The sun., 1919-06-01
WANTS EXCHANGE
4 FOR MORTGAGES


from income taxation the interest re-
ceived by the holder of a mortgage Of
$4,000 or less, which was lien upon
a home.
There Is another reason why mort
cage money is not available, went on
Mr. Mann. and that 10 that a mortgage
investment Ia not liquid asset Hike an
investment in mortgage railroad oonds
OF municipal bonds or Industrial bonds,
that pay practically the same rate. or
even a larger one, to-day. In addition
tho man who has a mortgage investment
cannot even borrow money on IL ana
( offer II as collateral In a bank, except
IN limited quantities. The banks In our
States are prohibited from accepting
real estate mortgages as coilateTal IN
excess of a limited percentage OF their
/ capital and surplus.
~ An Interesting Suggestion.
I ct believe that facilities should be pro-
vtded for the sale OF bonds ana mort
Rages on the Stock Exchange IN tine
game way as railroad and munlclpsi
bonds and mortgages are sold. 1t could
be done by a feasible plan whereby the
State under the TorreGs system. or some
a. the title companies. could guarantee
} the validity of the titles and the validity
/ OF the mortgage itself.
When asked il he thought the real
Z estate borrower should be placed on
! the same level with the commercial Dor
rover. who now has the advantage.
sMr Mann answered:
sIt Is my contention that II should
3 H. less d,ficult TO obtain mort Szgc loans,
or rather they should be made more at
,sractive TO induce capital to invest IN
them"
.'Is II not a fact" Il was suggested.
"tnat the reason the financial status OF
the owner of building. or the bonds
man, is not taken into account Is the
very general custom OF having bono
made by a soicalled dummy when the
mortgage 10 giveny
az do not know IL that Is always the
case. II has become custom among
zeal estate borrowers to have The prop
.y4v IN the nane Of a dummy. ana then
have the mortgage made and transferred
back to the original owner, but that ID
not always So"
ALTHOUGH the assessed valuation OF
real estate should DO taken as falr
Guide by appr aisers OF property. Mr..
Nann said 1t could not always De re-
gArded as final
,'orha assessor takes into consideration
the cost OF construction, the character or
the building and the use II Is put TO-
explained Mr. Mann. For instance, a
man may erect a mansion that costs him
a million dollars and the city. may as
s1ss IL at a million dollars, yet the
actual market value II the building were
offered for sale might not be 100000
within a year after II was erected"
The Eject of the Dodge Bill.
Tho passage Of the Dodge bill Mr..
Mann said he believed would relieve the
housing situation only temporarily, and
while alternating present conditions TO
some extent would not solve the problem.
3iThe measure is designed 10 permit the
OF tenement houses into
flatructures which would accommodate
tsthree and four families Asked how many
Tsuch buildings he thought could DO re-
mod elledSunder the law Mr.. Mann said
( 81 should Judge that in Manhattan
alone there are approx innately from TO-
: 900 10 IL 900 houses OF that kind. In
Brooklyn there are very few houses az
iscted The Dodge bill was introduced
because there was tendency on the
part OF the real estate interests OF the
entire city 10 bring about some legisla-
ton that would give commercial value TO
n class OF buildings which had become
obsolete for private residential purposes.
The idea which prevailed was that,
since those buildings have no market
value and really no taxable value as
compared TO that which they ought to
have Il might he a good thing " a
law should be passed whereby they
could be made workable and conform
20 the requirements OF the tenement
house law, with due regard to sanitary,
lighting and vcntilating conditions"
Wasn't the present housing situation
the greatest reason for the Introduction
Of the bllT' he was asked Probably
II was. hut don't know that l can say
II was the sole reason, because the same
proposition was made years before. when
there was no housing crisis The idea