New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-06-16
In Realty Paths Where
Millions Are InJesfed
rooics of Discussion in Building and Brokerase
Lines of Greater City.

cost of keeping realty records is one
.bo heaviest expenses to the average
,,.raee office. II the records are not
rate and up TO date they are almost
.hIess II they are so classified that it
W. many minutes TO find the card or
'a o. with the desired information the sys-
" If preserving the records is faulty. 1t
Iorld he quickly abandoned for a card in
.av 60 arranged that the size and value
,ronerties for sale and other important
con be quickly learned by referring
- the office records.
:. has been estimated that more than
.,no 900 is yearly spent by brokers. opera
'.rs speculators and others identified with
-. real estate market in keeping realty
ards Add to that sum the many hun
s,ad thousands spent annually by news
s.n.rs and trade journals in order that the
r,,blc may have the latest records and
reus. and you will at once perceive how
valuable are we'll kept and up-to-date rec
ords
A perfect record system is an invaluable
asset 10 any real estate office.
Many persons whose knowledge OF realty
oHaIrs is small are often unable to de-
tsrmine why real property is always allur-
ing to thousands Of investors. It's stability
,s the principal reason, according to numer-
Gus experts on that subject.
A short time after the panicky days of
1907 Walter Stabler, controller of the Metro
nolItan Life Insurance Society, addressed
one of the local real estate classes. What
he had TO say on that occasion about the
stability Of real estate is still widely quoted.
He said: THE most gratifying thing about
the panic to me, and I am sure to real
estate men in general, is the way real
estate stood the shock.
Stocks Of all kinds were cut more than
in half, many bonds were in default, and
no interest was paid. But when you look
back over this period of stress and call to
mind how little depreciation has taken
place in real estate values, and see how few
foreclosures there have been. it is very
gratifying l have not seen statistics on
the subject, but I believe there have been
fewer foreclosures in this period than in
normal times.
zone reason was that every lender of
money felt it was his duty to the commu-
nifty to be as easy on the borrower as pos
sible. That stopped a great many fore
closures. That cannot be said about any
other form of investment a West Side
broker, speaking to me during the panic,
said ne mad been approached by customer
to sell some real estate that probably had
not paid as well as expected.
The customer was told It was not a
very good time to sell. The owner said.
why. can sell anything else without any
trouble and the brokers' reply was, II
you will sell your real estate at . per cent
of the loss your stocks and bonds would
show. l will sell it for you in FIVE minutes
And that is the answer that can be glven
in regard to real estate in all sections dur
ing the whole of that time. Mortgage in
Nestors have lost no money. l do not be-
lieve there is a man, who has had an hon
lest. we'll invested mortgage, who has lost
bnything on It,"
That no one could teach them a thing
worth knowing about the management OF
office buildings always seemed to be the
attitude of old-school agents. Some were
DO egotistical that they never could see
their own mistakes; their contemporaries,
hn their opinion, were ever committing un-
usually big blunders.