The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-04-21
HUNTING FOR COTTAGE
Jersey City Mans Experience
at the Seashore-An
Agents Wall.

Househunting as a necessity, or as some
pursue tia pastime-has many novel and
interesting features for the city seeker. The
novelty and interest is increased when the
householder goes to the seashore for a sum
mer home, as many in Jersey City are think
ing of doing.
A family man of this city made several
trips recently to Asbury Park, Ocean Grove
and other places, to find a home for the sum-
mer. Accompanied by a reporter and real
estate agent, the househunter went through
dozens of houses and looked at dozens more
from outside, without going through them.
The house sought for was one ready rur-
nished, near the beach, and with suit able
accommodations for a small family. The
rents asked for the different houses
ranged from $3.50 to 5000 for the summer
season. The condition of the houses varied
according to the rents asked. The interior
of some Of these honses were fearfully and
wonderfully arranged. The average house
in Asbury Park and Ocean Grove erected
for renting purposes seemed to have been
| planned with the main idea to make as many
rooms as possible, and as a consequence
space is limited n ventilation IS at a
| premium. The structures, as a rule, are
himsily constructed, and the extremes OF
weather are felt by the occupants.
NIGHTMARES.
MANY of the furnished houses are night
mares. The furniture includes all sorts of
racked and ~dilapidated stuff. Ancient sofas
and lounges that nave long since lost their
ease and colnfort-giving qualities, chairs
rickety and unsafe, tables minus a Leaf or
leg, carpets worn to shreds, old chintz rags
or coarseecotton affairs are hung to do duty
as curtains, cracked crockery, unmanageaDle
stoves and everything else to match consul
tute the remainder of the furniture. Atthls
.ao..- - 4Lo voc. xuLop thu hNd1cqz are fem
antless, they present a most cherries and
w~oebegone aspect, and present very little
that is attractive to the prospective tenant.
When spoken to about the miserable and
meagre furnishings, the real estate agent
said:-
at does not pay to furnish the houses bet
ter unless they belong to that class that rent
for 81, 900 or more for a season. The popular
priced houses are those renting from $50 to
$500. I have known OF several house owners
who attempted to furnish their places with
new and serviceable goods, but they regret
ted it at the end of a single season. l have
had a good many years experience IN rent
| ing furnished and unfinished houses, but
| believe me when l say that the average sum
| mer tenant of a seashore cottage is a con-
| scienceless and remorseless being. As a class
| they do not seem to be guided by any rules
of self-respect which govern ordinary ten
| ants. That is the reason the furniture in
VI DaO A0dD19 II In 1SSOOA $4,000 j ~ 49,
it. Many people who rent a cottage for the
| season appear to- labor under the delusion
that in paying rent they have purchased the
contents Of the house, to do with, or do away
with, as they see fit.
THE GEESE FEATHER
81 have known tenants to remove the
| greater part of the hair stuffing of sofas and
| chairs and substitute excelsior in its place.
In the same way | have known of live geese
| feathers to be removed from the bedding
and replaced by cheap chicken feathers.
Crockery will, of course. get broken in the
most careful households, but the summer
| c~ottager can break and make disappear
| more table ware in three months than an
| ordinary family would in a lifetime. We
try to provide for a payment for all broken
or missing articles of furniture, but as the
tenants usually take possession without
giving security. it is impossible to
| force them to make restitution. One of
the most barefaced acts i ever knew of in
| this connection was the theft of a good suit
/ of parIor furniture and the substitution of q
| cheap suit, The covering of the original
furniture was taken off and placed on the
| substituted articles. This was lone to de-
| ceiye the house owner, and it succeeded, for
the fraud was not discovered until several
months after the tenants had gone. I have
| known all sorts of articles of furniture to
disappear, from an oil stove to a bureau, and
the tenants were unable to explain where
they went to-. The houses rented as boarding
houses suffer most in this way Why 1t is I
cannot explain
The gentleman looking for a cottage was
not dismayed at this prospect, but rented a
neat and prettily furnished one from an old
lady who occupies it during the year except
in the height of the summer season, when
she rents and obtains enough for it to sup
mort her. for the rest of the wear M