Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 79, no. 2040: April 20, 1907

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April 20, 1907 RECORD AND GUIDE 765 ESTABUSHED^ tf^ftRPH 2LU> 1866. Dented p RE^LEsTWE.BmLDiffc ARP^iTEeTUR.E.KouaEiCMDPEaiijnoi^'i Bi/sniESS fjb TtimES of GejIer^I IrftERfsi,, PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Published etierff Saturdap Communications should be addroBsed to C. W. SWEET Downtown Oltice: 14-16 Vesey Street, New Yotk Telephone, Cortlandt 3157 , Uptown Ollice: 11-13 East 24th Street, New York Telephone, 4430 MadlBon Square "Entered at tie Post Office at X'ew Tork. Jf. J"., as second-class matter." Copyrighted, 1907, by C. W. SwceL Vol. LXXIX. APRIL 20, 1001. No. 2040. INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. Advertising Section. Page PJigt Cement ....................xvll Lumber.....................xx Consulting Engineers ..........vi Machinery .................vlli Clay Products ................xvi Metal Work ...................xv Contractors and Builders ......iv Quick Joh Directory.........xxill Electrical Interests ............ix Real Estate ...................xl Fireprofing ....................ii Roofers & Roofing Materials.xxii Granite ...................xviii Stone ....................xviil Iron and Steel ................x Wood Products...............xx WHILE the stock market this week cannot exactly be characterized as weak it has heen decidedly irregu¬ lar and unsatisfactory alike to hoth bulls and hears. It may hest be described as professional, which means that those who make the quotations are alike indifferent as to whether stocks go up or down so long as their commitments are on the short or long side and "Scalping" profits are to be made. This condition necessarily causes one day's closing to he buoyant, with many stocks at the highest prices, only to he succeeded the next day by exasperating Irregularity, dulness and trading of the narrowest character. Under these cir¬ cumstances, the great public about which we hear so much, is not participating in the perennial Wall Street game, and it would not appear that those who control the pastime are, in the light of the recent disastrous slump, using the most alluring means to get more players from the great bulk of citizens who are more or less interested in speculation. The fear as to what Mr. Harriman may say in connection with the Union Pacific Railroad before the Interstate Commerce Commission is no longer an important factor in the situa¬ tion, although manipulators are always ready to take advan¬ tage of the outcome to suit their own purposes. Stocks for investment purchases are not high at present prices, but the market is still not inviting for speculators on margin. As indicated in this column last week there is so far little or no foundation for a ,crop scare. This fact is reflected in the steady price of grain. Certainly there is nothing dis¬ quieting in the reports of railroad earnings or business gen¬ erally.. On the highest authority, it is said of the United States Steel Corporation, that its orders for the week ex¬ ceeded those for the previous week by 10,000 tons and that the corporation has iu hand inciuiries for rails for 1908 de¬ livery to the amount of 250,000 tons. Moreover it is stated that even if there should be retrenchment on the part of the railways the iron and steel industry is likely to. make as good a: showing in 1907 as in 1906, and that even if the dividend is not increased on the common, it will not b© passed in the future. The quarterly dividend at the rate of eight per cent, per annum was declared on Thursday by the Amalgamated Copper Company. The earnings of this corporation are very large. Money has ruled easy both for time and call loans though the latter touched 3 per cent. THE "Times" recently contained interviews with two of the most successful real estate operators who have of late years been doing business in New York, Mr. Robert E. Dowling of the City Investing Company and Mi-. Felix Isman. Mr. Dowling's opinion of real estate in Manhattan was summed up in the following sentence: "I have known many real estate experts during the last twenty years, and the greatest of these was a man who never sold any real estate." Mr. Ismau's opinion was not expressed as definitely as this, but it was substantially to the same effect. He pointed out that the McAlpin estate had been advised again and again to sell its block front on Broadway between Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Streets, but that its owner had showed his good sense by holding on and watching a steady and enormous increase in the valne of this property. The idea is, of course, that the operator, who buys Manhattan real estate and holds it for a comparatively long period, is likely to make much, if not more, money than the operator who is continually turning over his capital and accepting small proflts. Withiu certain limitations this idea is undoubtedly correct.-' No doubt It rarely pays to hold unimproved prop¬ erty on the outskirts of a large city for a long term of years, unless the price at which it is originally bought is very low. As soon as the price of such property reaches a certain level, its carrying charges are likely to eat up the further increase in value. The speculator who makes money in unimproved property within the limits of New York City is the man who buys just before the sudden increases in value which are constantly taking place and takes his profit as quickly as he can. The same statement is substantially true of tene¬ ment-house property, which has no early prospect of becom¬ ing anything else. A great deal of money has beeu made since 1903 by speculations in tenement houses, but it has been made chiefly by quick turns. While in the long run tenement houses properly managed should yield good in¬ comes, the conditions that have recently made them profita¬ ble speculative purchases are not likely to return for a good many years. Ou the other hand it is unquestionably true that with improved property that has a good business future the man who holds on tenaciously is the man who makes the most money. The extremely successful operators of recent years have been those who could afford to buy old buildings tn the heart of the best business neighborhoods, and then wait for the inevitable harvest, and the same state¬ ment will continue true during the next ten years. The great increases in value throughout that period will take place in the area bounded by Twenty-third and Fifty-ninth Streets, Lexington and Eighth Avenues; and the longer a man holds on to property in that district the better off will he be. SENATOR SAXE'S bill, which will prevent the Rapid Transit Commissioners from letting the contracts for the Lexington and Seventh Avenue subways, should, if necessary, be vigorously opposed by the real estate interests of this city. The Real Estate Board of Brokers should use all of its influence agaiust the bill, if for no other reason than because its passage will largely diminish the number of real estate transactions that can be consummated during the next twelve months. The only argument used on be¬ half of the bill is that, unless it is passed, the new local Public Utility Commissioners will have their hands tied in respect to subway extensions for the next two years.' But why not? No valid objections can be urged against the pro¬ posed Lexington and Seventh Avenue subways as desirable additions to the transit system of the metropolis; and there is not the slightest reason to believe that the new commis¬ sioners can improve in any essential respect upon this part of the work of the present Board. If the careful and ex¬ haustive plans of the existing commission are thrown away, it will mean simply that the new Board after long delibera¬ tion will reach what will be for all practical purposes a similar scheme. Iu the meantime, however, rapid transit extensions, of which Manhattan and the Bronx are very much in need, will be postponed for as much as a year and a half. Moreover, it is quite possible that the delay will be even longer. The weak aspect of Gov. Hughes' new com¬ mission concerns its relations to the local authorities of the city. His commission will be a State body, on which the local authorities will not be represented, as they are on the present Rapid Transit Board, yet which will depend for the effectiveness of its construction work upon the approval of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. What are the prospects that the plans of the State Commissioners will be accepted by the Governing Board of New York City? The members of that Board resent the proposed action of the Governor and the Legislature in forcing upon them a State Commission, over which they have no control, and which is not responsible primarily to the people of New York. They will scrutinize the work of the State Commissioners when¬ ever it is within their power to do so, not only with care, but in a distinctly hostile frame of mind. It is entirely possible, consequently, that the two Boards may not be able to reach an agreement over any revised plans for subway extensions, and that all new construction will be held up for a long time during the eourse of the dispute. It is very much better, consequently, that in the beginning the new State Board should not have any subways to plan, and that the people of New York should not be obliged to face an in¬ definite delay in" the construction of additional means of