Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 28, no. 706: September 24, 1881

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE, YoL. XXYIII. NEW TORK, SATUEDAT, SEPTEMBER 24,1881. No. 706 Published Weekly by Tlie Real EstateKecord Association! TERMS: ONE TEAR, iB advance.....$6.00 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 13T Broadway.] J. T. LINDSEY. Business Manager. The oMcial record of conveyances and! mortgages of last week shows an increase! over the week before. For the week endingj September 21st the record is as follows: [parks in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth! IWards. It is absurd to talk about a popular 1 JNew York park on Staten Island. A! mleasure ground without carriages is entirely! [impracticable, and how could people get twos [or three miles in from the Narrows withl [their teams from the upper part of Newt [York island. Mr. Sedley suggests a tunnelj [under New York bay, but that is even al [wilder proposition than having a park on| [Staten Island. N.Y, City Am't, Conveys, involved, 111 $1,381,992 No. Nom¬ inal. No., 23d &24th Wards. 16 No. I Am't. Nom.-! involved, inal. | $45,928 6 Mort- Am't, No,, Five Am't, No,toT,& Am't. gages, involved, per ct,'involved. Ins, Cos. involved,! 149 $1,159,231 29 $235,631 28 $464,450j Broadway property holders profess to be] afraid of the underground railway scheme,] and are taking steps to prevent the building! of any tunnel under that thoroughfare. We] have|,never believed that the uadergroundj tunnel scheme would ever amount to any¬ thing. The cost of construction would bej something enormous, and peoj^le would not! travel through a hole when they can take] elevated, open air cars, Broadway prop¬ erty holders in the past have managed very] successfully to drive off the retail business] from that street. Any kind of an under¬ ground road would benefit them, a factf which they do not seem to understand. The stock market has been reasonably' strong since the death of President Garfield It is idle to make any predictions as to the: course of the market until the policy of the administration is made known. Gigantic speculations are under way in grain, cotton and petroleum. No doubt other products of human labor will in their tvirn be marked up, in price. It is the old story over again, first; stocks, then general merchandise and labor, and if the parallel holds good, real estate' last of all. We have got cotton, grain and petroleum so high that they cannot be ex-^ ported, and hence gold has stopped coming! this way, which is a very bad sign. People^ who feel like investing in stocks would do; well to be careful; but there is no doubt at all about real estate. Mr. Henry Sedley, a former editorial writer on the Times and Evening Post, wants the city of New York to buy a park on Staten Island. He says, very truly, that just now the land is cheap, while the situ a tion is picturesque and the views of the ocean and bay are very flne. The native trees are magnificent; beautiful lakes abound, and the natural advantages are everything' that could be desired. It is hard to say in what direction New York may spread in a hundred years time, but certainly there wiE- be very few persons to second Mr. Sedley's proposition. If we are to have more breath ing spaces, we must utUize Blackwell's sland, and perhaps lay out two or three THE CHANGE. The beginning of a new administration is' |a matter of serious moment to all who own |or deal in realty. A President bent on an agressive foreign policy, or one who had| [some financial hobby to ride, say for in-J stance such as Greenbackism, might so steer the ship of state as to get it among the] rocks. In other words, the policy of any ad ministration directly affects values, and! Ihence the interest owners in real estate have, |in every change in the government. The new President is one of our own citi¬ zens ; while lacking in legislative experi ence he is a man of marked executive facul-j Ity. His administration of the Custom' [House left nothing to ba desired, while hisi ability as a party manager and judge of men] lis universally conceded. The halls of Con¬ gress are not the best school for executive] officers. The ability to make a speech or [take part in a debate, is very different from [the faculty which makes a man a good judge of other men. This is President Arthur's strong point; whatever policy he has in view, he will undoubtedly be able to carry j it out. President Arthur does not impress anyone] [as being a sensational official. He is politic land secretive in his methods, he will have good advisers and will undoubtedly endea-j !vor to advance the prosperity of the country, [Fortunately the debt has been refunded, and the most serious task of the Treasury] Department accomplished. Should the newi administration put a stop to further sales of |governm.ent bonds, it would have a benefi¬ cial effect upon the other interests of the .country. The government being constantly in the market to buy its own obligations,] bur national bonds have been held at abnor [mally high figures, and the price of money] has been artificially cheapened. While the! old high rates for money will never come: back permanently, it is not credible that in a new country where so much has to be; done in the way of improvement, money} [should not be worth more than $% P^^ cent On the whole, the outlook is promising so! if ar as the new administration is concerned --------------«-»>-------------- ocean, fringed with magnificent beaches, at [their very doors, as New York has. The Londoner or the Parisian is forced to depend upon the vacant spaces provided him by the municipalities. But the New Yorker in one hour can get to Coney Island or Rockaway, and he has fifty miles of coast to chose from on which to spend his seaside holiday. In fact, the New Yorker has twenty places for recreation up the North River or along the Sound, where the Londoner or Parisian has one. When Morningside, Mount Morris and the park at Highbridge are completed, New [York, at least the upper portion of this island, will be pretty weU fixed for pleasure grounds. ----------------♦.«-»---------------- BUILDING AND PRICES. The architects, or at least some of them, 'are talking bearishly about building schemes. They think prices too high, and report anun- |WilIingness among investors to engage in new enterprises until the price of labor and bricks is lower. It is probably true that we have been overdoing the building of houses, not only in New York, but all over the [country; and the consequence has been a material advance in labor in certain depart¬ ments, such as bricklayers, masons and an en¬ hancement in the price of bricks, lumber and other building material. But notwithstand¬ ing the apparently excessive building, rents are advancing everywhere. There are per¬ haps more houses in the market for sale than the public care to buy just now, but there are not enough houses to rent. But the 'architects are not to blame for their bear¬ ish talk; this is the dull time in the yeat for them even in the briskest seasons, and their interest is on the side of lower prices ;in labor and material. If they succeed in talking down quotations they will make [building business aU the brisker by and bye. It is not, however, reasonable to expect any serious set back in the pirice of labor and material. The volume of our currency is steadily increasing; we have nearly doubled [the circulation of gold, silver and paper [since January, 1879, and every month shows new additions to the circulating medium. There were exceptional reasons for the ad¬ vance in bricks last summer, but the higher price of labor will make every purchasable [commodity dearer. The laborer has an ex¬ cuse for his additional wages in view of the increased cost of living. The prices of flour, vegetables and rent have all advanced, and the laborer, to make both ends meet, must !get more wages. Hence we do not look for any reduction either in the price of labor or [in the manufactured articles on which labor [is employed. A leading morning journal has been de- |voting a good deal of space to proving that| iNew York is far behind London, Paris andj [other European capitals in park room, and! [the flgures it gives are conclusive on that! fpoint. But New York does not need so! Imuch park room, because of her more f avor^ Sable position as compared with Paris and! iLondon. These latter cities have no great! The Public, the editor of which is supposed jto hold intimate relations with Jay Gould land his friends, says in its issue of Septem- Iber 22d : A few months ago, Mr. Gould was predicting [a great panic—such a collapse as few men in the [street had ever seen. It has not come as yet, and [he seems to have changed his mind. Now the |men who then sneered at him are repeating the ame gloomy predictions. They also have