New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-07-16

dex of realty statistics Is a science
Thousands Of young men and women
are daily employed by realty broker
age. title, mortgage, building and IN
surance companies in gathering and IN
dexing such statistics. Realty facts
and figures pile up mountain high IN
a comparatively short time, but no
Office or individual needs, however,
for the carrying on Of business IN a
modern way. one-half or even one
third of all the statistics collected.
Emnloves in charge of records have to
learn quickly what records are useless
or valuable TO the managing heads o
the Office. Nevertheless, it is an old
and proved realty axiom that it Is
better to keep overladen shelves with
useless records than TO throw away
valuable one.
There was old jenkins. Of Cedar
Street. He had mania for preserv-
ing all sorts Of realty data. lie col
lected so much data that he never had
time to devise a handy and complete
Index system. But he did separate
what he thought were the more valua-
bic from the other class of statistics.
What he called the clippings about big
deals he put on red cards; the ordinary
on white cards. Then he arranged all
the cards on major transactions
under their proper street or avenue
section. In like manner he tried to ar
range the ordinary cards, but each
day they were so many more than the
previous day that this system never
got near the perfection point. But
this did not make much difference to
jenkins. He was one of those rare
souls with a special capacity for alb
sorbing the main details of almost
every conceivable kind of realtv opera
ton He also made II his business to
store all the facts he could get about
the doings OF the big realty operators
and investors. lie was, indeed, walk
ing directory Of the activities of these
traders. 1t was a treat to be early III
the morning in the office in which
jenkins worked and near the mort
gage, sales and other clerks asking
him questions. and he answering them
instantly, without a mistake and with
out having TO go to his pile Of rec
ords 10 refresh his memory.
jenkins died from old age, and his
successor in keeping of records
faced a seemingly endless task of
anxiety in making all the records al
ways disable to all the employees in the
Office. However, a solution of the diff
fculty was found by taking all the
white cards on which were the data OF
ordinary deals and throwing them in
the waste paper basket. To-day the
firm (Which employed jenkins has one
of the best realty record systems in
any office in this town. Only the big
deals are kept and indeXed.
Il has been computed by expert
record men that it takes at least six
hours each day TO see that records OF
the principal deals Of the previous
days market are properly placed or
cards and classified. Two Broadway
firms each spend from $4,000 to $4,000
each year for gathering and indeXine
data about loans. building operations
tire cost of street openings and i'm
provements. the results at voluntary
1nd involuntary auction sales and al
private sales. the changes in the fnan-
cial and business world, from which
"leads" are gotten for those partners
and employees, who devote most OF the
workday to leasing trade and office
space. and also records Of the prop
critics left by deceased persons.
Most realty bargains are had from
heirs OF estates. To settle up the al
fairs OF an estate they will often take
for their holdings considerably less
than the market value. They realize
that they cannot manage successfully
the properties. or at least that the
odds against them cutting brilliant
figure as landlords Of New York out
weigh those in their favor. Hence
with the heirs in receptive mood
for offers, buyers who are financially
strong enough often become the pur-
chasers Of estate holdings AZ most at
tractive prices and terms. know
many brokers in various parts OF the
city who are ever on the watch for
estate bargains. About twenty years
ago il was not an easy task to get
reliable data about properties OF es-
tates that might possibly be offered for
sale. or for which estates were dill
gently seeking purchasers. George +
Minor was probably the first collector
of realty records to furnish brokers
and other persons interested in city
realty with such valuable data daily
Since the publication of his first daily
report. this branch OF the record ser
vice has grown. and it can now be had
for a small sum each year. The ma
jority Of successful little Offices spend
ut least $500 year for records.
When ! visited one Of the big down.
town Offices last week. the senior mem
Der of the firm asked me 20 examine
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