EXHIBIT 31.1



CERTIFICATION



I, Scott T. Lewis, Executive Vice President, and Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer and Acting Principal Executive Officer) of American
Realty Investors, Inc. (ARI), certify that:



|1. | I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of ARI;
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|2. | Based on my knowledge, this annual 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 annual report;
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|3. | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this annual 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 annual report;
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|4. | I am responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial
reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(b) and 15d-15(f)) for TCI and have:
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| | a. | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information
relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made know to us 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 our 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 the registrants disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our 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 the registrants internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant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, the registrants internal control over financial reporting; and
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|5. | I have disclosed, based on my most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to ARIs auditors and Audit Committee of the Board of Directors (or persons
fulfilling the equivalent function):
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| | a. | all significant deficiencies in the design or operation of internal controls which could adversely affect ARIs ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial data
and have identified for ARIs auditors any material weaknesses in internal controls; 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 controls; and
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|                      |  |  |  |                                                                                    
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|Dated: March 31, 2005 |  |  |  | /s/    SCOTT T. LEWIS                                                              
|                      |  |  |  | Scott T. Lewis                                                                     
|                      |  |  |  | Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer                               
|                      |  |  |  | (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer and Acting Principal Executive Officer)