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June 04, 2004

On Finding a House

The most important work you and I will ever do will be within the wall of our own homes.
- Harold B. Lee (1899 - 1973)

Finding a house right now is main priority number one. We've had meetings, we've had discussions, we've debated, argued, brainstormed, thought, and dreamed about this for a couple of months now. It's finally becoming a reality. There looks to be about six guys willing to move into a house, including David "Flounder" Dickman, Jasen Braun, Justin Payne, Jeremy Rasmussen, Blaise Exon, and myself. There must be some sacrifices, and we all understand that they must be made if we plan on making our fraternity the best it can be. In a perfect world, we would have a house right next to campus, with four bedrooms and a two car garage that we could transform into an extra room or office. We'd probably have to bunk up with one other person, but that's another sacrifice we're willing to make, however unappealing that seems. That's not all we're willing to sacrifice, though...

This will be my fourth year at school and the first time I've ever shared a bedroom after I've already lived by myself in three different houses. The properties around campus are some of the worst here in town, and I can safely assume that most of the houses are not up to current zoning and safety codes. If we had Warm Springs next to campus, we'd be set. There's plenty of great houses with the right size and number of rooms we need, but it's unfortunately too far away.

Flounder and Justin found out the white two-story house across the Admin building on University is up for rent, but after checking with the property manager, we found out only one of the three (separately leased) floors was available. The owner also is not at all willing to sell his cash cow, either. So we keep looking. Blaise, the future "RA", is getting anxious. He's out of the loop, way out in Richfield, and he's really excited about it.

I'll call a meeting sometime this coming week, and see if we can schedule some activities for the summertime, along with maybe setting up a "house-hunting day" once a week where we go out and look for possible properties.

In the meantime, Chris Wirshing is going to have to be kept informed, as he's the one that's going to be financing the house for us. If he can get a decent loan on a house (over $100K), he'll buy the house and we'll pay him during our tenure there. Plans are we stay at that residence for three years or so until we convince Nationals that we're responsible enough to hold a house down with no problems or complaints, and after we have a strong, solid membership. After they're convinced, they put down the money to buy a house in their name, and we pay them the bills as the guys graduate and new guys come in.

The house will be a major draw for any new rushes. After a year of not having a central location to hang out at (with the separation of our old "house"), we're hurting to have a central hub again. This house will the first official AKL house our chapter has ever had, and so we're going to follow all the rules down to a tee. That means alcohol-free housing (which is the best draw, in my opinion), increased insurance, and zoning charges for putting our letters out front in a non-multi-family zoning area.

We've got our work cut out for us. We just have to continue our drive and stay focused for a move-in date the week before classes start. Mid August, here we come!

Posted by Danny on June 4, 2004 10:21 AM