The Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity
2007-2008 Annual Report

Real Estate

In one form or another, “housing” has been a significant part of the social, college, fraternity experience, on most campuses, since the late 1800’s. Where Pi Kappa Alpha is represented, some form of identifiable Greek housing is a relevant issue on 78% of those campuses. The services and programs of the Fraternity’s real estate department are all focused on assisting chapters and house corporations at accomplishing these two primary objectives:

I. Achieving competitive housing; and,
II. Managing that housing in a manner that grows equity while enhancing the organization’s image in the community

A number of metrics have been established to gauge progress within these two main areas; one of those is a grading system that measures the competitive standing of the Pike housing stock. Each facility is judged in three main categories:

1. Location
2. Viability in the Student Housing Market
3. Curb Appeal

Various factors are considered within each category and more weight is placed upon issues believed to be more important or more difficult to change. Although the final 2008 statistics are still being gathered, we have seen a steady increase in the overall grades in the last couple of years. This overall GPA also includes campuses where Pike does not have a house, where housing is a competitive factor, in which case the location would receive an “F” grade or 0.0. Last year the overall grade went from 2.54 to 2.66 (on a 4.0 scale). The “same store” analysis is graded at a 2.65 GPA, which was also an improvement over the previous year.

The Fraternity’s real estate loan fund, commonly known as the Chapter House Fund, was established at the 1907 Convention. It is the most tangible program of assistance in the real estate department’s tool box to help chapters and house corporations achieve the two primary objectives. A variety of lending programs are available to qualifying groups. The limit for the maximum real estate loan was increased this year to $400,000. The interest rate formula for the Life Safety Loan Program was also improved to make these loans more affordable. This CHF now resides with White Horse Holding Corporation, also known as White Horse Capital, Inc. It continues to be the most valuable source of capital for groups that have maximized their attainable financing at the local level, yet need additional funding to achieve their real estate endeavors. There is a series of three articles about the 100th anniversary of the Chapter House Fund that have been running in the Shield & Diamond; of which the final article appears in this issue.

In the last ten years many additional programs have been developed to augment the lending operations, all with the intent to better assist groups with both the achievement of competitive real estate, and then the effective management thereof.

Following are some notable aspects of the real estate department’s major programs:

The staff stands ready to assist your chapter and house corporation with the establishment and attainment of your real estate goals.

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