Evening star., 1914-08-01
LARGE SUMS 1ePICKED UP"
BY SHARP REALTY TRADERS
Many Fortunes Made Shady Deals in Gotham Property
How Pride Helped Trickster- Railroad Com
pany Made Victim.

Dull days in real estate are useful ioi
one purpose: they permit the tricks Oh
the game-realty romances. in other words
to be told. To the average person there
is no more dreary calling than that OF
real estate man. Lacking the surface ex-
citement Of Wall street and other lines OF
men think selling real estate is
a dull, prosy business suited only for
men who have aged before their years.
The fact is, real estate is as exciting as
the Wall street game. and far more rack
ing, says the New York Sun. Little being
heard OF the under workings and tricks
of real estate. few realize the excitement
and subtleties Of the game. It is only at
such times as these. when business is
dull. that realty men get reminiscent.
Then one hears for the first time the In
side story Of the battle Of wits that pre-
ceded the sale Of q 9Th avenue corner:
of the sharp practices Of this man: the
chances of long Imprisonment taken by
that man for a few thousand dollars: how
BLUM. and only blum. carried to a close
negotiation which otherwise would have
fallen down. and Of the tricks used to lift
L
improvements. Many real estate deals
closed. whether they involved large capi-
tai or little money. had enough thrills to
satisfy more than the average appetite
for excitement
Four men. all Of whom would be in the
real estate hall OF fame II there was such
q place. met on q hot day last week in
the oface Of q young lawyer on Pine
street, a man who controls q private
mortgage company and lot OF money
The deal which brought about the meet
Ing could not be carried through that
day, and the four men sat in the cool
breeze usually found at the top Of sky
scraper and talked Of former days and
lighter affairs. One commented on the
sale. announced in the Sun that morning.
lawyers had been anxious to sell for some
time.
Guarded Against Tricks.
'-The contract for the sale of that
property" remarked another Of the
group. It'll bet is proof against all the
tricksters in this town. That firm was
euchred out Of $4,000 by trickster, a
crafty lawyer, a few years ago. and
since then not q point is overlooked;
nothing is taken for granted and the
reputation Of a buyer or seller means
them or their client II You can. is the
stand they take. and they watch every
move with suspicion.
Controlling large estate funds. they
were approached by a certain operator
for mortgage. They consented to make
the loan and a date was set for closing
the deal. On the date the operator gave
a reason for postponing the deal until
the next day. Naturally, the postpone
ment was granted. That same day a
mortgage for $4,000 was recorded against
the property by the owner through a
dummy. The next day he closed the deal
with the lawyers. They had searched the
property up to the day set for the closing
of the deal and found everything satis-
factory. The money advanced. which
was trust money. was to be first mort
gage. but it actually was a second. Both
loans more than equaled the value of the
realty. It was months before the law
yers heard they had been tricked, and
the knowledge came through a foreclos-
ure suit started by the dummy mort
gagor. Representing many large estates.
the lawyers could not display their mis-
take by bringing the trickster to justice.
so to prevent the foreclosure action the
first mortgage was paid OF by the law
yers out Of their own pockets Had they
fought the case. the lawyers figured, their
reputation and business would be i'm
paired. so they paid tribute to the trick
ster."
Doubled His Price,
Talking about tricks" chirned an
other. IT know Of one that was played
one one Of the big railroad companies. A
corner in the site Of the big station was
held at $4,000. Several nearby proper
ties had been sold. The owner of the
or what the buying meant. Being a wise
one, yes. one of the wisest along certain
lines in the city, he doubled his price on
general principles; $4,000 he wanted. and
not cent less would he take. He rea-
soned he wasn't losing any advantage by
holding out for this figure. Represent
atives Of the railroad company laughed
at him when he said he wanted $76, 900
for his corner.
Well condemn it. That was enough
for him. He knew then his property was
wanted for a public improvement to be
built by private capital. There had not
been any talk at the time of the railroad
company entering this city. So he had
the property put up at auction. A friend
bought it for $115,OOO That established
deny that. A few weeks later the COM
pany took the property, paying more
than S125O0O for it."
"A man in the service Of the city,
whose long years Of training made him
alert for trtckery, was caught mapping a
few years ago by a real estater." be-
gan another brokers' story. This man
owned a house uptown. The real estate
man owned the house next to his. The
real estater hired broker to go to this
man and find out what he would sell
his property for, also the value of the
house next to his. There was only one
house next to his that could be bought,
and that was owned by the very man
who employed the broker. After giving
the broker the information. the public
man called up the real estate man to
know what he would sell for. The city
employe said he wanted to buy. His
daughter was to be married and he want
ed to give her an appropriate wedding
present-a home next to his. Yes, the
real estate man would sell and he named
a price 5000 above the highest price In
IS HANDLING T.