By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Maybe one of the reasons more people can't own homes here isn't the price of real estate as much as they don't know where to get the best loan.

Go to a bank around town, for example, and you might end up paying 5.11 percent APY over 15 years.

Pretty good by today's market, but definitely not as good a deal as the University of Hawai'i athletic department has apparently scored.

It turns out the Warriors/Rainbow Warriors/Rainbow Wahine/Rainbows have gotten a $1 million loan two years ago not just interest-free but on delayed terms. And, who knows, maybe even for less than $1 million. Total.

Well, it will be once UH gets around to sending in that first check.

You might recall that after athletic director Herman Frazier's first year the athletic department had a $1.4 million deficit, the second of what has become three consecutive deficit years. Since a deficit the previous year — which included losses pegged to 9/11 — had all but exhausted the so-called "rainy day" reserve fund, athletics went shopping for a loan.

This is where Frazier showed a flash of brilliance. Because instead of going to somebody who might have threatened to break his legs if the department didn't pay on time or going to a bank or loan company where they would have insisted on things like points or interest and a timely repayment schedule, Frazier went across Dole Street to the Manoa Chancellor's Office.

And, wisely, too, because the announced payback terms — $200,000 the first year, $400,000 the second and $400,000 the third, all without interest — were far better than they could have hoped to find anywhere along Bishop Street.

Being in considerable envy of those terms, we asked Frazier how he managed to work such a deal. And, whether he took the defensive line along for "muscle" in the negotiations with the administration.

Frazier, in Reno at the Western Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament, explained through a spokesperson that was old news, the original deal having since been considerably sweetened through renegotiation. If it was any sweeter, somebody up there would have to see a dentist.

We're told athletics will shortly get around to making that initial $200,000 payment, which is now due by the end of the current fiscal year that expires June 30. Then, everything else will be determined after the 2003-04 fiscal year audit is presented to the UH Board of Regents.

Talk about a steal. You've got to give it to Frazier, especially if athletics ends up being able to skate on some or all of the $800,000 balance.

However, the question still remains: If Frazier has the acumen to work such a sweet loan deal, how come athletics even needed one in the first place?

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.