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M I L L E RS E R V I C EFor Investors inReal EstateMortgage BondsThe policy, aim and work of G. L.Miller&Company is to secure forour customers high-grade, goodpayinginvestments in first mortgagereal estate bonds.After thorough advance investigation,we underwrite first lienmortgage loans on modern income-bearingproperties in prosperousSouthern cities. In everydetail these loans conform torecognized conservative bankingpractice.Conditions in our territory enableus to net the investor 7%.There are numerous features ofMiller Service all of which combineto safe-guard the investor's interestsand relieve him of detail.Let us send you ourliteraturedescribing Miller Service, ourbooklet entitled "Banking Credentials"and details of ourcurrentofferings.G. L. Miller & CompanyIncorporated112 Hurt Bldg. Atlanta, Ga.Also Miami, Fla.Continued from page 77vestor was not a happy one nor one calculatedto increase one's peace of mind or personalsafety. In other words, mortgages were notthen as they are now, worry-proof investments.Notwithstanding all the difficulties in theway, both the mortgage and the vifgage werefreely employed as a means of raising readymoney. In the twelfth century, as Glanvill relates,the Duke of Normandy mortgaged hisentire duchy to the King of England. Manyof the English Crusaders financed their expeditionsby mortgaging their castles and lands.Shakespeare himself once borrowed money onmortgage and this method of turning a fixedasset into ready cash has been widely in useamong English-speaking peoples,and to a somewhatless extent on the continent of Europe,for centuries.Mortgage laws differ in various States in theUnion, but in general they are so drawn as tofurnish adequate protection to both borrowerand lender. In nearly all States the borrowerhas an equity of redemption in the event of default,that is, he is granted a certain period oftime after the date of maturity of the loan, andeven after foreclosure, to settle his indebtednessand recover possession of his property.The investor is protected as a rule by strictlegal definitions insuring his right to take possessionof the lender's property if the debt benot paid and eventually to sell it and apply theproceeds to the extinction of the mortgage.Modern city mortgage loans are best dividedinto two classes: On vacant property and onimproved property. A loan on "vacant,"like a second mortgage on any kind of property,is scarcely an investment for any one save aprofessional. The land produces no income,not even enough to meet the taxes or interest,and the borrower, therefore, must call on otherresources to pay these fixed charges. Moreover,in the event of foreclosure and sale of theproperty, the investor would find a much slowermarketforvacant than for improved property—indeed, in periods of stringency there is oftenno market for vacant property at any figure.Loaning on improved real estate gives severalgreat advantages. In the first place, the locationof the property is likely to be much morefavorable than in the case of vacant land, witha more active and equitable market in case itshould become necessary to sell. In addition,the improvements earn an income, usually inthe shape of rentals. It is always a good precautionto insist at the very least that this incomeshould be sufficient to pay interest, taxes,and insurance, and still better, to reduce theprincipal, as shown later.78