Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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170 RECORD AND GUIDE February 9, 1918 YOUR 1918 RENTAL-INCOME IN ADVANCE Illustration If gross Rents next 12 montlis are $30,000 We will advance you, as required : Expenses and Charges, say $20,000 And balance (net income) to 10.000 $30,000 NEW YORK INCOME CORPORATION Bank of Commerce Bldg. 31 Nassau St., New York Telephone, 4705 Cortlandt Realty Supervision Co. 45 West 34th St., New York Business Buildings Only Completely maintained and operated at a Fixed Annual Contract Price We sirpply and pay for r COAL .__ ! HELP ALL i SUPPLIES 1 REPAIRS I INCIDENTALS May we submit our estimate? JOHN F. DOYLE & SONS REAL ESTATE AGENTS BROKERS and APPRAISERS New York City 74 Wall Street Management of Estates a Specialty Member of Board of Brokers John P. Doyle John P. Doyle, Jr. Alfred L. Doyle J. CLARENCE DAVIES BRONX BOROUGH REAL ESTATE 149th STREET & THIRD AVENUE Tel. Con. Branch Office, 32 NASSAU ST. Member of Board of Brokers ' A. M. CUDNER REAL ESTATE CO. Real Estate Brokers and Managers Chelsea Section Specialists 254 WEST 23rd ST. TEL. 1276 CHELSEA FRED'K FOX&CO. Business Building Brokers 14 W. 40th STREET and 793 BROADWAY HARRY B. CUTNER REAL ESTATE 1181 BROADWAY Southwest Corner Twenty-eighth Street Telephone—Farragut -IjSj Goodwin & Goodwin REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE Management of Estates a Specialty 148 WEST 57th STREET wear Camegte TTall Telephono 6095 Circle 260 LENOX AVENUE N. B. Cor. 123rd Street Telephoin- 6500 Harlem REAL ESTATE NEW^S OF THE WEEK Sale of Waldorf-Astoria Hotel—Equitable Society Mutualized—Staten Island Housing Project TTHE outstanding sale of the week is ■■■ that of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which was sold by the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel Company to General T. Coleman du Pont. Details of the sale will be found in another column. Another in¬ teresting deal was the crystallization of a plan for the mutualization of the Equitable Life Assurance Society through the action of General du Pont in offering to sell his holding of the majority of the stock. The plan was duly adopted by the directors and approved by the stockholders represent¬ ing a majority of the capital stock. The total number of votes cast was 87.523. of which 84,364 votes were in favor of and 3,162 votes against the plan. The plan in substance provides for the purchase from General du Pont of 564 shares of capital stock of the societv at $5,400 a share for 501 shares and $1,500 a share for 63 shares, amounting in the aggregate to $2,799,900. The purchase price is to be paid in semi-annual in¬ stalments between November 1, 1917, and May 1, 1937, from interest to be re¬ ceived by the society on its mortgage of $20,500,000. now held against the Equitable Office Building Corporation upon the Equitable Building, 120 Broad¬ way. Many projects which have been pre¬ sented to the authorities at Washington for the housing of workmen employed in shipbuilding plants have included the building of model villages, taking virgin territory as a. basis for the work. Last week there was forwarded to Washing¬ ton a plan for the .improvement of a tract on Staten Island, which is adjacent to the shipbuilding yards, but has the advantage of not being in an un¬ developed section, but is improved with streets, sidewalks, water, etc. The sec¬ tion, which includes Mariners* Harbor, Elm Park, Port Richmond, Graniteville and West New Brig^hton has the addi¬ tional advantage of being supplied with schools, stores and places of amusement. There are upwards of 5,000 workmen now employed in the shipbuilding plants, and the great majority of these people have to go considerable distance to their homes. As a result of this condition it is reported that about 30,000 workmen were employed last year. Cornelius Kolff, who is actively en¬ gaged on the project, said yesterday: "The plan involves the construction of a large number of houses for workmen at points convenient to the shipbuilding plants. The Government would have to supply the money for the erection of the houses, which in turn would be sold to the occupants on a partial payment plan. The cost of the houses should be limited to about $3,000, and when taken together with the land the entire in¬ vestment would be about $3,600 a house. "There is a company of men who are willing to provide the land and do the work of construction, providing that the Government is willing to make the build¬ ing loan. The houses would be laid out with living room, dining room and kitchen on the ground floor and four rooms and bath on the second floor. The Public Service Commission, on the application of Captain C. S. Bookwal- ter. District Officer of the United States Shipping Board, has issued permission to the Richmond Light and Railroad Company to operate open cars for the transportation of shipbuilding workers from St. George. S. L, to the shipbuild¬ ing plant? on the north shore of Rich¬ mond. The company has all of its other equipment in use and in view of the present emergency the Commission agreed to permit the operation of the open cars for the transportation of the thousands of ship workers. The full regular equipment of the company will be left in service for the conveyance of the regular passenger trafiic of the line and efforts will be made to restrict the use of the open cars solely to the ship builders. The Commission gave its approval on motion of Commissioner Charles Bulkley Hubbell after ex-Jus¬ tice William L. Ransom. Counsel to the Commission, had stated that the com¬ pany did not have sufficient closed cars to meet the abnormal demand. LEGAL NOTES AFFECTING REALTY Prepared by Committee on Real Estate Laws of Real Estate Board, Samuel P. Goldman, Chairman Right of Auctioneer to Sell Property. T N an action by an auctioneer against ■^ the owner of lots for breach of con¬ tract to permit their sale at auction, the South Carolina Supreme Court holds. Andrews v. Hampton, 94 S. E. 112. that the auctioneer had the right to advertise and sell the lots at any time between the dates set by the contract between him and the owner, and the owner would have been bound to make deeds to the purchases. If the owner put the auctioneer off as to the whole sale bv pleading illness until the time limit for sales had expired, doing so with intent to break up the sale, it was held that the owner breached the con¬ tract as effectually as if he had done so summarilv and unequivocally. The ques¬ tion whether the owner had so breached the contract was held to be for the jury, which found for the plaintiff. Breach of Lease. No branch of the law is involved in more obscurity by contradictory decisions than whether a sum specified in an agreement to secure performance will be treated as liquidated damages or as a penalty, and each case must depend unon its own nertiliar and attendant circumstances. While the intention of the prirties must be taken into con¬ sideration, the languap"p of the contract is not conclusive. The courts lean tow^^rd a con'^truction which excludes re:cord and guidb the idea of liquidated damages and per¬ is IN ITS FIFTIETH YEAR OF CONTINUOUS PUBLICATION mits the parties to recover only the damages actually sustained. Ordinarily the intention of the parties, while not conclusive, is a cardinal factor in deter¬ mining whether the sum stipulated is to be considered as a penalty or liquidated damages where the intention can be clearly made out from the contract it¬ self in the light of the facts and cir¬ cumstances surrounding its execution. A bond is prima facie a penal obliga¬ tion, but the sum stated where a penalty is usually inserted has sometimes been held liquidated damages. This has seldom been done, however, unless words were employed in connection with that sum to countervail the implication of penalty. And the general rule is that where the contract is in the form of a bond the amount named will be deemed a penalty and not liquidated damages. Tt has been said that the clause fixing the amount of the damages will be treated as a penalty where it appears to have been inserted to secure prompt performance of the agreement. In an action on a bond in the penal sum of $5,000. given to secure performance of a lease, the Illinois Supreme Court holds. Giesecke v. Cullerton. 177 N. E. 777, that to determine whether the amount 'in the bond was a penalty or liquidated damages the lease and the bond must be construed together. _ The lessee agreed in the lease, which was for ninetv-nine vears, to pav a rental of $900 for the first j^ear and $1,200 a year for the remainder of the lease, and