C. Armel Nutter* listed "work" as his hobby. It also was the word that summarizes his career and credo. Mr. Nutter's climb to the presidency of NAREB was the capstone of an active career as a volunteer leader at all levels of the real estate industry. A list of his achievements is a glimpse at the devotion of a man to his career and his industry.
It was during his NAREB presidency that the Federal Housing Administration established its now popular policy of insuring home mortgages for qualified individual homebuyers. Commenting on the benefits of the program, Mr. Nutter said, "As investors learn the advantages of it, they will enter the mortgage market in increasing numbers to the betterment of their own finances and the expansion of home ownership."
Mr. Nutter's farsightedness was evident in two speeches he gave in 1960. In a speech to the Real Estate Appraisers of Philadelphia, he predicted a "flight back to the city" due to an awakening interest in urban renewal and rehabilitation and conservation of city neighborhoods.
While addressing a meeting of the Institute of Real Estate Management in Washington, D.C., he urged the curbing of consumer credit. "If those who extend and use consumer credit will exercise the greater selectivity demanded by the national welfare, there will be a greater improvement both in the availability of mortgage money and in national economic soundness," he said.
Mr. Nutter was an inveterate traveler. His trips included a I5-country study tour of real estate in Europe, during which he addressed the annual meeting of the Congress of International Real Estate Federation in Salzburg, Austria.
He brought back his impressions of real estate and life in the Soviet Union and all the major European nations. He shared his views with his fellow American REAL TORS® in three articles printed in the Association's Headlines newsletter.
Mr. Nutter was honored to have President Eisenhower as the keynote speaker for his inaugural breakfast. A major accomplishment for President Nutter was the formation and dedication of the Herbert U. Nelson Memorial Library and Information Center at NAREB's Chicago headquarters.
Mr. Nutter sponsored for the first time the position of first vice president of NAREB to relieve the president of many duties and to provide experience before assuming the Association's highest office. He also formed a close working relationship with the Canadian Association of Real Estate Boards.
Mr. Nutter was president of both the New Jersey Association of Real Estate Boards and the Camden (N.J.) Board of REALTORS®. A former treasurer of NAREB, he also served as an Association vice president, a director, and as a three-time chairman of the membership committee. In addition, he was president of the Society of Real Estate Appraisers and of the American Chapter of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI).
Mr. Nutter, a graduate of the University of Delaware, also attended Temple University Law School. Before retiring, he was president and treasurer of Nutter Mortgage Service in Camden, New Jersey. The firm handled mortgages, real estate sales, appraisals, management and insurance.
Source: Presidents of the National Association of REALTORS®, (Chicago: NAR, 1980).
*Deceased