a good risk but lacks sufficient capital
to meet the fifty per cent cash requirement that prevails today. Such
loans are not usually made for over twenty per cent of the appraised
value and generally call for a higher rate of interest, six per cent.
They are also apt to be for a short term, two or three years, when
they must be paid in full.

With both first and second mortgages, the lenders will inquire
carefully into the financial responsibility of the would-be borrower.
They will want to know exactly how much of his own ready money he
plans to use in the transaction. This is to be sure that he has a
substantial equity in the property and will not be struggling under
too great a financial burden.

Having perfected the method for financing your purchase, now comes the
formal contract to buy. This is an agreement whereby you undertake to
consummate the purchase at a future date, generally thirty to sixty
days, at the agreed price. On executing such a contract, _which should
be reviewed by your lawyer before you, as buyer, sign it_, expect to
pay the seller through the broker ten per cent of the total purchase
price. This is done on signing the contract. The time between signing
this contract and the date set for the title closing is employed for
title search and insurance, land survey and similar details. If the
title proves imperfect so that you cannot complete the purchase, your
check is returned to you. As for the cost of title insurance, the
corporations issuing such policies have an established scale of
prices. These vary slightly in different parts of the country. Title
policies have generally replaced the old independent title search by
lawyers that had no elements of insurance. Where a company has already
searched and insured the title, reissue of the policy is made to you
at about half the original fee.

The cost of surveying property is based on the amount of work
involved. For surveying five acres of what was formerly farm land and
that has never had its borders so measured and defined, the average
charge today is from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five
dollars. Special conditions may raise or lower this. An established
surveyor who knows the locality is, of course, the best person to
undertake such work. His previous surveys of other adjacent properties
can often enable him to locate and identify old boundary marks that
some one not conversant with the locality might find baffling. Much
country