Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-03-21
MANY new HOUSES
CONTRACTORS AND BUILDERS
EXPECT UNUSUALLY ACTIVE
SEASON IN oTTuMwA.
Indications That Year Of 1905 VIII
Eclipse Previous Season in Building
Of New Residences - Real Estate
Dealer Talks.

AtiI IAS COliiluS StdSOu VIII D0 Iu6
best Ottumwa has experienced for sew.
eral years as regards the building of
new dwelling houses Is the opinion of
many of the contractors of the city.
Although the present indications are
that there will not be as much heavy
building as last year the number Of res
licences to be erected promises to be
unusually large.
For the past three years Ottumwa
has enjoyed building boom and last
season was one of the best in the his
tory Of the city. Early In the spring
of 1904 it was estimated that 200 more
houses would be needed to supply the
demand, and although nearly double
that number was erected during the
year the scarcity of houses to rent is
as noticeable now as ever, according
to a well known real estate dealer.
Need More Houses.
One of the prominent real estate
dealers of the city in speaking Of the
situation said that he did not remem-
Der the time when there we're as many
people, especially working men, seek
ing to purchase homes at present. He
said that the supply of houses to rent
was not near equal to the demand and
that every day he turned away three
or five people who were wanting to rent
a four or five room dwelling.
He stated that he believed that 200
houses was small estimate of the
number needed to relieve the situation
and that double that number would not
make any appreciable difference in the
ranfQ1o uyhtnh Ia
generally considered.
A Profitable Investment.
Many railroad employees and travel
Ing men, he said, were now linving in
other cities who would prefer to live
in Ottumwa as it would be much more
convenient to their work and they
would locate here but for the difficulty
Of securing suitable residence. "Ot-
tumwans with capital to invest will
look a long time before they can find
a Use for their money that will
yield better returns than the building
of neat five or six room cottages in this
city," he said.
The annual moving season is now
only a few weeks off and hundreds of
Ottumwa renters are trying to better
their present location, but the ex-
change of homes promises to be less
than usual on account Of the scarcity
of houses.
Many Will Build.
One of the most prominent con-
tractors and builders of the city stated
today that the indications were that
there would be many more houses
erected in Ottumwa this year than in
1904. An especially encourag ing feat
ure, he said. was the large number of
working men that were considering
plans for the erection of homes during
the coming season and that while few
contracts had been closed as yet there
was every probability that the season
would be an unusually active one I'M
less the price Of building material scars
upward and reached prohibitive fig
the number Of houses
needed he said that 400 or 500 would
not be any too many. 1t Is expected
that there will be much building in all
parts of the city and especially in the
Dain addition in South Ottumwa and
ure. Regarding the number of houses
are now being erected. Among the
residences in prospect are plans for
several handsome and imposing dwell
ines