house?

tiramasu · #1 11-26-2002, 12:25 PM

help!
i'm in a small local sorority and i need ideas of how to get a house. i've been talking to some other sororities and frats but they either have had the house so long they don't remember how they got it or some rich alumni bought it for them. we don't have alumni that can buy us girls a house. any ideas?
Tiramasu
DELTA PHI MU

navane · #2 11-26-2002, 12:29 PM

Start out by renting a house for a while. That way you can build up housing policies and a game plan for having your own house eventually.

.....Kelly

Kevin · #3 11-26-2002, 12:35 PM

Careful when renting a house!

Local fire city ordinances may come into play and greatly reduce the number of residents allowed there.

We had this problem as we are renting a house (chapter is less than a year old). As soon as we put the letters up we recieved a surprise inspection of the fire marshal. He limited us to 3 residents! This has been a strain on us financially. If buying is an option and you have the resources, I say that's your best route.

Kevlar281 · #4 11-26-2002, 12:36 PM

My fraternity colonized in the spring of 1999 and re-chartered in the fall of 2001 after a forty-eight years of dormancy at the University of Houston. Five brothers took it upon themselves to go house hunting. As nice as it would be to have the alumni support to buy a house they settled on renting. We have a prime location across from the quads and right next door to Alpha Chi Omega. We our now one of the largest fraternities on campus with one of the smallest houses. Thankfully though Greek Row is being built and will be ready by fall 2003. So I guess my best advice is to rent until you have the chapter base to move on to bigger things.

madmax · #5 11-26-2002, 02:33 PM

Go rent the best house you can find and then fill the place to the legal limit.

BSUPhiSig'92 · #6 11-26-2002, 04:35 PM

Make sure that any house that you might consider buying is properly zoned for a chapter house. The Sigma Nu chapter at Ball State bought a house years ago on the word of their realtor that it was zoned for fraternity/sorority housing (it was on the same block as the SAE house, just on a different corner. It turned out that their property was not zoned for fraternity/sorority housing and the city wouldn't grant them a variance. They weren't allowed to put up a sign or letters, and when they went to paint their letters on the door of their garage, the neighbors complained immediately and the city made them paint it over! At SIUE, the city of Edwardsville has their zoning ordinances locked up pretty tight to keep out any additional fraternity/sorority houses. The only chapter with a house is Sig Ep, and they got that through a combination of a grandfather clause and some wheelin' & dealin' negotiations with the city. So make sure that you check zoning maps on any property before you rent or buy!!!

BSUPhiSig'92 · #7 11-26-2002, 04:53 PM

Make sure that any house that you might consider buying is properly zoned for a chapter house. The Sigma Nu chapter at Ball State bought a house years ago on the word of their realtor that it was zoned for fraternity/sorority housing (it was on the same block as the SAE house, just on a different corner. It turned out that their property was not zoned for fraternity/sorority housing and the city wouldn't grant them a variance. They weren't allowed to put up a sign or letters, and when they went to paint their letters on the door of their garage, the neighbors complained immediately and the city made them paint it over! At SIUE, the city of Edwardsville has their zoning ordinances locked up pretty tight to keep out any additional fraternity/sorority houses. The only chapter with a house is Sig Ep, and they got that through a combination of a grandfather clause and some wheelin' & dealin' negotiations with the city. So make sure that you check zoning maps on any property before you rent or buy!!!

tiramasu · #8 11-26-2002, 07:22 PM

thanks for the input. does anyone know where you can find out if a property is zoned for frat/sorority housing?

DELTA PHI MU
Together as One

Tom Earp · #9 11-26-2002, 11:26 PM

Please, we are not Frats! We are Fraternitys!

Thank you.

First rent whether it be a house or apartment area that you can be all together!

tiramasu · #10 11-27-2002, 11:26 AM

fraternitys
sorry tom

BSUPhiSig'92 · #11 11-27-2002, 11:48 AM

Your local city hall should be the place to check this out. If there is a Department of Building and Zoning or a City Clerk's office try there.

shadokat · #12 11-27-2002, 01:21 PM

If you have off campus housing in houses, find one of those houses to rent and move a bunch of folks in. Once you start living there, it will become the "XYZ" house, because it's where many will live, where you hold events, etc.

We rented a house for ours, and it was a pretty decent house. We had 17 women live in it (it was both sides of a double), and it worked out just fine. Make sure though you get a good landlord, because with all those girls in there, you'll need stuff fixed