Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1919-07-27
Rental Agents Tell Of
Demand They Can't
Meet
RENTERS READY TO
PAY GOOD PRICES
Apartments In Demand,
Too Families In
Many Homes

81 think / am conservative when
l say l believe that if there were 25
additional homes available in Amer
icus tomorrow | could rent every one
of them within 80 days. Many OF
them would be rented in day or
two"
P. B. Williford, veteran real estate
and rental agent, was answering a
question as to what the demand here
is for houses to rent. He went on:
"Americus is losing population ev-
cry day by not having houses avail
able. In the last few months num-
Der of men-men in business, trav-
cling statesmen, district representa-
tives and others-have come to me
with appeals for houses, as they wan
ted to bring their families here to
live, but they didn't Gomez because
there was no place to bring their
families to.
People come to my office every
day with appeals for home. | have
had so many of them that | am get
ting almost ashamed to tell them
that there are none. But that is
fact. There are none. 1t certainly
would be great thing for Americas
if number of new homes could be
built.
'Have I heard of any people NOV
ing away from Americus because they
couldn't get homes. Yes, few, al
though l personally know of none.
But there certainly is a great need
for more homes, for a city cannot
grow when there is no room for
growth"
Plenty of Lets, No Fiones
Mr.. Williford's opinion and expe-
riencc comedies with that of otner
real estate and rental men.
"What we need most in Americus
at this time is houses" T. B. West
brook, of Westbrook & Mcdonald,
real estate firm, said. "The-e are
plenty of vacant lots, but the peo-
pie con.ag to Americas wany homes.
They want to buy, they want to rent
anything for place to live. There
seems to be an impression here that
the cost of material is going down.
In my opinion it is not 1t costs more
to build homes now than before the
war, but the cost is going to remain
the same, and the home owner or
renter is going to pay the freight.
Our offices are constantly receiving
applications for homes that we can
not fill. We have nothing listed"
Another real estate man said that
the great demand was for apartment
! houses.
''There are men travelling South
Georgia and Florida" he said, "that
want to make Americus headquarters.
These men want to put their fami-
lies in apartment houses.
Could Rent Them All
at would be no trouble to rent
every apartment that could be built
in the next six months. These men
WANT 10 leave lIlC DlS SAbiSo' l. AhSS
know what apartment house rent is
and they are willing to pay rOr the
comforts provided in modern apart
ment houses.
"There are many of our own citi-
zens now cooped up in so-called
apartments-in upstairs rooms, in re-
ality. They want modern places of
abode. They are willing and are able
to pay for what they want. Have you
stopped to consider just how many of
our homes are occupied by two fam
lilies? There are very large num-
ber. In many cases these rooms are
rented because the owners want to
help out. They took the step when
the camp first came here and have
not been able to get back to their
normal plans of living again. They
do not want to rent, but still they