The herald., 1895-10-11
roof FOR REFORM

An evil that has been altogether too
conspicuous in this city is the practice
Of many house owners listing the puid-
inps they have for rent with well nigh
every real estate or rental broker in the
citv, and then SIX times out of ten letting
the prem ises themselves without inform
ing the brokers of the fact The results
of this to say the least unbusinesslike
method of procuring tenants have been
disgust, disappointment and i'll feeling
all arc und, and invariably loss of time
and money to the brokers and those
wnom they have sent to the already &C
cupied premises.
In very many cases tenants are OBJ
tanned through one of the numerous
agents without the latter being in the
least way compensated by the payment of
the stipulated commission. The owner
simply ignores the man whose office,
efforts and advertising capital have been
utilized to find tenant, and trusts to
indifference, forgetfulness or Ignorance
on the part of the broker as to the results
of his expenditure of time and capital to
rent the property. Instances of this
kind constitute just cause of everyday
complaint by the brokerage fraternity,
and they evince q plain Willingness in
the owners who act thus to be dishonest.
Some OF the people who have achieved
q certain kind OF notoriety in this regard
are known to go to church twice on Sun
days, to prayer meetings on Fridays, to
Gospel services misce.laneously, and to
be well up in the Scriptures which teach
that"the Iaborer is worthy his hire"
It is about time they reformed.
There is no reason why the business of
renting houses should not be carried on
here the same as it is in every other
prominent American city, and that is
BY giving reputable and competent
brokers the exclusive agency for the rent
ing of property, with written contract
to pay commission. In a short tim 9
property owners would discover the best
and most successful renters among the
brokers, and would know what to ex-
pect when listing their possessions with
them. On the other hand, the exclusive
agency policy would develop a sense of
respon sibility in agents, and they would
work and spend money in the advertis-
ing Of property with the energy and eff
fectiveness that would come with the
consciousness that when the fruits of
success came they would receive their
share. The lack of trust on the one side
and the feeling of positive distrust on the
other would speedily disappear.
In addition the very important point
would be secured of preventing the form
alton in tho minds OF strangers who are
seeking abodes of the idea that as far as
business methods are concerned. this is a
jay town, am bling around in its baby
clothes. That impression is quite easily
gathered at present by the pilgrim who
starts out to lind him dwelling In
which to live. II CRATES on ones sensi-
bilities to canvass a long list of houses
that have been rented all the way from
one day to one year, but of which i'm
portant fact the agent furnishing the list
has been left in bissful ignorance of.
Reformation IN these details of house
letting can be bad inside of thirty days if
the men wLo handle houses for rent will
get together and form ulate few sensible
and businessiike conditions on which
they will list property.