The San Francisco call., 1910-03-19
REALTY SYNDICATE
TO DEVELOP TRACTS
Market for Land Is Declared to
Be Unusually Good in and
About Oakland

Probably the most significant act in
proof of the fact that Oakland's most
successful businessmen believe thai
their city is on the verge of great
developments is the announcement re-
Gently made by the Realty Syndicate
that they propose to develop their
properties and aggressively market
them.
rhe Realty Syndicate is the heaviest
owner of real estate in Oakland. Their
lands are valued at several million
dollars, and, until now, they have never
tried in any great degree to do any
| thing more than accumulate and i'm
crease their holdings. They possess
properties that have been judged by
experts to be among the finest unde-
veloped residential sites in the west,
and the recent announcement that they
mad at last decided to offer these lands
20 the public is evidence that they see,
right now, better and stronger mar
set than. at any time for the last
three years.
Nat. NJ. Crossley, manager of the real
estate department of the Realty Syndi-
cate, stated that during the next u
months they expected to offer to the
public from eight to ten tracts of res
idential lots of varying character and
that he was planning to accommodate
business of at least s100, 900 a month.
Z have never seen the real estate
market in such splendid shape" said
Crossley. 1T has a solid foundation,
and a reason for its activity that sat
isfies us of the permanency of its
strength. Three years ago we had q
sort of a boom as the result of the
sudden influx of 100000 people. Thon-
sands bought homes, business sites
were sought by burned out San Fran
the market was strong. But condi-
tions were abnormal and the activity
could not last"
To-day it is different story. Oak
land has been building a foundation
for the present activity, and it is SOL
idly grounded and bound to hold. In
the first place it has taken us two and
q half years to grow up to fit the prices
set by property owners in 1867, when
lots were sold at higher figures than
conditions warranted. Buyers naturally
refused to sell at loss during 1908 and
1909, preferring to hold on until Oak
land developed sufficiently to increase
the value of their holdings to the prices
they paid. Thus, the last two and a
half years have been a period of ad-
justment that was necessary to the
permanent activity of the realty busi-
ness. With this adjustment over we
entered the year of 1910 with buyers in
the market who were willing to pay
prices that they refused to pay two
years ago.
THE contemplated harbor improve
ments, the expenditure of millions in
Oakland by the railroads and othet
great semipublic business enterprises
the activity of our local commercial bod
les, the annexation of new territory, the
voting of bonds, the influx of new pop
ulation and the general air of pros
perity that prevails in the community,
are reasons for these higher offerings
Buyers clearly see a great future for
Oakland that they but dimly compre-
hended a couple of years ago. Condi-
tions have improved so radically that
they are recognizing Oakland as the
nucleus of great city and are ready
now, as they never were before, to in
vest in her realty"
Crossley said that, in his opinion,
Oakland realty would continue to ad-
vance in value, without a serious. set
back, for the next 20 or % years