Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 26, no. 655: October 2, 1880

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS^ GUIDE. YoL. XXYI. NEW YOEK, SATUEDAY, OCTOBEE 2, 18S0. No. 655 Published Weekly by '€^t 'Mml Estate %mx^ %BBomixan. TERMS. ONE YEAR, in advance.. ..$10.00. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, No. 137 Broadway We receive frequent comj)laints from our subscril:)ers at the mauuer in wliicli they are annoyed by outsiders anxious to glean in¬ formation from these cokimns, and who in¬ sist upon occupying temporary desl^-room in their ofifices wlien looking over their files. Of course these complaints, Avliile implying a well deserved coinpliment to The Record, are dulj-- appreciated by us, and we should be glad to tell sucli outsiders that newspapers when worth reading at all, are worth buy¬ ing. As it is impossible for us to interview all tliese borrowers, we beg oxn- subscribers A\'lienever annoyed again by them, to inform such intruders, that our i^ublication office is at 137 Broadway, and that the price of The Real Estate Record is |10 a year, pay¬ able iu advance. ABOUT INVESTMENTS. The general rise in values, and the profit¬ ableness of all business is adding to the bank accovmt.s of neariy every jjerson engaged in professional or commercial life. Except for four months of the fall of 1880, and during perhaps two or three times in the paper money era, there are few periods in the liis- tory of the country which can compare with the iDresent in the profits realized by all who deal in securities, or who manufacture and sell consumable goods. With every one or nearly every one mak¬ ing moneyj the question arises, how will the surplus be reinvested ? A good deal of it will naturally be used in enlarging the business undertakings in which the profits were made. A certain portion also will be available for new and tempting industrial enterprises. Then again, family expenses will increase, as tlie stand¬ ard of home and personal comforts v.-ill be higher. But, making allowances for these new outlets for the employment of surplus funds, there will remain a large sum to be invested in the securities now on the market. ia Which of these will be the favorite specu¬ lation during the coming season? Last fall the mania was for the low-priced railroad properties, and in many cases the profits in these was extraordinarily large. The condition of affairs was such that it did not take .much courage to buy any cheap shares. They had been unduly depressed; the business of the country, especially the West, was at low ebb ; they were wanted as links between old roads or continuations into new regions, and hence the extraordi¬ nary rise in Iron Mountain, Kansas Pacific, Kansas & Texas, San Francisco, and other more obscure jiroperties. No doubt there is money yet in many low priced stocks, es¬ pecially those in our mineral regions west of the Missouri, where the tides of emigration are taking up new lands, and new crops have to be moved or new mines opened. But to speculate wisely in these outlying- properties requires special knowledge, wliich the general public cannot procure. Hence it follows that the ordinary investor is forced to choose between the various well-known securities which are dealt in on our New York Stock Exchange, and it is to the high not the low jjriced that he will be attracted. Governments barely yield 3K per cent, interest ; gilt edged bonds not more than 43a to .5. Money is easy in Europe, and secu¬ rities Avhich pay 8 per cent, there, are con¬ sidered desirable above par. We shall never again here, at the East, see the very high prices for money which obtained before the civil war. A 5 per cent, investment, whether in land or railway shares, will be considered as being worth par. Hence it follows that all securities which are certain to pay more than 5 per cent., are very sure in time to command more than par. New York Central pays 8 i>er cent, and could pay 11. It is not dear, therefore, at .f 130. Lake Shore earns 12 jier cent, per annum, and pays 8. It is very cheap at 1107. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy earns 15 per cent. It ought to command .floO. Morris & Essex is better than most of the V.onds pn tho market, and would not be dear at .$130, although it pays but 7 per cent., and so through the en¬ tire list. We believe that there is still a large margin for a permanent rise in all the first-class investments now dealt in on the New Y'ork Stock Exchange. What if there should be railroad wars? They never last long in prosperous times, when the roads have all they can do. It is only in the event of poor crops and competi¬ tion that the cutting of rates is indulged in. Nor is there any fear of the building of rival roads. True, the coming four years prom¬ ises to see a revival of railway building iii this country upon a gigantic scale. Another great railway mania is on the tapis. Thcje will, in time, be unnecessary roads built. But the trunk lines are being amalgamated and systematized, and in the course of time each will liave its own section of country undisturbed. The consolidations which have begxiii will continue until the roads be¬ come monopolies within their own region. No state of permanent war can (jxi.st, and hence we look for an increase of tlie liusi- ness of the country that will give the roads all they can do and add to the desirability of investments in railway securities. No mat¬ ter if there is a panic on a small scale due to dear money. Suppose we should liave one or two bad harvests. We can now aft'ord them. The country is increasing in popula¬ tion, in wealth, and in business so rapidly, that all our railways, iivliether they are East or West or North or South, are certain to appreciate in value as the years roll by. We argue then, that stocks are not too high; that they cannot be called high until they bring less than 5 per cent, upon the in vestment. Eight i>er cent, stocks selling at less than $120 are really very low, and there is a margin of profit in nearly all the good stocks which are to-day dealt in upon the New York Stock Exchange. THE HARLEM DISTRICT. Taken from one end to another, probably no less than 400 houses are being built to-day in Harlem, and in this energetic work of im¬ provement, there are to be found not only builders who erect houses to sell, but capi¬ talists who are building for investment. Mr. Wm. B. Astor, for instance, is improving One Hundred and Twenty-ninth and Thir¬ tieth streets, between Fifth and Sixth av¬ enues, with first-class four-story houses, and Mr. E. S. Higgins is building several houses on One Hundred and Twenty-fourth street, between St. Nicholas and Eighth avenues, and again several more on One Hundred and Thirtieth street, between Fifth and Sixtli. The greatest activity, of course, centres iu the immediate vicinity of One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street, where tlie soil is com¬ posed of sand and gravel, the very healthiest soil to live on, and Avhere the stretch of ponds of stagnant water that used to infest the section more southward never reached even in the past. In fact, One Hundredand Twenty-fifth street should be the first great retail street of tho future above Twen¬ ty-third street. Nowhere between these two points can there be found so good a business street, running from river to river, and where, owing to tlie connecting links tha* are being formed by means of the Eiglith and Third avenues with the villages of what was once Westchester County, but is now the annexed district, a most thriving trade is slowly centering already. There are now sev¬ eral stores in that street between Third and Fourth avenues, and as far up as Madison avenue, and again between Seventh and Eighth, with more of them being continual¬ ly added. The project to have a grand market iiome-