Evening star., 1938-10-01
PROPERTY REPAIR
HELD PROFITABLE
H.0.L.C. Spending $107, 900
Daily on improvements,
SAYS Jones.

The Home Owners Loan Corp. Is
spending 100000 daily improving
properties 1t has acquired-both as .
sound investment policy and A. q con-
tribution to higher housing Standards
Charles A. Jones, general manager Of
the corporation, announced today.
Declaring that August expenditures
for repair and reconditioning since
establishment of the corporation, Mr..
Jones urged that private home financ-
ing institutions study expansion Of
such activities AZ the best method Of
making properties attractive for rental
and sale. And to home owners in gen.
eral he asserted that proper mainte-
nance provides the only safeguard
against loss of property values and
the threat Of neighborhood deteriora-
ton.
Find Practice Pays.
There are properties on which no
concern is justified in adding to its
investment" declared Mr.. Jones. But
in the great majority of cases any
holder Of property for sale will find it
good business to put that property into
condition for use. In the case OF the
H. o. L. c., we have had to invest
several hundred dollars in each Of
scores Of properties before they could
be offered at price consistent with
our investment In them. But we have
found it pays. Money spent for re-
pairs and improvement rarely Is lost. :"
The H. o. L. C. completed 1889 re-
conditioning cases in August, Mr.. Jones
reported. The number was slightly
lower than the 1856 cases reported
in July, but the amount of money ex-
pended was nearly $4,000 greater
and the expenditure per property rose
from $l88 to $277
H. o. L. C. borrowers long ago
learned the Importance of properly
maintaining their homes" said Mr..
Jones Thousands discovered their
they thought. We had to direct the
expenditure Of more than $4,000. 900
on reconditioning during the reflnanc-
ing period to safeguard our invest
menS. The owners of these properties
had brought home to them for the
first time the cost of neglect in main
tanning property values.
Public Spending More.
The great majority of these H. o.
l.. c. borrowers will take a different
attitude in the future. Many of their
neighbors also have been convinced
of the necessity of some precaution
against deterioration. There is evi-
dence. too that the general public Is
spending more and more for home
maintenance. The last available re-
port of the Department of Commerce
showed that in 1885 American home
owners spent $3.50. 100000 for home
maintenance and repair-equal to the
amount spent in the boom year, 1928.
Savings and loan associations of the
Federal Home Loan Bank System
loaned 1923 100000 for that purpose
during 1895, 1887 and the first six
months of 1898. Since February 3
The Federal Housing Administration
has insured ss7,ooo,0oo in home i'm
provement advances.
This is encouraging. but if we are
10 maintain decent housing stand
ards there should be vast increase
in money spent for Improvements. 1t
should be remembered that new con-
struction has Jagged for years and
every year takes toll on existing
properties. In 1888 the H. o. L. c.
found that nearly half of the homes it
ref1nances needed extensive repairs to
make them good security. 1t is not
improbable that such an average exists
Today.
No one can challenge the need for
new construction to properly house
the Nation. But if private lending in
stitutions will stress improvement OF
homes already built, and the general
public will learn the lesson-and take
advantage OF the credit facilities which
are available today at a lower cost
han ever before-present housing
'tandards can be raised while new
obstruction is overcoming the depres-
IN period"