U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, DC 20549 FORM 4 STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 [_] Check this box if no longer subject to Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5 obligations may continue. SEE Instruction 1(b). ________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* Basic Capital Management, Inc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Last) (First) (Middle) 1800 Valley View Lane, Suite 300 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Street) Dallas TX 75234 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (City) (State) (Zip) ________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol American Realty Investors, Inc. ("ARL") ________________________________________________________________________________ 3. I.R.S Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an entity (Voluntary) ________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Statement for Month/Year January 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________ 5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Year) ________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer (Check all applicable) [_] Director [X] 10% Owner [_] Officer (give title below) [_] Other (specify below) ________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Individual or Joint/Group Reporting (Check applicable line) [X] Form filed by One Reporting Person [_] Form filed by More than One Reporting Person ________________________________________________________________________________ ================================================================================ Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned ================================================================================ 5. Amount of 6. 4. Securities Owner- Securities Acquired (A) or Beneficially ship 2A. 3. Disposed of (D) Owned Form: 7. 2. Deemed Transaction (Instr. 3, 4 and 5) Following Direct Nature of Trans- Execution Code ------------------------------- Reported (D) or Indirect 1. action Date, if (Instr. 8) (A) Transaction(s) Indirect Beneficial Title of Security Date any ------------ or (Instr. 3 & (I) Ownership (Instr. 3) (mm/dd/yy) (mm/dd/yy) Code V Amount (D) Price Instr.4) (Instr.4) (Instr.4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 01-24-03 P 100 A $ 8.05 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 01-24-03 P 900 A $ 8.00 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 6,666,744 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==================================================================================================================================== * If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see instruction 4(b)(v). FORM 4 (continued) TABLE II -- DERIVATIVE SECURITIES ACQUIRED, DISPOSED OF, OR BENEFICIALLY OWNED (E.G., PUTS, CALLS, WARRANTS, OPTIONS, CONVERTIBLE SECURITIES) ================================================================================ 9. Number 10. of Owner- deriv- ship ative Form 2. Secur- of Conver- 5. 7. ities Deriv- 11. sion Number of Title and Amount Bene- ative Nature or Derivative 6. of Underlying 8. ficially Secur- of Exer- 3A. 4. Securities Date Securities Price Owned ity: In- cise Deemed Trans- Acquired (A) Exercisable and (Instr. 3 and 4) of Follow- Direct direct Price 3. Execut- action or Disposed Expiration Date ---------------- Deriv- ing (D) or Bene- 1. of Trans- ion Code of(D) (Month/Day/Year) Amount ative Reported In- ficial Title of Deriv- action Date if (Instr. (Instr. 3, ---------------- or Secur- Trans- direct Owner- Derivative ative Date any 8) 4 and 5) Date Expira- Number ity action(s) (I) ship Security Secur- (mm/dd/ (mm/dd/ ------ ------------ Exer- tion of (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. 3) ity yy) yy) Code V (A) (D) cisable Date Title Shares 5) 4) 4) 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==================================================================================================================================== Explanation of Responses: /s/ Robert A. Waldman January 27, 2003 ------------------------------------------- ----------------------- Robert A. Waldman, Secretary Date **Signature of Reporting Person ** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. SEE 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). Page 2