St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-15

W ~ " "
So far as actual transactions were
concerned the week was comparatively
barren one in the real estate market of
st. Paul. A few deals of some importance
were placed on record, but the contracts
for the transfers were made some time
ago and the deeds just recorded are
simply completing the original arrange
ment. 1t is we'll known fact. though,
that the first two or three weeks of the
year are not generally expected to be
characterized by many sales. and no one
expects that business will become very
active till February.
AS a general thing the great specula-
tive movements came in the last part of
the winter or in the spring. The mar
ket in st. Paul will start up gradual y.
Last year when the banks shut down on
loans and refused to loal money for real
estate speculatiOns, people engaged in
buying and selling realty thought it
hard thing to dO.and many of them were
disposed to say hard things of the banks,
and the course pursued by those inSti-
buttons was very seriously criticised
indeed.
The course pursued by the banks, in
the light of what followed and the pres
ent situation of affairs, was one of the
most judiclouS and beneficial proceed
ingS that could have been followed. At
the time the embargo was placed upon
the lOaning of money for this purpose,
the advance in real estate had been con-
siderable, ana those that had bought had
made handsome profits. The conSe-
quence was that many others were
fQmftpH IN frn onh do titynyryicn 10
with limited means were borrowing
money with which to buy more real eS-
tate, relying upon selling the same be-
fore the deferred payments became
due. There was considerable real eS-
tate excitement, with promise that in
the Immediate future there would be a
great deal more. The minds of men
were beginning to be carried away from
the reality into regions where fabulous
fortunes were to be made speedily and
with but little outlay, and even those
who had no money at all were also
affected and were about to borrow
money outright to go into trades in
realty that under the circumstances
were too risky and really wild.
It is not intended by this remark to
state that the prices proposed to be paid
for the property were too high. but that
it was risky and dangerous inasmuch as
the party had not the means to hold
should there be lull in the market or
should he not sell before the second pay
ment became due.
M
At the time the banks shut down the
public mind here had come very close to
the point of speculation that was very
dangerous. 1t is not surprising, there
fore, that great many are OF the opin-
ion that it was most fortunate thing
for st. Paul that the banks did just what
they did when they did, and that it is
due to the conservatism of the banks of
st. Paul that the city did not then re-
ceive setback in business that it would
have taken long time to recover from.
*
The solid business man will maintain
ta-day that it was thousand times bet
ter that the real estate business should
have been checked just when it was
than that it should have been allowed
to go OIL till a large number of people
would have been Swamped, and lost
what money they had put into real es-
tate in vainly endeavoring to hold what
they have partly paid for.
1t has been frequently and truthfully
stated in these columns that there has
never has in the history of st. Paul
been time when mortgages were so
generally and SO promptly paid as they
have been this fall. In many instances
they have been paid in advance, that is
the deferred payments have been paid
before they were due. That this is SO is
the concurrent testimony of all real es-
tate dealers and also of those who loan
money.
Those who uphold the banks in their
policy in refusing loans for real estate
speculation point with great satisfac-
ton to this fact in justification of their
views. They claim that if the banks
had supplied all the money needed by
spectators those people who are
now paying up their mortgages, and
clearing up their property by clearing
Off deferred payments not yet due,
would now be among those that would
have been Swamped, and that instead
OF now having money ahead. they would
have gone in further in buying and
would have lost all they had.
The probability is that the present
Solidity and healthy firmness in the real
estate market is due to the action of the
banks. The remedy was a severe one,
and it nipped various speculations in
the bud that, if carried out, would have
sounded very large and carried with
them the idea of very large real estate
transactions, but severe as it was it
seems to be approved by the sober sec
Ond thought. L is regarded as having
been in accordance with good business
ideas and in accordance with the solid,
conservative way of doing business in
st. Paul.
~
At the present time the market seems
to be rounding to in excellent form. 1t
is fact that mortgages are being paid
with remarkable prOmptness, and very
few. II any, mortgages are being fore
closed. Prices are firm and steady. and
at no time have they receded. People
know that realty is cheap in st. Paul.
Everywhere there is confidence that
the market is solid, that present values
are firm and low, and that in the natural
growth of the town prices must neces-
Sarily advance. The situation presents
the case of strong market without
much business being done. of course it
is not surprising that at such season as
the present, with Dakota billiards. all
about, and the thermometer indicating
so great degree of cold, sales should
be limited.
~
Dealers who have had experience in
rQaf Statn runniuo fhrornh oooI