A pioneer in the safe financing of small homes on small down payments, Henry G. Zander* founded the firm of Henry G. Zander and Company in 1891. He built more than 1,000 homes and financed several thousand others. A noted housing leader, Mr. Zander was appointed the first chairman of the Home Loan Bank Board of the Chicago area and member-at-large of HLBB's national advisory council.
A president of the Chicago Real Estate Board and of the Civic Federation of Chicago, Mr. Zander was also a charter member of the Chicago Plan Commission and the Chicago Regional Planning Commission, a director of the Chicago Crime Commission, and a member of the executive committees of the Chicago Tax Commission and the Chicago Civic Commission.
A code of ethics for subdividers adopted under his leadership by the Chicago Real Estate Board's Home Builders and Subdividers Division formed the basis for standards of practice later adopted by the Land Developers and Home Builders Division of the National Association and so shaped to a great extent the standards set up years later by the Federal Housing Administration.
It was under his presidency of the National Association that the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers was created and that the national REALTOR'S® code was extended to cover the ethics of real estate appraisal. Under his direction the Association made, at the request of the U.S. Treasury, the first detailed study of the life expectancies of various types of buildings, creating a basis for deductions in income tax returns.
From 1925 until his death, Mr. Zander served the Association notably as chairman of its committee on federal legislation and taxation, winning victory after victory in modifications of income tax legislation disadvantageous to real estate.
Source: Presidents of the National Association of REALTORS®, (Chicago: NAR, 1980).
*Deceased