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Off campus, pass-down houses dominate market

By Abigail Kelly, For The Miami Student

Every spring, underclassmen scramble to find off-campus housing. For some, the process is made a little easier when older members of fraternities, sororities and other student organizations get them into a pass down house. "Passing down" houses to younger members allows students to sign leases before realtors are able to advertise.

The idea of pass-down houses is cherished by many Miami students. However, in Oxford's competitive real estate market, where students regularly sign leases for housing two years in advance, these "pass-down" houses are often stolen.

Junior Caroline Grace Williams signed a lease with a group of friends in February of her freshman year.

"Living with 10 girls would be a fun experience," she said. "When else could you really get that other than college?"

They signed a lease on a house called "The Great Fratsby," a known pass-down house among Pi Kappa Phi fraternity brothers on South Main Street. She remembered going to parties at the house, so she never felt the need to take a tour of it before signing.

Now, when she attends the fraternity's events with her boyfriend, the "house-stealing" has become a running joke.

"I started saying '514 South Main' instead of 'Great Fratsby' so I didn't have to hear people say 'What? You're the one who stole it?'" said Williams.

Despite the frequent teasing, Williams does not think there were any hard feelings about her moving into the house.

"It's not hard to sign a lease like we did," Williams said. "We just walked into Red Brick Property and they told us it was free."

However, not every pass-down house is treated the same way, and some students wish the tradition could be taken more seriously.

Seniors Greta Hallberg and Ariana Speridakos have lived in "Krazy Eights" for two years. Before they came to Miami, their older sorority sisters in Kappa Kappa Gamma also lived there.

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"After we got our bids [freshman year], a couple groups of juniors said that their houses would be open for us to sign for our junior year," Hallberg said. "My group of friends expressed interest and they gave us a tour of the house. A few days later we signed with the landlord."

Hallberg and Speridakos remember receiving house decorations from the older girls and having dinner with the graduating seniors before they "passed the house down."

However, the pass-down tradition of Krazy Eights will soon end, as it was signed by another group of girls - one not affiliated with Kappa Kappa Gamma - for the 2017-2018 school year.

Speridakos said she is sad the tradition will not continue.

"It is definitely upsetting that we're losing the house after next year," Speridakos said. "Since we aren't allowed to have actual sorority houses, this is the closest we can get … younger members of Kappa won't get to have the same experience I did."

Hallberg agreed, adding that she thinks sororities should make an effort to keep their pass-down traditions going.

"I think it's really fun to have traditions in sororities like that," Hallberg said. "I just wish girls in other chapters all respected that and respected each other's traditions."

Hallberg said that, although her landlord reached out to them about finding other girls in their sorority to fill the house, another group of girls signed the lease before the group of potential Kappa Kappa Gamma residents.

"I really love the tradition and wish that the landlords and realtors would work with us and keep those traditions alive," Hallberg said.

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