Re.al  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXX.





NEW YORK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1882.





Nr. 755





Published Weekly by The

Real Estate Record Association

TERMS:
ONE YEAR, In advance.....$6.00

Commimications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY. Business Manager.

The summer months are over, and the
fall season has commenced. Our citizens
are returning from their vacations, and the
city is iSlling up with merchants who are
purchasing goods for the autumn and winter
trade. This has been a very profitable August
with our wholesale houses. Western deal¬
ers have shown up in unusual numbers, and
the forwarding of West-bound freight was
never so lively, while the traflSc to the
East has shown a falling oS as compared
with last year. All the ears going West are
heavily freighted, more so than in any for¬
mer season. While there are no public
sales of realty the market is strong, and all
the dealers are of opinion that we shall have
an excellent season. The real estate
brokers will soon all be at their offices, but
it will probably be near October before sales
will be very active. But this quiet season
will be taken advantage of by forehanded
operators to get ready for the harvest later
in the fall.





The domestic exchange for the fourth week
in August for the whole country shows a
decrease of 13.5 per cent., as compared with
the corresponding week of la^t year; but it
is a noticeable fact that the falling off is in
commercial centres like Boston, Chicago,
Milwaukee, Louisville, Memphis and San
Francisco, while there is a decided increase
in the exchanges in the Eastern manufactur¬
ing cities, such as Providence, Springfield,
Lowell, Worcester and Syracuse. At West¬
ern points, where speculation in land is ac¬
tive, the exchanges are very heavy, Kansas
City, for instance, shows an increase of 39
per cent, in exchange. When the great crop
ot this year commences to move, there will
be an immense increase in the business of
the centres, which now show a temporary
falling off. The manufacturers who are
accumulating stocks know what they are
about. The demand for goods is sure to
come, and the West-bound business of the
railroads this fall will far surpass that of any
former season.





According to Controller Campbell's re¬
port, our city finances are steadily improv¬
ing. In 1876 the debt was $114,948,611.76.
It is now $97,503,338.88. That is to say, in
seven years we have paid off $17,445,272.88
As our city has increased enormously in
wealth and population.since 1876, it follows
that our tax burdens are very much less
than they were. The time ought to come
when 1 per cent, levied upon real estate





should pay for all city expenses. The new
aqueduct is the only improvement likely to
add to the cities indebtedness.





THE PROSPECTS FOR THE FALL.

Those who are looking for an excited
stock market this fall may be disappointed.
The "boom "of '79 and'80 cannot be re¬
peated this year, due to the changed condi¬
tion of affairs. Exceptional causes were
then at work to enhance stock values,
whereas now there are occurring events
wliich may throw a damper upon specula¬
tion. It is quite true that we have large
crops, and tliat our railways aro in splendid
condition lo do the immense business which
will be offered to them, but the circumstan¬
ces which may prevent any great addition
to stock values this fall may be summed up
as follows:

1.  While our crop of small grains is very
large, there is a serious shortage of com.
Hogs are very high, meats of all kinds are
dear, and, apart from breadstuffs and cotton,
our export trade will bo less this coming
fiscal year than it has been for the three
previous years.

2.   Our import trade is steadily increasing;
the growth of the country in wealth and
population is creating demands upon the
whole world for foreign comforts and lux¬
uries.

3.  These diminishing exports and increased
imports have reversed the balance of trade,
heretofore in our favor, and the imports of
gold have ceased, probably for good. There
is no present probability of any importation
of gold this year, and hence that stimulance
will be taken away from the stock market
of the immediate future.

4.  The expei'ience of the last three years
shows that to move the crops in the fall in¬
volves a large withdrawal of money from
this market between August 15th and Oc¬
tober 15th. The contraction amounted last
year to $32,000,000, and seriously crippled
the market and would have been disastrous
to prices were it not for the imports of gold,
which we cannot expect this year.

While these considerations should cause
operators for a rise to pause, we would not
be understood as offering bearish counsel.
We believe the market is a purchase for a
long turn. The railroads will all do a heavy
business, more especially in West-bound
freights. Next spring will see the quota¬
tions of all stocks very much higher than
they are to-day. The general trade of the
nation is on a very sound basis, and there is
no probability of any disaster which will
effect unfavorably the prices of sound se¬
curities.    The outlook is excellent.

But the point to be kept in mind is that
stock operating will be unprofitable, except
for short turns, during the coming fall. The
best field for investment is real estate, es¬
pecially near large cities. All speculative
eras, such as we are now passing through,
end with a furore for real estate at high
prices. This activity in realty is al¬
ways the culmination of a cycle of specu¬





lation. The coming two or three years will
probably tell the story of large fortunes
made in real estate investments. Already
the fever is raging at the West. Land is
being bought in immense quantities in all the
new territories. Rufus Hatch reports the ex¬
citement as prevailing all along the line of the
Northern Pacific road, while in Dakota
there is increased activity in the transfers
of land. At the present time there are local
speculations in Chicago, Denver and Kansas
City, which recall the records and times of
1869 and 1870. The wave is coming East,
and New York cannot escape the phrensy.
The excitement which followed the local
improvements of the Tweed ring will be
repeated, and prices will go far beyond
what they did in that time. It may be
premature to expect this speculation to
show itself this year, but it cannot be far
off.

But quite apart fronj any speculation,
there is no investment so solid or so. certain
as the purchase of realty in this island or
in the country just north of the Harlem
River. Our population is growing as
rapidly as that of any young town in the
West, and the additional wealth and growth
of the city will keep prices advancing,
whether there is any speculation or not.





THE CONVEYANCES FOR THE YEAR
AND THE SUMMER.
In view of the opening of the fall season,
we give below the official record of the Con¬
veyances and Mortgages for the past year.
We commenced this record on the first week
in September last year, and it has been
invaluable to all dealers in realty, as show¬
ing the exact state of the market from
month to month. There is one caution,
however, to be constantly kept in mind; the
official figures we give show the business of
the month previous to the one named; thus,
September is really a record of sales affected
in great part in August, while the December
figures indicate the business the major part
of which was transacted in November.
This is because of our barbarous and vexa¬
tious laws controlling the transfers of Real
Estate. Personal ] roperty, such as Railroad
and Telegraph shares, can be transferred
cheaply and expeditiously, and the tables
which are published of stock quotations tell
the actual business of the day previous.
But the purchase of Realty is hampered in
everyway; titles must be searched and liens
examined every time a house and lot is
bought or sold, hence on an average a month
is wasted, and no one benefited but the law¬
yers. Even with the utmost care and the
greatest expense there is no such certainty
in the title as there would be in the buying
of any quantity of stock in Wall street-, which
last transaction, even if it involved millions
of dollars, could be concluded in a few hours.
But the table we give is nevertheless of
very great value. It will be noticed that
the largest fall business in 1881 was in
November^ and the largest spring business
»in March and AprU; the mortgage record