Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





YoL. XX.





NEW YOEK, SATUEDAY, NOYEMBEE 3, 1877.





No.  503.





Published Weekly by

C^e %ml €siatc %nax)i %^^atmixan,

TERMS.

ONE YEAR, in advance.. ..$10.00.

Communicafcions should be addressed fco

C. W.  SWEET,

Nos. 345 AND 347 Broadway.

THE PALL REVIEAV.
If we Avere asked to characterize the tone and
temper of the real estate situation, we should be
able to do it in a single expression—intense legiti¬
macy. The whole market is pervaded by a con¬
servatism and monotony, like that pertaining to
the shovel or broom business. AVhile there are
exceptions to this general statement, they only
serve to demonstrate the rule, and duy specula¬
tive manifestations are of a mild and harmless
character and Ukely to be self-corrective. Here
and there a landlord may elect to take the prom¬
ise of high rent in preference to undoubted
security, and doubtless may continue in this
frame of mind until a series of disappointments
in the collection of rentals induce him to forego
the empty benefit of nominally high rates, Avhich
totaUy fail of realization. Likewise there are
certain lenders, Avho, for the sake of realizing the
maximum interest, wiU strain and tax the margin
of security very severely, and offer loans which
represent Avithin ten or twenty per cent, the
fuU cash value of property. The chance—we
had almost said the certainty—of property thus
heaAoly mortgaged faUing into the hands of the
mortgagee wUl prove the antidote to such a
courageous poUcy. particularly if the mortgagee
is averse to the OAvnership of property. There is
also a small outcropping of speculative spirit in.
connection with buUding loans—a dangerous
business when unwisely and unknowingly tam¬
pered with. It carries not only a corrective
effect, but is apt to enforce a penalty for undue
rashness.

There is not the slightest manifestation of any
speculative movement in unimproved property,
the holders as a rule being desirous of reaUsing on
their present possessions, whUe very few outside
capitaUsts have yet mustered the courage to
embark as investors. We think we see the prospect
ahead of close, hard dealing and severe, honest
work ill all the various markets for real estate.
Rents AvUl necessarUy have to be gauged to the
capabiUties and possibUities of tenants, and land¬
lords wiU have occasion to exercise a large share
of forbearance in enforcing their demands of rent
coUection, and a wise and Uberal complaisance in
the matter of repairs in order to secure the besfc
tenants. Lenders of inoney who desire the
amplest security—Avithout which the mortgage
investment loses its character and merit—^must
be content Avith a reduced rate of interest. Lot
owners, in default of any investment or specula¬
tive demand or any indications looking to such
movement, must be content to hold their property
until the development and growth of the city
requh^e it for improvement, and then be pre¬
pared to offer it to the buUders at prices which





wUl ensure to them the absence of loss if not the
certainty of profit.

The present situation fitly expresses the tough
and impertui'bable spirit in which real estate in¬
terests bear up under prolonged depression. The
fever of speculation has entirely departed, and
the period of inertia and prostration—as the
resulting reaction from high and intense feverish
excitement—has already passed away, and these
mterests may be said to be in a condition of
hopeful convEdescence with more or less encour¬
aging symptoms which foreshadow steady, regu¬
lar and unchecked actiAdty, although by no
means affording the foundation for any hopes of
a speculative rise. The present status of the mar¬
ket is strictly normal, its movements being guided
and controUed by purely natural conditions.
Resources are being husbanded, improvements
are calculated and gauged to the lowest possible
cost, and there seems to be a real competition in
the matter of best and cheapest production.

The three prime conditions on which so largely
depends the renewal of active prosperity in real
estate are aU but reaUzed.   Many hopeful, enthu¬
siastic persons would have us beUeve that they¬
are within a very short distance of complete ful¬
filment.   The hope of promised realization, how¬
ever, has been so long deferred that we shaU not
claim the  accompUshmenfc  untU the facts are
present before us.   Rapid transit is slowly grow¬
ing in physical construction and in its progress
through the Courts.   The legal victories so far
won have all been in favor of the new system,
and must tend ultimately to strengthen the legal
basis of this projection of transit.   The revival of
business so impatiently and ardently hoped for,
seems to be reaUy daAvning upon us, although
there are many who protest that the pubUshed
revival of mercantUe prosperity exists more in
the newspapers and in the imagination of the
writers than in reality and fact.   The impatience
of the American character is subjected to a very
severe strain in a prolonged season of stagnation.
The feeble pulsations of fresh business, such  as
are being manifested in trade circulars to-day,
would amply satisfy a more conservative com¬
munity, and ought not to be despised in our OAvn.
They  may be  fairly  taken as the earnest or
promise of better seasons ahead.    As weU as we
can understand the situation in general, Trade
to-day consists of a large volume of business con¬
ducted  at   an  almost  imperceptible  or   very
moderate profit.   Out of such beginnings, how¬
ever, there wUl be developed the germ of a better
and more lucrative business, especially when the
unrestricted demand for goods arises from the
four quarters of this recoustiiicted and reconcUed
country.    The real  estate interest must watch
the commercial movement with intense soUci-
tude and  self   concern,   as the best   hopes  of
our   commodity     centre   in    the   harvesting
of   profits    by    the    merchants.     No    wide¬
spread,    prolonged    or    sustained    movement
in   the   various   departments   of    real estate,
can be expected until the ijierchants have begun
to i-eap ample profits.    The final and critical
question which concerns the present and future
of real estate—^that of the resumption of specie
payments—is stiU held in abeyance and falls short





of complete realization. Through the operation
of natural causes, the premium has faUen to a
trifling and tantaUzing percentage, which would
quickly disappear under the enactment of a single
Avise measure on the part of Congress. Nothing-
can stop the gi-avitation of the soUd interests of
this country towards a specie basis, and real
estate, more than any other, AviU haU the day
when the paper doUar is vvbrth a gold doUar. A
volume of polemic might be written on the sub¬
jects arising from the relations of real estate to
an irredeemable paper currency. Much has
already been written in bold letters upon the
records of the Register's office in this city and
county. As we are momentarily expecting to
bid a final adieu to the sm'viving premium, we
wiU waive any such discussion. The unsettled
condition of this question, however, continues to
exert a moderating, if not depressing influence
upon real estate movements, and continues to
check any widespread transactions. AVe are per¬
suaded that with the fuU estabUshment of specie
payments—the other conditions of the markefc
continuing to remain as at present—^there would be
such an outcropping of sound and wholesome
buUding schemes as woiUd far surpass any demon-
sti-ation that this city has ever known.





Under the practice estabUshed almosfc immova¬
bly in this city, the true conditions of the renfc
market can be best ascertained in the spring of
the year prior to the first of May. Any further
developments, prior to the succeeding May day,
are apt to be of a sporadic and accidental charac¬
ter, hardly furnishing any true index of the con¬
dition of affairs. We are credibly informed, and
our OAvn observation has confirmed the accuracy
of this data, that, in consequence of the accommo¬
dating disposition manifested by landlords during
last spring, but few houses were carried over
unoccupied during the summer. As a rule these
have been prompter taken up by the returning
tide of citizens this faU, but at rents no greater
than those-obtained last spring. In the fashion¬
able quarter there is all but a scarcity of good,
rentable properties, and this condition, no doubt,
has had its influence in the sUght development of
demand for houses to purchase that has been
observable. It is hardly a matter of surprise that
there should be this scarcity of rentable houses in
the fashionable quarter, for the reason that, un-
Uke other sections of the city, where the great
estates OAvn blocks of houses that are held pur-
jiosely for renting, in this quarter, Avith one or
two exceptions, the rentable houses are held
singly and in no great number.                          •

As far as we can gather from the transactions
in this choice section, the scale of rents is graded,
with great discrimination, from $3,000 as a max¬
imum for the largest and best houses down to
$3,000 as a minimum rate for the smaUest houses
that can be found. Outside of the fashionable
quarter the range of rents extends from about
$1,500 to $800, the greatest scarcity known in this
city being of houses that range from $800 to
$1,200 in a good location. The seekers for such
properties are compeUed to take refuge in the
new apartment houses, of which there is such a