The herald., 1895-11-11
Real Estate Seems High but Re.
turns Are Great
PRICES ARE NOT INFLATED
Figures Appear Large UatiI Compared
With Production
Los Angeles City Property Enjoying Steady
Increase In value Owing to the Great
Building Boom

"A cheap tnluB 10 uedI az my pEiCos
and the old saying applies to the value
of land as we'll as many other things.
Cheap land is not to be figured BY the
price paid, but by the conditions sur
rounding resultant products. Prices that
appear to DO exorbitant CT first glance
| fall perceptibly on examination of the
output Of the land.
1t is customary for the casual eastern
visitor to rail OF the high prices asked
for improved California real estate. BY
this is meant ranch land, for city real
estate is only governed BY location and
demand, production necessarily counting
for nothing. Now the value Of ranch
land is dependent on just one thing, ana
that is Its productiveness as compared
with the amount of labor Necessary to
reach the highest result. This one cause
is divisibie by many minor reasons, water
supply and accessibility to railroads
being the most important. The days OF
desert lots and mountain Gulches being
sold for orchard land are over. that being
ona of tho freaks of the great boom in
the later eighties. Buyers now expect to
zee their purchases, acquiring land for
their own use and not as a speculation.
prospective settlers the many reasons
why the price of Southern California
land should be held at seemingly high
price.
First we como to San Gabriel among the
| various settlements close to Los Angeles.
This is the old settlement of the mission
fathers, who were wise in their genera
| ton in the matter of choosing land on
which to make home. For long time
there was little recognition Of the mar
velous properties Ut the soil and climate
| of this valley and the value OF the property
was but low. But when the inhabitants
Of the county awoke to the possibility OF
the land that was contained in the val.
ley then there was rush to take up all
the soil in sight, though the larger por,
ton of IL was already gone in the ola
| Spanish grants. Today there is steady
trade in the land in this section that
would astonish the casual observer. Land
is rapidly changing hands and in every
| case at an advance that would seem TO DC
| exaggerated were not the operation con-
| tinually repeated. At tho present day
| the comm on uni improved lands are fetch
| ing from 500, without water to $3.50 and
| over with water. and the improved and
| cultivated land is now fetching from $500
| to $500 per acre. The eastern visitor, ac-
customed to the low prices OF the COM
| paratively worthless uncleared land In tn .
middle and southern states, wonders at
inflated and truly California;" II
they would stop to think moment OF
the results that can be obtained from
these acres there would be but little hes-
| itation on their parts. The common
lands, that 10 those that have no water
rights attached to them, are sold for $loo
per acre. To this must be added the cost
| of blowing and cultIvating. buying trees
| or seed, planting and fencing, etc., for
four years. At the end OF this there is
| possible bearing, and at the end OF the
next year the income from the iand over
| and above all expenses is about $500 per
acre. The average eastern property 10
| sold upon basis of ten years income,
| so that if the Californian were to get the
same relative price for his land the prop
erty that seems SO dear at 500 an acre Is
really worth, according to the standard OF
| the detractor, $4,000 per acre. =,
And this fact of tho San Gabriel valley
is none the less true of all Southern Cal
| ifornia. In the Riverside district the
sale of orange land is a comparatively
| limited one, the present owners having
sure income and being in No MOOD 10
cinity of Riverside is held at price that
Gems almost prohibitory at first. But
| here again let us see what the price that
| is asked represents in yearly income. Tho
finest orange land that is in Riverside
county can be boupht for the sum OF
| $500 per acre. The trees will proba bly, be
Young and in that time there will be
the taxes to pay for the land and inciden-
| tai expenses that will bring the cost of the
land up to about 5000 per acre
for the first year. In the second year
is crop tina. about pays the taxes on
the land. Barring accidents and with
the most ordinary luck the grower during
the next season should be able to get a
crop that will pay him over and above all
expenses $500 per acre from the land that
at first seemed to him to be too high.
In the face of these arguments to the con-
trary it would be useless to argue further