466





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





March 17, 1906





J.   Clarence   Davies   on  the   Bronx





Following   a   Talk   to   Young   Men   on   the   Principles   of   Real   Estate

Brokerage   Business*





THE FIRST PRINCIPLE of the business is to make com¬
missions, and in order to make commissions one must
have a thorough knowledge of what he is dealing In;
In other words, he must know the fundamental principles on
which real estate values are established. In a final analysis atl
value is based on real estate, for all real wealth must come either
in one form or another from land: farm land, mines, railroads,
cities and grazing land. Every civilized person must have a
place to live and therefore must use land or pay for the use of
land either in one way or another. "What land can be used for
and what income it can be made to pay is the true basis of land
value, and when one departs from this principle the actual values
are lost sight of.

The market value of real estate is based on what it will sell
for under ordinary circumstances. In giving expert testimony
the market value is what is asked for. and this value is based
on sales in the vicinity and on one thousand and one details
that go to make up expert judgment and experience, as many
things affect the value of real estate. A thorough knowledge
of the value of real estate is the best asset a broker can have
to enable him to make commissions. Specialized knowledge of
values in the section the broker proposes to work in aids
largely in doing a successful business. Specializing is the
tendency of the times, and it leads to a surer and quicker suc¬
cess in all lines as well as in real estate.

There are four means of making commissions: (1) By the
sale of property either at auction or at private sale and ex¬
changing same; (2) by the collection of rents and care of
property; (3) by the obtaining of mortgages on property; (4)
by appraising real estate and giving expert testimony as to
its value in legal proceedings. In selling property at private
sale certain principles must not be departed from in order to
make a success. A thorough knowledge of the property which
you are trying to sell. One should know thoroughly, in the
first place, the value of the land, the value of the building, the
sales of property in the vicinity to use for comparison of values,
who purchased them, when it is possible to flnd out, the rental
values and future rentals. Leases and how long they run. Terms
of leases. What tenants are willing to take future leases. What
they are willing to pay for future leases. Future value of the
land, both immediate and far future. Improvements made or
about to be made in the neighborhood. Transit facilities, bolh
present and prospective. Expenses ot property—insurance,
water rent, taxes, heating, amount of coal used, cost of janitor
service, light, amount of repairs; building well or poorly built;
by whom built; layout of building—if same can be altered ad¬
vantageously to bring larger rents, or can be developed to dif¬
ferent class property to afford larger interest on investment.
What mortgage can*be obtained; when due? at what rate of
interest; whether il can remain or be paid off.

Every detail of properly should be known in order to be in
a position to accomplish the sale, for in the course of negoti¬
ations hardly one of these details will not come up for discussion,
and a broker's knowledge of these details will assist materially,'
or the lack of it retard him in his efforts to make a commission.
The broker must take care to see that these details are the
facts. The broker must tell the customer the cold, hard truth.
Both the good side and the bad side of any piece of properly,
and, in order to be successful he must let the party to whom he
is endeavoring to sell have, the full facts without exaggeration
or,mental reservation; and to my mind the difference between
being a good and being a bad broker, successful or unsuccess¬
ful hinges on this very statement.

The broker who tells both sides gains the confidence of the
purchaser, and the broker who does-not- tell the full facts, and
they are found out afterward .by. the principals, at once loses
the confidence of both sides.

.     ^^.^..                      THE   INyBSTOR,         ^         '   ""

In-.cities the,real estate broker must look to three classes of
buyers. ■■(1) The investor, who is one that buys real estate to
obtain a certain income or rate of interest on the amount in¬
vested. (2> The consumer, one who buys property to live in,
or to carry on his business im "(3) The speculator or operator,
whia- buys to Vesell either at once or "to the builder, or .for -de¬
velopment, and the'n-sell to the. public,    vi-^^.^c;  :'

If you have an investor who desires tOrihvest a certain
amount in'a piece of property, first get his ideas of the amount
he wSnts to invest; second, the kind of propert>' he prefers, and
Ihlfd. the section of the city he knows and likes best. Then
go'-tb that sectloti and pick up  pieces -you- would like- to own

*NaLes. ,of lecture delivered before the Real Estate Class of tbe
West Side Toung Men's^ ChTistian Association Feb: 28, 1906, by Mr,
J. Clarenco-'-feavies."-  v', .i.:;.;  :■..:■ -^:::  ---■"■          '■-. ,,-    .





yourself and think would make a good investment. Get all the
facts and place them before him. Take him to see the prop¬
erty; let him express his opinions, whether good or bad, but
be able to refute his arguments If they are not just. Show
him in a practical, sound, common-sense way the amount of
interest he will obtain on his investment; the future of the
■property, and the amount of risk he takes In purchasing. With
the consumer a different line is necessary. Here it is a matter
of personal taste, and one must endeavor to suit the needs of
the consumer, the requirements of his family, of his business,
his personality and social sphere. The speculators constitute
the largest class of purchasers. A resale at a profit is the
object to be attained. Judgment of the market and its tend¬
encies must be considered. Can the property be improved and
sold at a profit? Can it be improved and made a good in¬
vestment? Can property be cut up Into lots and sold at
auction or at private sale to small purchasers? Can it be
purchased and held one. two or three years and money made?
Will it increase in value in proportion more than the ratio of
cost ? There are speculators, in lols, in lots with buildings
loans, in tenements, where rents can be raised; in business prop¬
erty, in corners and future business centres; small speculators
buying one or two lots with the idea of reselling or saving
money, and speculators in land for condemnation proceedings.

The amount of commissions a broker wili make is in exact
proportion to three or four things: The length of time he will
work, the energy and perseverance he will use, the tact and
judgment he displays and the closeness to which he will stick
lo facts and the truth. Have discrimination in picking out
real buyers from shoppers, the man that talks from the man
that means business; property ivorth working on and giving
time and attention to from property that is not worlh while.
First, last and all the time success depends also on energy and
perseverance, and the number of pairs of shoes you wear out
in a year,

THE  RISE   OF  THE  BRONX,

The original Bronx section was purchased from the tribe of
Indians known as the "Weekquaesgeeks," between the years
IGiO and lCoi5. but in spite of these purchases there were a
number of Indian massacres and the destruction of farms by
the Indians. The first settler in the section was Jonas Bronck,
who, in 1639, erected bis house on the Harlem Kills, near the
outlet of Mill Brook, or about the present terminus of Brook
av, and in about 1642 purchased the land and made a treaty
with the Indians. From this treaty, supplemented by patents
and grants from tbe Dutch and English, tlie majority of our
titles begin. The next settler was Adrain Vanderdonck, who
settled in 1653 about where the Van Courtlandt mansion now
stands, in Van Courtlandt Park. His purchase included all the
upper west side of the Bronx, and well Into and beyond Ton¬
kers.     This   was   called   "Vanderdoncks"   land.

Between the Jonas Bronck purchase and the Vanderdonck
purchase was the Archer patent, purchased between 1660 and
1070 by Jan Archer, which later became the Manor of Fordham;
and the strip of land between Cromwell's Creek and the Harlem
River, where High Bridge now stands, was purchased by
Daniel Turner, about 1671. while the easterly part of the Bronx
known as the West Farms patent, which we know to-day as
Hunt's and Barretto's Points was purchased in 1663 by Jessup
and Richardson, From these five purchases the section now
known as "the Bronx" is made up. A large number of these
properties came into the hands of the Morris family, by pur¬
chase l^ter. and was known as the Manor of Morrisania. These
tracts were divided up among the different branches of the
Morris family and were gradually sold off, portions of which,
as settlements were made, grew into little villages. You your¬
self are familiar with the names of these villages lo-day—West
Farms, High Bridge, Fordham, Morrisania, Melrose and Tre-
- mont.

Like the history of New Tork itself, which originally con¬
sisted of villages such as Greenwich, Torkville, Harlem, Man¬
hattanville. Carmansville, etc, the development of the district
has been the gradual growing together of these settlements,
a process which is still going on in the outlying districts. The
Bronx proper is that portion of the Bronx country west of the
Bronx River annexed to the City of New Tork in 1873, and is
comprised in the district bounded by the Harlem River on the
west and the south, the East River and the Bronx Biver on the.
east and the Harlem River and the Mt. Vernon line on the
north. This district has distinct physical features which have
had and will have in the future a large effect on its develop¬
ment,, -Tho'se features are as follows: South of 149th st, from