The Washington herald., 1922-07-30
CANADIAN REAL
ESTATE EXPERT
TELLSOF VIEWS
Discusses Phases of Sub
jects Encountered in Sell
ing on Time Payments.
LOSSES ARE SMALL
Says Housing Commissions
Lack Experience to Carry
= Out Plans.

Members of the realty proiession
will undoubtedly be interested IN
the following comments oy .; u
Read, realtor. of Brantforo' oh-
tario, in regard to the selling Q,
homes on the installment plan ana
the solving of the housing SITUATION
by a housing commission corpora
tions and realty men:
1--WE have beenHabout ffty-one
wears in the real estate business in
Brantford and have large expert
ence with selling on the INSTALL
ment plan, and although we have
sold a large number of houses on
this plan, amounting to hundreds
Of thousands OF dollars, yet no one
has lost a dollar Of principal or in
terest in collection of their moneys
In this plan Prior to the war
when houses were a great deal less
in value, our plan was to accept 10
per cent down and per cent .
mosth, and we have always been
successful in our work.. he de-
clared.
"since the war conditions have
changed so much in real estate.
houses have become SO much great
er in value. which is now zoo per
cent because of the increased price
in building materials and labor
that instead of taking 10 per cent
down we take 20 per cent or Is per
cent down and IL per cent a
month. So far 1t has worked well.
OF course. in dealing on this plan
We see that the properties are not
beyond a reasonable increase IN
value. and when they are extraor-
binary we have to do differently.
Secondly. in the matter Of vacant
lots and building houses we insist
always that a man shall own his
own lot free of encumbrance and
afterward we build the house for
him upon the terms stated.
Commission Plan Unssecessful.
II do not think housing commits
sions are successful as a rule be-
cause they have not taken this
plan. They have purchased the lots
themselves and allowed the people
to make payments on the lot and
the house afterward without any
good cash payment down, and their
plan Of principal and interest with
long-term payments is not success
full in this country. We compute
the interest quarterly and deduct
the interest from the installments
and credit the balance to principal
account. One can see that this is
reducing their liability.
Housing by Corporations.
AS to corporations assisting
their employees. that would be a
very good plan. and l think that
corporations should have sufficient
interest in their employees to build
houses for them if they can pos
sibly do it, 1t is quite true that
most Of them need all their money
in their own industries, and in
such cases the firm should recon-
mend their employees to good
agency or to a corporation that is
doing the business of loanins
money. and also to aid them in Sc
curing the money to build a home.
Rent Collections.
''Rerenting a house. Good prop
critics in central locations are very
difficult to get just now. Our ex-
perience is, however. as for an in
vestment these are the best class
of houses by far. We collect rents
from 100 houses and apartments,
etc. and Is per cent of these are in
outlying districts, and from these
We have had the most difficult
time in getting the rents in. but
the rents from central locations
have been paid up promptly.
To sum up the whole position in
one paragraph. We would say that
our experience from ffty-one years
IN business is that it is far better
Tor a real estate agency or corpo-
ration. organized for that purpose
70 conduct the business on behalf
Of the people who want to buv
houses. rather than for a housinr
commission to try. because thS
commission lacks the experience. >