Evening star., 1935-04-20
100000 HOMES
APPRAISED IN 1884
Review Sees Need for
Stressing Value of One
Family Dwellings.
More than 2,500, 900 American homes
were appraised for long term mortgage

More than $500 900 American homes
were appraised for long-term mortgage
loans during the past year, 1t Is
pointed out in the initial issue of the
Residential Appraisers Review. Just of
the press, as the first attack of the
Society of Residential Appraisers upon
the 'disorganized state of existing
knowledge about the value Of one
family homes"
Eighteen thousand copies of the pub
lication were distributed this week to
business men and f1nanciers concerned
with home valuation. Two hundred
experienced appraisers who are char
ter members Of the society and the
1000 member building and loan asso-
Citations Of the United States Building
and Loan League, sponsor of the
society. were on the list, giving it
Nation wide circulation at the outset.
Amortization Over Long Period.
A, d. Theobald. editor of the
Review. estimates the importance of
these appraisals in his editorial COM
ment:
"A large proportion of the mortgage
loans made on the basis of the 2,500,-
900 appraisals last year will not be
completely paid out until 1949 or even
later. The safety of the billions o.
dollars loaned on the basis of those
appraisals Is dependent upon the good
judgment of the appraiser as to the
future as well as to the present cir
eumstances surrounding the property.
Much has been done in recent years
TO advance the knowledge of apprais-
ing other types of property, but most
appraisal publications have devoted
much more attention to so-called
income property than to appraising
the home
The 200 charter members admitted
to the society since it began taking
applications six weeks ago demonstrate
the reception with which the idea OF
an organized group of qualified ap-
praisers has met in this country" said
Edwin M. Einstein, Fresno. Calf. Il,
president.
Many building and loan associa-
tions have taken out memberships in
the society for the entire group of ap-
praisers who handle their home valua-
tons in the normal course of busi-
ness. Besides a steadily increasing
group OF building and loan association
appraisers, charter members include
those on the appraisal staff of the
Federal Housing Administration both
in Washington. and in the regional
aflcAr dietrict yoapaoarS of tha uo,aae
Owners Loan Corp. ofiicials of the
Federal Home Loan Banks, and ex-
perienced appraisers of small unit
residences for life insurance COM
pAnies and for mutual savings banks.
Need Of Data Stressed.
'These appraisers. faced with the
constant necessity for more skillful
judgments in a field Of increasing i'm
portance, have been hampered by lack
Of organized available information.
You cannot have a profession where
there is no organized body Of knowl-
edge, and the Society of Residential
Appraisers hopes to collect and dis
enable It's members to have the point
Of view and the training Of profess
sional men,"
This first issue of the Review traces
the origins of the new group to the
Surveyors Institution in England,
which had a total membership Of
1000 . few years ago when the pres
ent managing director of the Ameri-
can society, Morton Bodfsh, came
into contact with 1t upon a trip
abroad.
THE ideas gained from that par
sonal contact in Great Britain ger
minated until something over year
ago when the necessity for literally
millions Of small home appraisals by
two Government agencies-namely,
the Home Owners Loan Corp. and the
Federal Housing Administration
vividly brought out the service which
an organized group of qualified ap-
praisers could render" the Review re-
calls. Mr. Bodfish discussed the pos
sibility of an organization similar to
the English professional society, with
leaders among several types Of insti-
tutions doing most Of the private
home financing in this country, as
we'll as with Government officials
charged with the responsibility Of res
idential appraisals. Each contributed
practical suggestions and the results
Of those suggestions were incorporated
In the bylaws Of the society and in
its general program.