EXHIBIT 31.1



CERTIFICATION



I, J. C. Lowenberg, III, certify that:



I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of American Realty Investors, Inc. (ARI);



Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this quarterly report;



Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
financial information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;



I am responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure
controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13(a)-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for ARI and have:



| | (a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under my supervision, to insure that material information relating
to ARI, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to me by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
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| | (b) | Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under my supervision, to provide reasonable
assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
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| | (c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of ARIs disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report my conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
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| | (d) | Disclosed in this report any change in ARIs internal control over financial reporting that occurred during ARIs most recent fiscal quarter (the registrants fourth
fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, ARIs internal control over financial reporting; and
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I have disclosed, based on my most recent evaluation of internal control
over financial reporting, to ARIs auditors and the audit committee of ARIs Board of Directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):



| | (a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect
ARIs ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
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| | (b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in ARIs internal control over financial reporting.
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|Date: August 16, 2004 |  | /s/    J. C. Lowenberg, III                                                                                                                   
|                      |  | J. C. Lowenberg, III Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer and Acting Principal Executive Officer)