Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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466 RECORD AND GUIDE March 17, 1906 J. Clarence Davies on the Bronx Following a Talk to Young Men on the Principles of Real Estate Brokerage Business* THE FIRST PRINCIPLE of the business is to make com¬ missions, and in order to make commissions one must have a thorough knowledge of what he is dealing In; In other words, he must know the fundamental principles on which real estate values are established. In a final analysis atl value is based on real estate, for all real wealth must come either in one form or another from land: farm land, mines, railroads, cities and grazing land. Every civilized person must have a place to live and therefore must use land or pay for the use of land either in one way or another. "What land can be used for and what income it can be made to pay is the true basis of land value, and when one departs from this principle the actual values are lost sight of. The market value of real estate is based on what it will sell for under ordinary circumstances. In giving expert testimony the market value is what is asked for. and this value is based on sales in the vicinity and on one thousand and one details that go to make up expert judgment and experience, as many things affect the value of real estate. A thorough knowledge of the value of real estate is the best asset a broker can have to enable him to make commissions. Specialized knowledge of values in the section the broker proposes to work in aids largely in doing a successful business. Specializing is the tendency of the times, and it leads to a surer and quicker suc¬ cess in all lines as well as in real estate. There are four means of making commissions: (1) By the sale of property either at auction or at private sale and ex¬ changing same; (2) by the collection of rents and care of property; (3) by the obtaining of mortgages on property; (4) by appraising real estate and giving expert testimony as to its value in legal proceedings. In selling property at private sale certain principles must not be departed from in order to make a success. A thorough knowledge of the property which you are trying to sell. One should know thoroughly, in the first place, the value of the land, the value of the building, the sales of property in the vicinity to use for comparison of values, who purchased them, when it is possible to flnd out, the rental values and future rentals. Leases and how long they run. Terms of leases. What tenants are willing to take future leases. What they are willing to pay for future leases. Future value of the land, both immediate and far future. Improvements made or about to be made in the neighborhood. Transit facilities, bolh present and prospective. Expenses ot property—insurance, water rent, taxes, heating, amount of coal used, cost of janitor service, light, amount of repairs; building well or poorly built; by whom built; layout of building—if same can be altered ad¬ vantageously to bring larger rents, or can be developed to dif¬ ferent class property to afford larger interest on investment. What mortgage can*be obtained; when due? at what rate of interest; whether il can remain or be paid off. Every detail of properly should be known in order to be in a position to accomplish the sale, for in the course of negoti¬ ations hardly one of these details will not come up for discussion, and a broker's knowledge of these details will assist materially,' or the lack of it retard him in his efforts to make a commission. The broker must take care to see that these details are the facts. The broker must tell the customer the cold, hard truth. Both the good side and the bad side of any piece of properly, and, in order to be successful he must let the party to whom he is endeavoring to sell have, the full facts without exaggeration or,mental reservation; and to my mind the difference between being a good and being a bad broker, successful or unsuccess¬ ful hinges on this very statement. The broker who tells both sides gains the confidence of the purchaser, and the broker who does-not- tell the full facts, and they are found out afterward .by. the principals, at once loses the confidence of both sides. . ^^.^.. THE INyBSTOR, ^ ' "" In-.cities the,real estate broker must look to three classes of buyers. ■■(1) The investor, who is one that buys real estate to obtain a certain income or rate of interest on the amount in¬ vested. (2> The consumer, one who buys property to live in, or to carry on his business im "(3) The speculator or operator, whia- buys to Vesell either at once or "to the builder, or .for -de¬ velopment, and the'n-sell to the. public, vi-^^.^c; :' If you have an investor who desires tOrihvest a certain amount in'a piece of property, first get his ideas of the amount he wSnts to invest; second, the kind of propert>' he prefers, and Ihlfd. the section of the city he knows and likes best. Then go'-tb that sectloti and pick up pieces -you- would like- to own *NaLes. ,of lecture delivered before the Real Estate Class of tbe West Side Toung Men's^ ChTistian Association Feb: 28, 1906, by Mr, J. Clarenco-'-feavies."- v', .i.:;.; :■..:■ -^::: ---■"■ '■-. ,,- . yourself and think would make a good investment. Get all the facts and place them before him. Take him to see the prop¬ erty; let him express his opinions, whether good or bad, but be able to refute his arguments If they are not just. Show him in a practical, sound, common-sense way the amount of interest he will obtain on his investment; the future of the ■property, and the amount of risk he takes In purchasing. With the consumer a different line is necessary. Here it is a matter of personal taste, and one must endeavor to suit the needs of the consumer, the requirements of his family, of his business, his personality and social sphere. The speculators constitute the largest class of purchasers. A resale at a profit is the object to be attained. Judgment of the market and its tend¬ encies must be considered. Can the property be improved and sold at a profit? Can it be improved and made a good in¬ vestment? Can property be cut up Into lots and sold at auction or at private sale to small purchasers? Can it be purchased and held one. two or three years and money made? Will it increase in value in proportion more than the ratio of cost ? There are speculators, in lols, in lots with buildings loans, in tenements, where rents can be raised; in business prop¬ erty, in corners and future business centres; small speculators buying one or two lots with the idea of reselling or saving money, and speculators in land for condemnation proceedings. The amount of commissions a broker wili make is in exact proportion to three or four things: The length of time he will work, the energy and perseverance he will use, the tact and judgment he displays and the closeness to which he will stick lo facts and the truth. Have discrimination in picking out real buyers from shoppers, the man that talks from the man that means business; property ivorth working on and giving time and attention to from property that is not worlh while. First, last and all the time success depends also on energy and perseverance, and the number of pairs of shoes you wear out in a year, THE RISE OF THE BRONX, The original Bronx section was purchased from the tribe of Indians known as the "Weekquaesgeeks," between the years IGiO and lCoi5. but in spite of these purchases there were a number of Indian massacres and the destruction of farms by the Indians. The first settler in the section was Jonas Bronck, who, in 1639, erected bis house on the Harlem Kills, near the outlet of Mill Brook, or about the present terminus of Brook av, and in about 1642 purchased the land and made a treaty with the Indians. From this treaty, supplemented by patents and grants from tbe Dutch and English, tlie majority of our titles begin. The next settler was Adrain Vanderdonck, who settled in 1653 about where the Van Courtlandt mansion now stands, in Van Courtlandt Park. His purchase included all the upper west side of the Bronx, and well Into and beyond Ton¬ kers. This was called "Vanderdoncks" land. Between the Jonas Bronck purchase and the Vanderdonck purchase was the Archer patent, purchased between 1660 and 1070 by Jan Archer, which later became the Manor of Fordham; and the strip of land between Cromwell's Creek and the Harlem River, where High Bridge now stands, was purchased by Daniel Turner, about 1671. while the easterly part of the Bronx known as the West Farms patent, which we know to-day as Hunt's and Barretto's Points was purchased in 1663 by Jessup and Richardson, From these five purchases the section now known as "the Bronx" is made up. A large number of these properties came into the hands of the Morris family, by pur¬ chase l^ter. and was known as the Manor of Morrisania. These tracts were divided up among the different branches of the Morris family and were gradually sold off, portions of which, as settlements were made, grew into little villages. You your¬ self are familiar with the names of these villages lo-day—West Farms, High Bridge, Fordham, Morrisania, Melrose and Tre- - mont. Like the history of New Tork itself, which originally con¬ sisted of villages such as Greenwich, Torkville, Harlem, Man¬ hattanville. Carmansville, etc, the development of the district has been the gradual growing together of these settlements, a process which is still going on in the outlying districts. The Bronx proper is that portion of the Bronx country west of the Bronx River annexed to the City of New Tork in 1873, and is comprised in the district bounded by the Harlem River on the west and the south, the East River and the Bronx Biver on the. east and the Harlem River and the Mt. Vernon line on the north. This district has distinct physical features which have had and will have in the future a large effect on its develop¬ ment,, -Tho'se features are as follows: South of 149th st, from