The sun., 1900-08-26

| sisted that each house must not cost less than
sum Of money. and they put up one or more
houses "a samples OF what could be done FOL
that sum or little over These investors eI
peoted and took into their business calculations
more or less DELAY in disposing OF their lots or
| these terms
Yet for time. when the first rush Brooklyn
ward began, IL looked as though the delay In
realization was going to be shorter than the
most sangulne investor had anticipated The
! farms, transformed into city lots. filled up with
| amazing rapidity In 1898 for instance, when
| the rush had fairly developed, there were
| put up in the suburb Of Flatbush alone no less
than 500 houses. Nearly all Of them were resi-
| dences To call Flatbush suburb. by the way
| Is only 10 give way TO force OF habit. II Is true
that only a short time ago within the memory
| OF those who almost might be called children
| still. Fatbush not only was suburb but
| was village by itself a village surrounded by
farms. as a country village should be. The man
who went from New York to Flatbush went
| into the country To-day Flatbush is about as
| near the centre of New York as YOU could get.
| 1t takes exactly twenty minutes from Flatbush
| to the Now York end Of the Bridge. This is
about as long as 1t takes TO go from the City
Hall to Fifty-ninth street on the elevated road.
| or from the City Hall 20 the Fifth Avenue Hotel
| by the Broadway cable road
sRrTLHMRNrs GROWING rooErHBH
so With such instances before them as this.
the Investors came 70 believe that. 40 far as
| time on real saton was concerned. they had in
vested better than they knew. And. as =
matter Of fact. they had Tracts and farms
we're transformed into villages. and the vii
lagos had grown together along the lines Of the
troleys In less time. in some instances than
the speculators had counted on as being neces-
sarv to dispose OF half their lots So they went
on and on eastward and 81 Lthward buying up
new farms and new trac's which at first they
had regarded as being too far away TO be con-
sidered rs within the speculative belt. ThisreEon
was one Of the greatest truck farming districts
IN the country. 4 large part Of the vegetables
that came 10 the New York market came from
tn 5 regon-a region that is now a thickly pop
ulated part OF tho borough Of Brooklyn. The
farms, In many instanc s. that were thus sold
and transformed into villages and then again
absorbed as finely built up parts Of the city
had been handed down from generation for
from 100 to 200 years In several cases tho farm
had never passed out Of a single family But the
onward rush Of the incoming tide Of population
swept all these traditions before 1t. Here and
there some particularly hne type of colonial
Homestead has been left to stand as a forlorn
landmark Of the past in the midst Of a sea OF
modern houses, but the greater part Of them
have been swept away. 1t was buying and buy
Ing ard building and building in every way
that you might go out along the eastern and
southern borders af Bru oklyn And IL Is buying
and buying and building and building still In
the same localities and beyond There seems
to be no end and no anticipation OF there ever
being an end to the demand for houses in this
part Of New York.
II Is all this that you may see with your own
eyes II you would appreciate how meagerly in
adequate are nero census figures 10 give you
an idea Of the proilgous lines on which Brook
lyns growth is spreading. Nothing less than
this will make you see how useless are those
same figures OF the census in giving YOU a basis
on which even approximately to cstimae the
ratio OF Brooklyns future growth
To say that some of the investors In real
estate In the outlying regions around Brooklyn
have been happily disappointed in their
estimates OF the time that it would take to
realize on their holdings. is not. by a good deal
the same as saying that all were so fortunate.
Naturally there were some lines OF growth
where the expansion was much more rapid
thln in others. In many places the investors
are still waiting for full returns. The tracts
they bought are filling up-they are
bound TO hll up sooner or later
but the process IS comparatively
slow. 1t depends upon the situation. OF course
and upon the terms the investors are able to
offer purchasers. And some Of these terms
seem, at first glance at least. TO be liberal in the
extreme. Everywhere throughout the entire
area Of what may lie called the new Brooklyn"
1t may be accepted a. a general principle that
land Is cheap--in some cases extremely cheap
provided you wish to build house on IT, still
-
solid person who wishes not only to build
house, but TO build house for the purpose OF
living in il yourself and OF identifying yourself
with the neghborhood and its interests
Such a person practically can make his own
terms in many Of the localities. and very
restricted localities at that. The reason
Of this Is obvious. The more houses that are
put up and filled by people OF this kind the
more the value OF the adj cant unocoupied lots
becomes When a community once is firmly
established, and there is a large group Of homes
whose occupants own them and are Interested
IN keeping the standard of the neighborhood up
to a high mark. then the question OF the first
cost OF the land TO the purchaser who wishes to
build becomes another matter 1t is at that
point that the big profits OF the nal investor
begins Every person whom he has induced TO
come and build has contributed by just so much
10 lHe value OF tne original purchase.
LAND IS STILL CHEAP.
So. the fact still remains notwithstanding
the rush BrookynS ard has been going on for
three or four years now with great volume,
that the man who wishes to build house can
buy land in the borough of Brooklyn cheaper
than anywhere else in any other of the New
York boroughs-c cheaper indeed. than he often
can get it in many Of the suburbs about the city
limits. He can get a lot at from $3.50 to $3.50.
and for the last named price it will be a particu-
larly fine lot that he will have Further
more. In making the purchase he Deed
not put down more than S. or so cash and
the same amount a month until the total is
paid. For $500 cash he can buy a 81. 900 house
and can pay the balance in the form OF rent. II
he makes a good impression upon the real
estate man and II the real estate mans investi-
cations INTO his status and probable future
responsibility are satisfactory. he may
even get his house without making the
preliminary 500 payment He may simply
walk into it as his own and pay of the entire
cost price In the way of rent. These are liberal
terms. Perhaps they are not 30 common as they
we're a year or so ago, but they still exist and
are part Of the system OF real estate business
over in the rapidly expanding borough That
the time will come when such opportunities are