still learning great things under the direction of Bill Farkas but lessons don’t stop at your senior year. Larry Brinkley IZZ 433 Tim Ferry Says: February 4th, 2008 at 1:38 pm LCAP was run as a business, but not very well. Despite recommendations from chapters and alumni, they treated all of their properties vitually the same. Their downfall was not managing EACH property. Also, I believe there was some politics with at least one of their properties: due to local alumni pressure at one school, LCAP was forced to cover the loss of a half-empty house for years. My own chapter had under-occupancy, but it was made clear my chapter would cover that cost. Neglect and apathy can ruin a fraternity, one chapter at a time. Tim Ferry Phi Tau 285 Justin Leisure Says: February 4th, 2008 at 3:21 pm LCAP, like any business in default, needs to be held accountable. The board of directors have mismanaged funds; funds entrusted by countless alumni and active brothers. They made countless misrepresentations, about their abilities to manage properties, their financial standing, and on and on. Now many chapters will be forced to sell their homes during a down market. Much like a chapter has to answer for their shortcomings, HQ & LCAP should as well. A dissolution plan is only the start. Jim Hart Says: February 4th, 2008 at 6:54 pm I built our fraternity house some 35 years ago as an undergraduate with the help of our own Local Alumni House Corp. Frankly we beleived that only the “privileged” few like Butler were able to access LCA money. As a small House Corp still in existence, we have been through good years and bad ones. We have the same troubles about balanced budgets and the like…so I am absolutely shocke that a much larger professional team couold not manage the LCAP well enough to stay in business. Mostly fraternities have not been able to keep pace…financially at least…with the changing living arrangements of college students (I have a son who is a LCA now). Much of that blame lies with the university communities who subsidize every type of housing except the Greek experience. That is the real answer…to become more of an integral part of the educational community…insted of the universiities merely benefitting from our presence. Indeed our primary “competition” may be found right in the university administration looking to offer more out of the box experiences…that I got only from being Greek many years ago. Surely the LCA experince must be good enough to attract more and better young men than we are doing, and I wish our leadership was doing a better job. Selling out to the Sig Ep’s, or Sigma Chi, etc. never seemed like somewhere we should be!!! As an alumni….why would LCAP want our House Corp to be in a business that they themself could not run successfully? Mikel McMullen Says: February 5th, 2008 at 9:02 pm Lame decision, lame past management. Couldn’t state any better. T. Healy Says: February 5th, 2008 at 10:59 pm Clearly the Alumni recognize that LCAP never delivered on their promise of quality housing leveraging expertise, shared purchasing power, better management, and improved communication and relationships with the Active Chapters. Their cut and run strategy is not sitting well with Alumni. Until we Alumni vote with our checkbooks and advise National that they will no longer be receiving contributions from us, they will do nothing to reverse their position. We need to realize that our loyalty needs to be to the local chapter and the local Alumni Board and not to National. They are abandoning us at a very difficult time yet asking us to bail them out. National will never see a dime from me. Concerned Brother Says: February 6th, 2008 at 10:41 am Okay so what the “New Plan”? Quit, give up and liquidate all LCAP owned properties? Some plan you have there, very nice. That will really help some brothers out. First off, there’s no way all the properties owned by LCAP were losing investments. I’ve seen the way they’ve operated and the major problem is the way LCAP operated and charged expenses. They would simply write off unpaid rent as overhead instead of holding individuals and chapters accountable. LCAP also had huge bills for overhead that made no sense in the real business world. The expenses of actually running LCAP was more then the profit of all chapters. LCAP had no reasonable structure in place that could actively monitor individual properties expenses vs. profits while keeping overhead in check. What a joke. I simply have a hard time seeing that all of these LCAP properties lost money. Why don’t you publish some real numbers? Why not figure out what properties lost money, which ones were profitable and support the chapters that make money? Why not keep the profitable ones operating instead of cutting the whole program? The way LCAP was run is a dishonor to LXA and to all the alumni/undergrads who put there life and investments in LCAP hands. Wouldn’t it make more sense to liquidate the properties that were losing money and keep the profitable ones running? It’s a disgrace to our letters that LXA that they would just quit give up on so many dedicated alumni and undergrads. This is just another example of how out of touch nationals are with local chapters. If LCAP had chapters running in red why would they continue to fund them after years of loses instead of dropping individual chapters along the way while picking up profit generating chapters? Thank for running over budget on repairs at numerous chapters, thanks for having ridiculous overhead for unpaid rent which should have been sent to collection, thanks for carrying losing chapters for so long it actually crushed the entire program, thanks for wrecking a number of local chapters and alumni groups, thanks for forcing local chapters into extreme debt by charging over market prices for houses they can’t afford in a bad market. |
As Brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha, we are held to a higher standard, to obtain higher ideals..........
..........except for our leaders. |
I just also wanted to bring up an old point of mine, why do we INSIST on hiring for positions in our fraternity EXCLUSIVELY to brothers of our fraternity.
Why the hell were the leaders of LCAP put into the positions in the FIRST place? No property experience. No real estate experience. No construction experience. No legal experience. No landlord experience. Would you hand over the keys to your BRAND NEW, $120,000 Porsche to a 15 year old student driver? NO! Then why the HELL would we hand over management to someone who had NO EXPERIENCE managing a national property portfolio? Plain and simple, we don't always NEED to hire within the fraternity for eveyr position, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE NOT QUALIFIED! If we simply would have hired a national property management firm, with open books, we would not be in this cluster fuck. |
Since I started my alumni communications firm in '01, I've been licensed by a number of GLOs (LCA & 14 others, both NIC & NPC). Just for the sake of research, tonight I went through each of their web sites to see how many offer housing programs like LCAP. Here's the breakdown (keep in mind that I'm not a financial whiz):
NIC groups - 3 yes, 9 no (I marked LCA as a "no") NPC groups - 1 yes, 2 no On a percentage basis, this extrapolates out to around only 25% of all GLOs. That tells me that this sort of operation's not terribly popular. This also begs the question: what are the 4 GLOs w/housing programs doing that the others aren't? In ZAX, BF |
Im no financial real estate whiz myself, however to answer your question Bill- some of the things done at Shippensburg made absolutely no sense at all. At one point in 2004 the local alumni asked for a change in leasing and billing that would have taken a slight change in the lease and wording that might have taken 30 minutes to change and review that would have lowered the monthly billing, but made it a 12 month lease as opposed toa 9 month lease that would have made the renters happier, closed a loophole of summer living (all the kids lived there for free anyway) and made the house more rentable- AND WOULD HAVE INCREASED REVENUE 15-20%.
We were told that this was too much work to do, and not how they ran things. Also leases were never sent to us until december, despite asking many times to up this into august so we could rent and lease more effectively- We were told that this was too much work to do, and not how they ran things. At one point a student failed out, and called LCAP to be let out of his responsibilities- and was told "ok", until the local alumni called and reamed out the staff member who approved this, and the offer was revoked. We were told this was a misunderstanding. This all goes beyond not having massive real estate knowledge to having zero common sense. In fact we were also told that the Shippensburg house was actually one of the few MAKING MONEY for LCAP. And now the house is for sale, with no buyers, and get this.... no renters for next year. That's right no renters for next year. After the surprise "we're selling" announcement we told LCAP you would not be able to get renters if we told the kids to move out in NOV of 2008. Several of us got an email in MAY of 2008 asking for help in contacting the chapter to look for 8-10 renters?!? So now the alumni investment is totally gone, the house will probably sit empty and vandalized in the next few months, and will generate no income and be sold for next to nothing. Nice |
"This all goes beyond not having massive real estate knowledge to having zero common sense."
That's even scarier... |
OPEN THE BOOKS! OPEN THE BOOKS! OPEN THE BOOKS!
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Excuse me.
I guess since I do not post to somes expectations I won't anymore. If some cannot understand the gist of my postings, then I must be in error.:o My typoing and writing style are mine alone and none others.:rolleyes: Some will call it Earp Speak. So, lets place the emphasis on the problem first and foremost.:cool: Yes, there was and still is a problem and I find it interesting that the comments of Larry Brinkley a past member of the GHZ was very important. IHQ has been placed in a position to act like a business which was done done under previous Executive Director. But in my disjointed idea and what I asked and expected of MY IHQ I don't, I still feel that others have been left out in the cold! I made my recommendation and while it may not have any effect, it is still my advice only and I am tired of seeing Zetas getting screwed as much:mad: So, maybe, this being an open site as has been said some will see it and feel the pain we are feeling. This Shit should be taken care of for the Zetas in one form or another! IHQ has a responsibilty to do it instead of leaving them high and dry! Oh, lenoxx, just my ranting and ravings!:mad: |
Tom's right.
HQ does have a responsibility We need to look at this in two ways: a short term probelm and a long term probelm. Short term - how do we handle the current crisis, get our brothers housing, and not throw away people's hard work. Long term - how do we prevent this type of issue from rising again? Maybe HQ needs to be more open with the financials. Quarterly, or semi-annual financial reports to the membership. |
This is a sad occurence for our chapters who now face a tough problem with figuring out how to financially sustain their houses. However, I don't think there is an easy answer for this. Something has to be done and wether i like the outcome or not I think our HQ is doing the best it can given the circumstances. I read some of these posts and to me it almost paints a picture a bunch of evil people in Indy who are out to make a buck and screw all of our brothers over, which i know is not true. Tough choices have to be made, unfortunate mistakes have occurred in the past, but they are doing whats best for the fraternity as a whole, please try and keep that in mind. Wether you agree with the outcome or not, I am pretty sure alot of thought and attention went into the desicion to get rid of LCAP.
"Its easy to shout from the back of the bus when your not in the drivers seat." |
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Yes, I learned over a period of time that while LCAP seemed to be a great idea it turned out to be a big mess. Yes, there is a new group in place at IHQ that I have more respect for than I have had for a very long time. I have worked with them and seen what they have done to cut back expenses and get us back in line so there can be expansion of either new colonies or going back to those closed over the years. Bill and Biff both explained that was this they felt was the best effort and a two pronged attack which makes sense. I am not really sure how many houses are in jepordy of being lost as that has not been reported to my knowledge. We only know of a few that we have seen on here, but they could be still a major part of LXA. It has and still my proposal tht they while act as landlords, the payments come to them to keep paying off the mortgages until at the time a Alumni group and take them over. Not just try to seel the houses back at inflated prices that were beyond their control. As GammaZeta pointed out there seemed to be little oversight from what I have seen and heard. One of the jewells was at the Un. Ak which the Zeta now owns again. But, what of the others? Am I soured over this, yes I am and I still feel that more could be done to keep those Zetas alive and in house. |
lxa29;
Im glad you now feel ok about what is being done with LCAP- because you are sure people "put alot of time into it". We all assumed that when it started and were basically "sold up the river". The facts are that the liquidation plan was handled poorly, and continues to be handled poorly with all of the evidence at hand. Your blind faith in this is exactly why is got so out of control in the first place. I was willing to give the new folks a clean slate, however, when they put the house up for sale with no buyers ready to go, and told the renters to move on, and now there will be an empty or near empty house, and have started asking our alumni for help to fill it after they were told that would not work and blindsiding us with selling the property in the first place with no plan. That story needs told |
Some major flaws in your thinking:
"Tough choices have to be made, unfortunate mistakes have occurred in the past, but they are doing whats best for the fraternity as a whole," Unfortunate MISTAKES? Is it a MISTAKE when your property organization has no one with any experience in charge and is LOOSING THOUSANDS of dollars on a monthly basis? That's not a mistake. Something is seriously wrong with that. They're doing what's best for the fraternity as a hole? Even better idea. Hire someone who is competent and not just a BUDDY from the fraternity to run the damn thing. Don't give me this bullshit of "oh, we made a mistake in the past but now we're trying to fix it". Seems like this happens every couple of years, doesn't it? DOESN'T IT? Quit the patronage, quit hiring exclusively from within the fraternity, quit throwing our money down the drain. Those aren't mistakes, that's incompetence. WE DON'T LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES, PERIOD. That's how we are always ending up in this situation. It was the mid 90's, then the late 90's, then the early 00's, and now it's 08. "HQ is doing the best it can given the circumstances" Maybe if HQ actually did something YEARS ago, they wouldn't be in this "circumstance". Maybe if they didn't get themselves into this mess. What I want to know is, WHO is accountable and WHAT we will do in the future to prevent this from happening again. I'll tell you what: QUARTERLY REPORTS OF OUR ENTIRE FINANCIAL STATUS MAILED TO EACH CHAPTER AND ALUMNI ORGANIZATION... Every three or four years we take another financial hit. Let's find out where the money is going. Let's find out where it is spent. It's time we hold HQ responsible. |
Your blind faith in this is exactly why is got so out of control in the first place.
AMEN!!!!!!!! That's what I've been saying the past 4 years. Ask questions....demand answers. |
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Another bit of shameful reporting from the LCAP newsfront... from the C&C website. I found the title of the article very very true.
Brothers When Convenient July 2nd, 2008 by Joe Manzella. Popularity: 4%. Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Service & Stewardship, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. These are the core values of the new True Brother Initiative - something I wish we started long ago - to better capture the meaning of brotherhood and to better live it as brothers. At the same time our fraternity is moving toward a very idealistic and hopeful future (read:hope for the future), some of national’s actions are setting us back years. In late 2007, as I headed my first few meetings as the proud High Alpha at Gamma Omicron Zeta (Michigan State), I sat at the helm of a chapter responsible for raising over $30,000 for cancer with our Greek Week team the year prior, one of the few chapters with zealously dry recruitment, a Chapter that initiated a local pastor as an honorary, a chapter that took home more than half of all awards handed out in the greek community for the past 2 years - we have 26 fraternities. So, you can see my surprise when I heard that LCAP was divesting itself of our property because they were ‘losing money’ on the chapter and that membership was ‘weak’. AND that the alumni would be responsible for making an offer by April 1st and close on the house by July 1st. What? They want us to start a housing corps, do fundraising, and have a loan ready by April? There’s more… They are holding us liable for past ‘losses’. A property with a reasonable value of around $400,000 could be OUR cess-pit again for $806,000! Thanks LCAP! I was quite astounded by the large amount of losses, i wondered how they could have gotten a loan on the property with that kind of negative cash flow, and then they showed us their books… the past 3 years worth, because they don’t keep any more than that. They were calculating ‘depreciation’ with their losses. So a year they take in roughly $13,000 positive cash flow, the house ‘lost’ $30,000 in value, so that year they lost $17,000 on the property. With a wild fundraising drive and a sizeable loan, this chapter may be able to purchase this property, but anything more than $500,000 will put us back in the territory that LCAP has well tread: overspending ourselves. A quick recap: -Chapter was weak in the early 1990s -Lambda Chi Alpha took it over in 1993 -LCAP in 1997-ish -2004 LCAP pulls out a balloon loan, joining millions of other idiots that spent more than they could afford over the next few years and wound up defaulting on a loan they should never have qualified for -2007 LCAP gives the alumni a 6-month ultimatum to buy the house or have it sold out from under them. With me so far? Here is the rest: I called the house a cess-pit earlier, maybe that is not fair, so I’ll let you judge for yourself. Would you buy a 26-bedroom house with no functioning kitchen, a basement that floods because of the parking lot slope, 2 functioning toilets(of 6) and 4 functioning showers (of 7)? Still interested? How about if I ask you to pay $300-400,000 over value because you would be a bad brother to burden the fraternity by paying a fair value on the house? Still having trouble justifying that? LCAP has put a price on brotherhood, and that price here at MSU is $306,000. They hired a real-estate law henchman to head the discussions and forced our alumni to spend thousands of dollars in consulting and lawyer fees before the sale even became feasible, just because they would not be up front with their finances. This past month, our chapter presented legislation to the fraternity through the General Assembly, essentially asking that the general fraternity vote to require LCAP to sell the property to us for a fair value of $506,000 with a promise that we do $200,000 in renovations within the first year. This is fair, and does not penalize us for LCAP’s failure nor doom us to the same fate with a huge loan. We were just made aware that our resolution would not be heard on the floor of the general assembly because it would jeopardize the ’seperate’ relationship of Lambda Chi Alpha and LCAP (all board members are brothers, btw). We are being called bad brothers because paying a fair value would hurt the fraternity, BUT we cannot use legal means to enforce fairness because LCAP isn’t part of the fraternity. What does all of this mean? Brothers When Convenient. Gamma Omicron Zeta started in 1907 as the Forensic Literary Society, was Chartered in 1922, was one of the few fraternities to experience a merger on campus with Theta Kappa Nu in 1939, and depending on how this house sale goes, may have its last year of existence in 2009. In the past 4 years our membership has bounced almost cyclically between 55-81. Right now we are at 51 pre-rush, with 35 of those guys living in the house and ready to recruit. This chapter has been the focal point for inter-zeta relations since I first started college in 2004 and especially after the 2008 conclave, and losing this chapter will lose much of the connections that our zeta started within the State of Michigan and Great Lakes Conclave. We, in our hour of greatest need, have worked very hard to build the chapter into something we can be proud of, and the fraternity as a result of its own failure is turning their back on us. So, I leave you with these few words: Always trust your brother. If he breaks your trust, rebuke him. If he asks forgiveness, forgive him. If he breaks he breaks your trust again, he was never a brother in the first place. “Those who know the true meaning of brotherhood must practice it” - Harry S. Truman. |
"Brothers When Convenient." Ya know, when LCAP took over Gamma Zeta,they said they would take brotherhood out of the equation. Then when we had to SUE them to get releif (we won), they accused us of NOT being brothers.
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Ok, ok, ok.
I've been holding off doing this for a while. Five years ago I originally joined this board to tell others about what shady business practices LCAP had pulled on Gamma Zeta. When I told the TRUTH about what happened between LCAP and Gamma Zeta, people called me a liar, that I was bitter, that I didn't know what I was talking about, tha LCAP was a stand up group for LXA and that us trouble makers at Gamma Zeta were always in the wrong. Well, I HAVE to say it... I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO... Wow, does that feel good. |
I KNEW YOU WOULD!
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Yours in ZAX, ZetaUpsilon |
DocRoc, at least give me SOME credit for waiting this long to do it.
I originally wasn't going to, but that last letter by Lenoxxx forced me to. |
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Let's say the house is worth $400,000 as you say. $30,000 a year in depreciation is pretty steep for two reasons. First, land is not depreciable- and certainly not for tax purposes! (more on that in a moment.) Second, even assuming the structure itself is worth 75% of the total value of the property including the land- that would still mean they are depreciating the house in 10 years time ($300K/$30K a year) and that is overly aggressive. 15-40 years is a more typical depreciation period for a structure. What kind of organization is LCAP? How is it designated? Is it a non-profit entity? Do they have to prepare annual audited reports? If so, then I would encourage you guys have a legal/accounting whiz or two do some serious digging. Because if the numbers they are presenting to you are what they are using to do their own internal accounting- then there are potentially issues based on the information I am seeing here. Next- if LCAP is a non-profit entity, then what is its mission statement? If the mission statement is, as I assume, to provide housing for members of the non-profit entity LXA- then by trying to force you to purchase the home in excess of fair market value they are violating their non-profit purpose and that is your best ammunition to hit them hard and force them to sell a new Housing Corporation the property at a fair price- which would be LCAP's initial investment LESS any net returns they have seen, and by that I mean tangible returns- none of this over-aggressive depreciation nonsense. If we were talking about a public company, I would assume there is a lot here I do not know since this deal- as described on this site- is so far afield of what is appropriate. But when you get into the realm of non-profits and non-business management of entities like fraternities where politics can take over common sense very quickly, then this scenario is actually pretty believable even though a seasoned businessman cringes at the sight of it. The stupid thing here is that if you do not raise the money they are demanding, LCAP has to sell the house on the open market for a lot less money and then LCAP risks costing LXA a chapter- or at the very least doing it serious damage. It becomes a lose-lose for everyone. The only reason I can imagine this is happening is that those balloon notes that were referenced have crippled the organization and they need to get extra money in some places to make up for capital losses or payment demands in other places (which is also legally tricky.) Best of luck to you guys in this. What a mess! PS- I almost forgot. It would be interesting to know what kind of loans LCAP was taking on. An organization in that kind of role is expected to invest very conservatively. If they were riding the rails in getting loans, that is potentially another actionable issue for which the Board- and not individual chapters- could be held personally financially responsible. |
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