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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 17, no. 410: January 22, 1876

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EAL Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XVII. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1876. No. 410. Published Weekly by THE REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION C. W. SWEET...............Pbesident and Tbeasuber PRESTON I. SWEET...........Seceetaby. L- ISRAELS.........................Business Ma.vageb TERMS. ONE YEAR, in advance___$10 00. Communications should be addressed to C. SV. S^WEET, Nos. 345 AND 347 Bboadway. THE CRISIS IN REAL ESTATE. Xlll. CONCLUSION. It would be safe to say, iu the language of mild hyperbole,' that one-half of New York island could be sold to-day, provided the sellers were wiDing to meet the views of buyers. We do not insinuate that any such proportion of our real estate is for sale. On the contrary, were Baron Eothschild, King Kalakaua, or any other potentate bent on acquiiing our island by pur¬ chase, he would discover, to his chagrin, that, even in these hard times, three-quarters or two-thirds of the premises were not purchasable at any price, and of the negotiable portion a fractional part only was attainable upon his own terms. A large portion of our real estate is owned either by imheritance, or by purchase at low figures, thus making it more than satisfac¬ tory as a permanent investment, and, in the case of productive property, incomparable with mis¬ cellaneous securities. The salableness of New York real estate, in the worst or best times is mainly a question of valuations. At low values, buyers are easily found; the lower the rates, the more active the demand. At high values, owners are generally compelled to charge themselves with their property and turn it to the best account possible. The substantial character and desirableness of our real estate render it alluring and attractive as an object of speculation. The real estate market to-day may be termed a buyer's market—that is to say, the buyer with money has the power to dictate the terms on which he will part with his funds. The seller having property and wanting money is compell¬ ed, however reluctantly, to conform to these terms. This statement will sound like a truism to all but those who remember the irrepressible eagerness with which property was sought after from the close of the war until the veto ol 1874, and how completely during that period sellers maintained the advantage over buyers. Erom a moderate experience -withrecentbuyers we are compelled to say, in view of surrounnding conditions, that they are not unreasonable. In proof we could quote numerous instances of purchasers who are widely esteemed, shrewd and wise, as they are Irnown to be wealthy,.who have steadily and persistently invested in real estate from the early days of the collapse which followed the veto until the present time. And yet the steady decline in prices during that time (the market being a falling one) has made all purchases of a year ago look like the veriest mistakes. The representative buyer of to-day is discriminating, circumspect, exacting, slow, j as the experience of the past twelve months compels him to be; above all, he insists upon hearing in values the true and sharp metallic ring. In what department of merchandise or financial securities is one tithe of the confi¬ dence being exhibited that characterizes the current purchases of real estate at present bed¬ rock prices ? Flaving considered the present situation from the standpoint of the several subdivisions of our metropolitan real estate, and as buyers now con¬ trol the market, we will consider it from the standpoint of the several classes into which they naturally group themselves. Speculators.—The whole speculative corps d'armee is routed and demoralized, the rank and file having long ago deserted, been captured, or fallen by the way; the officers, from major-gen¬ eral to captains and lieutenants, are completely hors du combat. No immediate rally can be ex¬ pected after such a conspicuous Bull Eun de¬ feat as they have of late sustained; while it is puzzling to determine whence the new recruits are to be drawn wherewith to organize a fi-esh army. The speculative sabre lies broken, and its scabbard empty and rnsty; the banners, once raised so high, have fallen or are trailing the dust. The non-speculative portion of the community— investors, builders and house-buyers—need no longer apprehend the incursions of raiding and foraging parties. The whole realm of real estate investment is innocent of speculative presence or tactics, and appeals to the purchaser on the sole ground of intrinsic merits. We are wont to hear the cynical remark that men soon forget, and what has once been done will ere long be done again. We will venture to predict that a decade of years will scarcely suffice to obliterate from the minds of recently active speculators the lessons of wisdom, particularly in valuations and indebtedness, which have late¬ ly been impressed upon them, and that a liiie term will elapse ere a fresh growth of credulity will appear to assume similar risks and responsi¬ bilities undeterred by recent experiences. Builders or Manufacturers of Buildlne/ Prod- yg^5.—^During the past two years the volume of speculative building has been reduced to its minimum. The few ventures undertaken have resulted poorly or disastrously. The cost of production, even at the prices of to-day, is found in the end to consume all profit or to leave too small a margin to warrant the risk in¬ volved. The temper of the present house-buyer is averse to the payment of any profit on build- jng productions, however cheaply they may be contrived. Hence, as a purchaser of vacant land, the builder, to-day, is conspicuous by his ab¬ sence from the market. Failures and death have of late more than decimated the ranks of the craft. The necrology of the past few years embraces such honored and valued names as Churchill, Eobins, Sares, Fitzpatrick, Perkins, the younger Hamilton, Buckley, Gardi¬ ner and Cochran— each one a tower of strength, representing centres of influence that have here¬ tofore been widely felt iu the building improve¬ ments of our * city. The surviving solvent builders, few and select in number, will be chary of again risking their capital in building ventures, and will patiently await the return of those indispensable conditions of healthy aud successful mechanical industry, cheap land, labor and materials, accompanied by a pronounced de- mandfor the manufacturedproducts. The buUd¬ ing activity of the city to-day represents the anxiety of private owners to render their vacant property productive, and is mainly carried on at their expense. Capitalist Investors.—Superficial observers of our irrepressible commercial activity are wont to regard speculative adventurers as the highest exponents of our commercial hfe, very much as they regard the grotesque representatives of shoddy as real exponents of our social life. The tides of fortune that have successively ebbed and flowed over the business interests of this country have left many noble and ignoble wrecks behind, but have also wafted to secure and strong anchorage many a staunch and sturdy craft, well freighted and ably commanded. No city in the world, with equal ratio of popula- tionand wealth, can point to such an array of solid moneyed men as our own—men who have hewn their fortunes and held them in spite of wars and panics, or have inherited wealth and wisely administered it—men of tried experience, of mature judgment and sound sense, whose early discipline and habits have crys'calUzed in sterling virtues, whose mercan¬ tile home is the counting-room, whose commer¬ cial happiness aboiinds in enterprises of great pith and moment, whose word 's their bond, and whose bond is like gold. It were invidious to distingnish such by name Vihen hundreds would scarcely tell the whole. Hammersley, Livingston, Verplanck-Hoffman, Cossitt, Eno, Sage, Kemp, Keep, Bonner and Vanderpoel will serve to recall a host of names familiar to New Yorkers—^names that might be written in golden letters in Eeal Estate annals, and which pre-eminently fill the rank of capitalist-in¬ vestors. Such may be termed the ground-swell of the real estate market. When the natural tide threatens to recede disastrouslj' they counter¬ act its force with a strong flood of capital. Their wise faith and clear gauging of values recently, as often in the past, have broken