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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 30, no. 755: September 2, 1882

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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