Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 91, no. 2358]: May 24, 1913

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May 24, 1913 RECORD AND GUIDE 1099 A Builder's Miscalculation. It is an elementary rule that the most im¬ portant factor in any business venture is ex¬ perience. Often shrewd business men. success¬ ful in their own business, are prone to forget that in a different field they are novices. This is peculiarly true in real estate, where for¬ tunes may be lost on a single mistake of judg¬ ment. Here is an instance, as related by Spear & Co., of 713 Broadway, that happens not infre¬ quently. A builder, who has been successful in erecting and disposing of some uptown apart¬ ment houses, made up his mind to erect a loft building in a favorable spot in the uptown loft zone section. In October or November, when his building was half completed, brokers besieged him with favorable offers. The renting men advised the builder that these offers compared advantage¬ ously with the prevailing values in the neigh¬ borhood ; that inasmuch as his building would not be completed before February, the induce¬ ment of a few months' free rent was lacking. He was told that when the renting season drew to a close he could not hope to command the same rentals, as most of the desirable tenants leased space months in advance. He paid little attention to these men who were in a position to understand conditions. As the days advanced he found fewer applicants for space. One month before the close of the rent¬ ing season he awoke to the fact that his build¬ ing was almost entirely unfilled. Frantic ap¬ peals to brokers elicited few responses. He be¬ gan to cut his rentals and offers that were spurned two months before were eagerly ac¬ cepted. The close of the renting season found liis building half filled at greatly reduced figures from what he was led to expect at the beginning. His mistake of judgment had cost him from twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars. BARGAIN OPPORTUNITIES. Reduced Railroad Fare. By agreement with the Public Service Com¬ mission for the First District, the Long Island Railroad during the week established a five-cent fare on express trains between Flatbush avenue and East New York stations. In order to get the benefit of the five-cent rate passengers must buy $1 worth of tickets which entitles them to twenty rides. Conductors have been instructed to accept these tickets on express trains, upon which the fare heretofore has been ten cents. There is not much difference in the service on the express trains and the local trains for this distance, but the fact that the fare was five cents on the locals and ten cents on the ex¬ presses caused an unequal distribution of the traffic and the undue crowding of local trains. In arranging for the five-cent rate on the ex¬ press trains the commission hopes that condi¬ tions on the local trains will be relieved. Improved Crosstown Service. The Public Service Commission for the First District, upon the recommendation of Commis¬ sioner John E. Eustis, has dismis^^ed the proceeding against the New York Railways Company involving the service on the 86th street crosstown line in Manhattan. The pro¬ ceeding was begun on complaints from Alder¬ man Gilmore and others against the short-lining of cars at Second avenue, and in many cases the collection of an extra fare from passengers who desired to travel east of Second avenue. During the hearings the company improved the service so that 60 per cent, of the cars were run through to the ferry and only 40 per cent, were short-lined at Second avenue. The commissioner also directed the company to place an inspector at Second avenue to see that all passengers in short-lined cars desiring to go farther were transferred to through cars without the payment of an additional fare. The commission's inspection made after these im¬ provements were put into effect showed that the service east of Second avenue was adequate, and the hearing was closed with the under¬ standing that the present service will he con¬ tinued and that the short-lining of cars will not be changed without the approval of the commission. B. R, T. Cars on the Queensboro Bridge. Chief Engineer Alexander Johnson of the Bridge Department thinks there is no occasion for Long Island City manufacturers to worry over the projected narrowing of the roadway on the Queensboro Bridge to provide room for the B. R. T. subway cars. In an interview he said he was confident that the roadway, after the protective railings are put up to guard the railroad tracks, will be wide enough to accommodate all the vehicular traffic that will cross the bridge in the future. Roof Garden for Hotel Marseilles. The Hotel Marseilles, "the uptown hotel" at Broadway and 103d street, has had such a suc¬ cessful season that Manager Charles A. Weir is going to open a roof garden on the top of the hotel, overlooking Riverside Drive and the Hudson River on one side and upper Broadway on the other. The garden will be decorated in the usual manner, with latticework and foliage, but several new ideas will be incorporated in the lighting effects and the service. Condemnation Report. Alfred J. Eno, Charles A. Hendrickson and Wallace J. Hardgrove. the appraisers appointed on March 5th by the Commissioners of the Sink¬ ing Fund, to appraise the value of the lands owned hy the city, and lands owned by Have¬ meyer & Elder, lying between Vernon avenue and the United States pier and bulkhead line, and Nott avenue and 1.3th street. Borough of Queens, which it is proposed to exchange, have completed their report. The land owned by Havemeyer & Elder is valued at $16,452.80, while that of the city, $8,226.40. Now Is the Time to Pick Up Properties for a Little Money.—The Morris Park Auction. This is bargain time in New York real es¬ tate. Never before were there suoh opportunities offered to pick up, for a little money, proper¬ ties which, according to the views of the most experienced real estate men, would net their buyers small fortunes in the course o." a very few years. All city real estate except possibly gilt-edged property bordering on the financij.1 district about WaU street or lying rear tbe great Fifth avenue retail shopping section, seems to be passing through a period of tem¬ porary depression which is causing prices to be quoted lower than actual values in many cases and is making opportunity for quick iuvest>rs which is not likely to be equaled again in tnis generation. Nobody who can afford to hold property is offering it at this time for bargain prices are the best that can be expected. For this reason those who know actual conditions are more than surprised at the audacity of the Banking De¬ partment of New York State in ordering the sale of the 3,019 lots in the Morris Park Race Track, the largest lot offering ever held in this or any other city, equaling as it does in vol¬ ume, the sales of three ordinary years. There are those who freely predict that the sale will result in the greatest slashing of values ever recorded. There are others who say that the sale should not be held at this time. The proceeds from it are to be used in set¬ tling the claims of depositors in two defunct banking institutions, and it is said that con¬ siderable more money could be obtained for the property a year or two hence, when, it is ex¬ pected, the construction of new subways will have revived the land boom that accompanied the building of the present suhway. The Banking Department, however, has been so hard pressed for settlement by depositors who want whatever they are to have of their original deposits, that the sale must be held now though the lots bring only a small part of their value. It is just such occasions that have resulted in the making of many of the real estate fortunes of New York. As in the stock market, the wise man in real estate buys when prices are lowest. There are hundreds of men in all parts of the country to-day who live in ease as the result of having seen an opportunity to buy cheaply in New York City and of having been able to grasp the opportunity. One such man, the writer re¬ calls, is B'rian G. Hughes of New York. Twenty years ago when Jere Johnson, Jr., was traveling about the outskirts of New York selling lots at auction from an open carriage drawn by a pair of white horses and accom¬ panied by a brass band, he happened one day to strike into South Brooklyn, then a wilderness without streets or any of the improvements the city makes. Johnson had an order to sell about 3nu lots on what are now Fifth avenue, 64th, C.jth and 66th streets. He had a small audi¬ ence, to whom he announced that the owner of the property, being financially embarrassed, had decided to sell the lots for what they would bring, just as the Banking Department wiil offer the lots in Morris Park. Brian G. Hughes was one of those who believed in the future growth of the City of New York. He was sure that increasing population was straining to get into that open territory, just as it is straining now to get into Morris Park, but he never dreamed that the small investment he made that day would bring such return as it has. Hughes paid .$90 each for a plot of about ten lots on Fifth avenue from 64th to 65th streets. As soon as he had taken title to them, he erected a sign on them saying "Not for Sale, B. G. Hughes." Such opportunities as that offered to Hughes are not uncommon in New York real estate, but when they are offered, they must be acted upon quickly. In all businesses where a dollar's worth is offered for fifty cents com¬ paratively few buyers are to he had, for almost everyone "smells a rat," It is on such occa¬ sions that skilful men put away opportunties to make fortunes while the few who are really wise and are willing to back up their convictions after investigation, make great profits. Never before in the history of New York City have circumstances combined in such manner to favor small investors as they have in connection with lots in Morris Park. At the very poorest selling that anyone remembers 3.019 lots are to be sold. This means that, should each buyer take two lots, 1,500 buyers would be necessary to clean up the property at a time when there are no buyers for the best real estate New York has to offer. In former years, the purchases of 500 lot buyers—purchases made at intervals throughout a whole year—exhausted the funds available for investment. What, then, the ques¬ tion is being asked, will happen when the nor¬ mal volume of money seeks investment at Mor¬ ris Park? The only answer is that buj'ers will have a field day and that they may expect quicker and larger profits from their purchases than such investors ever have made. New York's Greatness. Chicago is next to New York in magnitude and importance as a business center, but just how close it is to the greatest city on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, or rather, how much greater New York is in comparison, may he surmised from the fact that in the four years ending in 1910 the money expended here on new buildings was more than the assessed value of the entire Western city. In these four years more than $380,000,000 was put into new con¬ struction in Manhattan Borough alone. The assessed value of the Windy City in 1910 was $344,000,000, or $40,000,000 less than the cost of a four-years' building campaign in Man¬ hattan. The difference, it was estimated at the time, was equal to the realty value of a town the size of Lawrence, Mass.. or Portland, the chief city of Maine. Last year's building oper¬ ations in Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens totaled more than $205,000.000.—New York Sun. ESTABLISHED 1879 William P. Rae Co. Main OflBce 180 MONTAGUE STREET Uptown Branch 400 Nostrand Av., adj. Gates Av. MANAGERS APPRAISERS AUCTIONEERS BROOKLYN AND QUEENS WE REPRESENT JAMAICA HILLCREST SEA GATE N. Y. HARBOR OFFICE ON EACH PROPERTY Firm Established 1853 John B Fickllng President Albert A. Watts Vice-Pres. & Treas. DAVENPORT REAL ESTATE CO. HILL SECTION SPECIALISTS Cor. Fuiton and S. Oxford Sts. BROOKLYN NEW YORK TELEPHONE. PROSPECT 2978 Members Brooklyn Board of Real Estate Brokers BROOKLYN ESTATE MANAGERS CHAS. L. GILBERT, President NOAH CLARK, Inc. REAL ESTATE INSURANCE Water Fronts, Factory Sites, Appraisals Main Office 837 Manhattan Avenue Branches 545 Morgan Avenue 753 Nostrand Avenue BROOKLYN, N. Y. FOB. NEARLY HALF A CCNTURY we have been selling, buying, renting, manag¬ ing and appraising real estate. We have seen competitors come and go while we have pro¬ gressed. There's a reason. Let us serve you and you will discover the reason. BULKLEY 4 HORTON CO. Phone: Bedford 5400 414 Myrtle Ave., near Clinton Ave. 585 Noslrand Ave., near Dean St. Officers and Directors of the Brooklyn Board of Real Estate Brokers DE HART BEROEN - - THOMAS HOVENDEN - WILLIAM H. SMITH EUGENE J. GRANT DIRECTORS VeHart Bergen Isaac Cortelyou William P. Rae Tkoinns Hovenden Frank H. Tyler Wm. Q. Morrisey C. 0. Mollenhauer President Vice-President Treasurer Secretary Howard O. Pyle Eugene J. Grant John F. Janies David Porter A. J. Waldron F. B. Sn(no William H. Smith Fenwick B. Small DIRECTORS EX-OPnCIO John Pullman Arthur B. Oritman