Page:Hints About Investments (1926).pdf/26

 of the word, we buy securities by the ownership of which we become either creditors or proprietors; or if we prefer to eschew the pitfalls of the Stock Exchange and venture among the much more terrifying man-traps (as they seem to me) of investments in house property and "real estate," we can either lend money on mortgage or go straight into property ownership.

In the case of houses the distinction between creditor and proprietor is clear. The creditor lends so much to the owner, the so much being a proportion—usually two-thirds—of the alleged value of the property, and the owner engages to pay him a definite rate of interest and to return his money either at a certain date or, more usually, whenever it is demanded, after due notice. Here there is no chance of increase in income or in capital value; it is creditorship pure and simple, and the creditor is protected by the right to seize the property if the debtor fails to carry out his part of the bargain by the punctual payment of interest.

If the property investment takes the form of ownership the investor buys land or houses, gets what rent from them he can, and receives as income whatever is over after he has met the expenses of maintaining the property. If the land or houses are in an "improving neighbour-