A.H. Merriam Graves founded the company in 1924 as a homebuilder/developer. The stock market crash of 1929 devastated the home building industry and created a national crisis. Merriam traveled to Washington D.C. to urge President Roosevelt and Congress to adopt a plan that would help families buy homes. In 1933 Congress followed his plan and created the Homeowners Loan Corporation (later became FHA), which enabled families the ability to afford housing. From 1924 to 1968 AHM Graves Company developed land and built thousands of homes and apartments in popular Indianapolis neighborhoods. In 1953, Thomas Scott Osborne, Merriam's son-in-law, joined the firm. In 1968 he became president and shifted the company's focus to residential real estate brokerage. By the 1980's, AHM Graves Company had grown to over 400 agents in 16 offices in central Indiana. In 1997, Mr. Osborne elected to retire and sold the residential portion of the business to F.C. Tucker Company. Thomas Merriam Osborne, the grandson of Merriam Graves, joined the company in 1990 after nearly eight years as a leading associate with a national commercial real estate company. 1997 was another pivotal year in the company's history; Thomas M. Osborne became president, after the company sold its residential real estate brokerage business, and began a new era with the sole focus on commercial real estate.