The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-02-16
Absence of an Exchange Al
lows the Bad Weather to
Squelch Business.
ACTIVE INQUIRY
AND SMALL SALES
Agents Are Interested in Battle
Abbey Location Question.
Building Operations Be-
coming Very Exten-
sive-Suburban
Notes.

/ y.
Until Richmond has real estate ex-
change. where auction sales may take
place on the date and at the hour
named. regardless of the forecasts of
the Weather Bureau the clouds and the
| flow of moisture from them will always
have their effect upon the real estate
business, and a bad effect II always Is.
/ Because of continued rain the past
week. and for no other reason. as far
| as any one can Judge. the business
| done by the real estate agents was
rather small. Every auction sale that
had been announced to take place was
4 called off because buyers would not
assemble on vacant lots or In the street
about buildings in storm and under
umbrellas. Richmond is strictly up-to-
/ date in all other respects. and 1t Is a.
wonder to visitors that there Is no real
estate exchange here. Notices In news
papers that auction sales were post
poned on account OF rain or snow has
| very "back-numberish'' flavor for the
/ up date reader of real estate gos-
sip. but that kind of a notice has to
appear very often in the papers OF
otherwise progressive Richmond.
small Property Active.
Nevertheless some business was done
I'm the Offices of the agents last week.
Not enough was closed " 10 run the
aggregate of sales near as high as dur
Ting the week previous. but a number
of small properties changed hands. and
as far rs, the ugly weather would per-
nit the seekers after this class of
tpronertv were active. Several of the
agents report small sales. and all Of
! them a-e chirpv and say Considering
the weather The inquiry has been
( sufficiently active and urgent to lead
to the belief that there Is much busi-
mess ahead for the early dry days that
must follow every stormy season
No large sales were made. or the%s
were the agents are not vet ready 70
.Itell about them. and nothing ha been
placed npon the deed books to furnish
information of them. The transactions
were confined exclusively to vacant
IIots of the cheaper kind and small
residences for immediate occupancy
There was but little investment of
speculative business done.
The Battle Abbey and Values.
The agents are Just now very much
interested in the question of the loca-
ton of the Confederate Battle Abbey.
Since 1t seems that tho Monroe Park
proposition has been abandoned and
the ladies' of the Confederate memorial
for location near the one-time Con
federate White House, the agents have
ben conside rably stirred up.
! Almost without exception they are
"agin" that location. OF course. some
one is ready to say that they want
/ the abbey placed where 1t will help
the real estate they have an interest in.
THAT may be true, but as one OF them
said to The Times-Dispatch man yes
T.
of money in this memorial. and. all
things being equal, there is no good
reason why it should not obtain sorre
benefit from 1t,
Il For Convenience Sake.
Another agent said that he was not
particularly or largely interested in
property in any locality that had been
/ named, but as general proposition
] he thought the abbey should be To-
/ Gated so as to be convenient to the
public, especially the travelling public.
and If so located it would necessarily
enhance values of property where thay
ought to be enhanced. An enhance
ment Of values being natural conse-
quence of any location, he could not
i see that 1t detracts from real estate
agents patriotism for him to at least
Suggest that the abbey be placed where
1t will do the most good to the most
property He thought the memorial
4 should be located somewhere south of
Broad Street and west of Ninth for
convenience sake. How far west CT
Ninth he did not say, but his idea was
that 1t should certainly not be further
east than that thoroughfare.
Great building Activity.
There is increased activity in tho
offices of the architects and among tha
...t.f al. -.
that there is now no cessation In build
ing operations and none likely to be. !
On the contrary, it begins to look as
Iif the number OF houses. especially;
. residences that will go up in Rich
mond and the suburbs this year will
break the record. or come Very near
to it. The permits granted Dolly by
the Building Inspector furnish evi-a
!, dence of the fact that more people are
ready to build homes than al any
time within the past several years.
. 1t is trde that the smaller homes OF
the value of from $4,000 to 5000 are
lin the vast majority on the list OF pros
Ipective buildings, and it is a Very good
I sign of the times that many of these
houses are being erected. and are To-
he, by investors. who have at last real
lied Richmond's great need of VENT
ers." The men and the agencies who
loan money on real estate report that
they have rarely ever known such desa
mand for funds to be used in the erec-
ton of small homes.
Business In the suburbs.
Asa matter of course the real estata
business In the suburbs was duh tho
past week. but the agents who handle
this property say the inquiry for sites
for homes In the beautiful suburbs
i around Richmond is very pronouncld.
4 and they look for great business m
that line before the flowers get we'll
/ In bloom.
i The Ginter Park people, who arr.
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