Buying the house back from LCAP

[john1082]

Originally Posted by PiLambda1

Faith...

Trust . . . but Verify

[GammaZeta]

Faith. It is an interesting concept.

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.
6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.
7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.
8. Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

So, where does your faith lie? In your brothers? In your chapter? In your alumni? In LXA's teaching? In HQ? In all of them?

Imagine this. Your chapter has had a bad year recruiting last year. You drop down to about 12 or 13 members. Luckily you have had a better semester and have retained 10 promising associates that have not been initiated. One day you get a call from HQ:

"Brandon, we are sorry to inform you that we will be closing your chapter due to our new initiative of closing smaller chapters of under 20 men. Although your chapter will be closed, we will be better able to serve other larger chapters. You will be mailed the appropriate paperwork for becoming alumni of LXA. Thank you for having faith in us."

How is your faith now?

There is a problem with misplaced faith.

I was raised Catholic. I went to 13 years of Catholic school. My parents, relatives, friends are all Catholic.

Over the last 5-6 years here in Massachusetts, and other places across this country, it has been found that dozens, if not hundreds of priests sexually molested children. One priest who was convicted of molesting dozens of children lives just a 1/2 mile from me.

Since those scandals erupted, I have refused to give a dime to the Catholic Church if I suspected that it would be used to defend or help with any insurance policy to defend any priests accused of molestation. Instead I have given my donations (very small) to charities.

Am I still a Catholic? Absolutely. I still consider myself a Catholic everyday. But where is my faith? To whom do I have faith in?

I've learned that my faith isn't in the PEOPLE that run the Church, it is in the TEACHINGS of the Church.

Do I have faith in LXA? Absolutely. I have faith that it brings people together for a good common purpose. I have faith that it has good teachings, to abide by your word, work hard, do right.

Do I have faith in the people who run LXA? To a point I do. But our history is too tainted to have faith in an organization that needs to make a profit. Our own founder Warren Cole was kicked out of the fraternity he founded because of issues with money. A few years ago we were lucky to make it past one of the worse run periods of our fraternities history. We're lucky to even HAVE a fraternity from a few years ago.

Do I have faith in LXA? Yes. Do I have faith that they will do what is best for every member, or individual chapter instead of what is best purely for HQ? Nope.

[GammaZeta]

John, exactly. You actually posted that while I was typing my previous message.

Man, you could have saved me a boat load of time!!!

Trust, but verify.

I guess to bring it back to the original question Moose proposed, you should assume that LCAP will be fair, but that doesn't mean you don't do your homework.

[Tom Earp]

As I said, I emailed Brother Klimek and got a very quick emailo back from him with answeres to my caretaker question.

I will not place it on site, but from his explanation, I can and do see a better picture of LCAP!

It is a Non Profit Organization within LXA.

Many times and having been there, House Corporations cannot handle the Housing problems and ask LCAP to take them over and operate them as opposed to a local manager who does not have the where with all to run a Fraternity House and understand what it takes.

The situation at UnMass is something that has been discussed several times and I will not go into that either. Oh, the only thing I will mention that was passed on to me was a pipe in the fire supresent system that broke and had to be fixed ASAP or the house would have been closed by the local Fire Department. The renters would have been forced to leave, rental money would have to be repayed and then condemd and lost to LCAP!

In the caretaker form that I asked about, no, there isn't unless all moneys are paid back to LCAP for monies spent for updates and refinancing. This is nothing more than proper, it is not a give me Non Profit part of LXA!

If anyone wishes to check the LCAP site and the function, it is on lambdachi.org for all to read.

LCAP is more than willing to return the property if and only if the Zeta has the where with all to handle the situation!

That is the key isn't it?

[GammaZeta]

That is just the thing Tom, which I am curious as to what happens with Moose's chapter.

LCAP making the determination of if a chapter can handle the situation.

As Moose said in his original post "We are making some great steps in a positive direction and feel that LCAP is just holding us back. "

Seems kind of fishy to me. A semi-stable chapter could more than easily obtain a mortgage on the property they wish to buy and repay LCAP the money. I don't think that is the problem.

But what is "handle the situation"? That's where things get sticky.

I can understand concern from LCAP that they don't want to sell it and have to come back 5 or 10 years from now. I think that is why they will not transfer back the property.

So if a chapter has 50 guys and is doing well, why wouldn't LCAP sell back the property?

I think it is a catch 22. Sure, LCAP will sell back the property but only if the chapter can guarantee stability for the next 5, 10 or 15 years.

So what chapter can assure they will be able to handle a house in 10 years from now? Even the absolute best chapters can't do that.

That is where I believe conflicting interests occur. LCAP wants long-term viability; a chapter cannot provide assurance for long-term viability.

Has anyone ever see the movie "I, Robot"? (or book)

Humans create robots to serve and protect them. Robots evolve, and it is found out that robots want to control and enslave because they feel humans are self-destructive. So the best way to prevent humans from hurting themselves is to control them.

Just like LCAP. LCAP was created to serve the chapters. LCAP evolved. It was soon found out that no chapter could successfully be stable enough to justify LCAP selling back the property. LCAP will therefore always keep the property because a chapter will always self-destruct.

Oh and Tom, I am NOT talking about Umass. I am talking on general terms.

[PiLambda1]

My post was a joke...

[GammaZeta]

Sarcasm is often lost in print.

[PiLambda1]

Originally Posted by GammaZeta

Sarcasm is often lost in print.

It was a joke - not sarcasm.

I wouldn't have posted something serious here, because no matter
what I put, you would do your best to contradict me, make me feel
stupid for posting, and repeat your initial thoughts two or three more
times.

I just cut out all that and posted something that had little to nothing
to do with the discussion at hand...and it was 2am...

[GammaZeta]

I'm sorry, next time I will simply agree with everything you say so you can feel better about yourself. Will that help raise your self-esteem?

[Tom Earp]

Originally Posted by PiLambda1

My post was a joke...

Steady on Brother Brandon, not a problem!

[Tom Earp]

Originally Posted by GammaZeta

That is just the thing Tom, which I am curious as to what happens with Moose's chapter.

LCAP making the determination of if a chapter can handle the situation.

As Moose said in his original post "We are making some great steps in a positive direction and feel that LCAP is just holding us back. "

Seems kind of fishy to me. A semi-stable chapter could more than easily obtain a mortgage on the property they wish to buy and repay LCAP the money. I don't think that is the problem.

But what is "handle the situation"? That's where things get sticky.

I can understand concern from LCAP that they don't want to sell it and have to come back 5 or 10 years from now. I think that is why they will not transfer back the property.

So if a chapter has 50 guys and is doing well, why wouldn't LCAP sell back the property?

I think it is a catch 22. Sure, LCAP will sell back the property but only if the chapter can guarantee stability for the next 5, 10 or 15 years.

So what chapter can assure they will be able to handle a house in 10 years from now? Even the absolute best chapters can't do that.

That is where I believe conflicting interests occur. LCAP wants long-term viability; a chapter cannot provide assurance for long-term viability.

Has anyone ever see the movie "I, Robot"? (or book)

Humans create robots to serve and protect them. Robots evolve, and it is found out that robots want to control and enslave because they feel humans are self-destructive. So the best way to prevent humans from hurting themselves is to control them.

Just like LCAP. LCAP was created to serve the chapters. LCAP evolved. It was soon found out that no chapter could successfully be stable enough to justify LCAP selling back the property. LCAP will therefore always keep the property because a chapter will always self-destruct.

Oh and Tom, I am NOT talking about Umass. I am talking on general terms.

I just threw UMass in the mix since Brother Klimek did to show what can happen and needs to be handled at a moments notice.

There is much more than each of us may have a handle on and with some one who is in the know and can get things taken care of is a positive.

As Joe said, many local realators/management have no clue when it comes to GLO houses.

If a Chapter such as Mooses can handle it with a proper H C, IHQ will return the property to them if they so desire and have the availability to run and keep it properly.

But many times the HC which are Alumni cannot and do not have the where withall to do it as I am sure you should be aware of. Could the Alumni HC of Gamma Zeta be able to handle this situation?

Remember, many of us are volunteers and only have so much time to get things done before we get tired and just say screw it and step away!

So ergo, LCAP has stepped into the breach and handle it period. Having Realistate experience is not the total issue.

It is a non profit arm of LXA and not in the business to make money, but to keep houses in place that can be used later while it is rented out if there is a chance of rechartering.

This argument is getting us no where if you will not or do not agree to the findings.

No, before you say it, I do not kiss anyones rears and do ask questions and I do get aqnswers and then try to report them as best as I can!

[GammaZeta]

Well Tom, I don't see any reason wy a property management company can't handle the basics. There is no difference between a GLO house or a house the hockey team rents out. Maintain the house, collect rents, make sure everything runs smoothly. In fact, I think taking the fraternity aspect out of the equation would help immensely.

[Tom Earp]

That is the way it is, period!

If this goes on much longer without something of importance, I will lock it!

You do not help yourself or your ex Zeta.

Give or ask positive questions either from this site or IHQ!

No matter what, you will not agree and that is your problem, not all of us on site.


Take a hint from one of the Brothers on site who know you and try to work with you!

[GammaZeta]

Tom, I'm just trying to find out what the difference is between a GLO house and any other house?

I've personally witnessed several fraternity houses that were very successfully managed by non-greek management companies.

I wasn't aware that a fraternity paying rent was so totally different than a non-greek paying rent. Or that a fraternity house required special pipes, doors, drywall and other maintenance materials than a normal house.

EDIT:

Tom, I think this is really a discussion on what LCAP's role is in REALITY. Moose had said in his original post that LCAP was making things difficult for his chapter to regain independence.

This isn't a question LCAP can answer. That is like trusting what a used car salesmen says. Of course LCAP is going to answer any question you ask them in a positive light, if you ask them to justify their existence, what would you expect them to say? Tom, you out of anyone should know better. Remember what happened a few years ago? Remember the problems HQ had? If you asked HQ a question 5 or 6 years ago, do you think they would reply "Yeah, we are in pretty deep $*&% and may lose everything. We have no plan, no goal. We are losing money." Of course not!

I can tell you what LCAP's goal is, that's a no brainer. I think this should be a discussion on the actual impact and implementation of LCAP and HQ policy and procedures.