The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-04-06
SALES RECORDS ARE SMASHED BY LOCAL
 REALTY CONCERNS
Dirt Vendors Blu sy asSwarm of Bees-PrOspects Line Up to Autograph ''Them
 POipers''
By BOB M'DAVID

sequence the Magic City is rapidly becoming @ community of home owners.
 Along Realty row everywhere is bus tie and confusion, and scrambling for houses and long waiting lits for apart ments Some lifelong tenants are ac- quiring title to that piece of Gods foot stool for which they have hitherto paid many sheckles in rentals-old age insur- ance, as one purchaser put it, when asked why he had bought.
 Considerable activity has featured the residence property market, probably more sales being consummated during the past two months than any similar period in the history of Birninghahm. Nor has the de- mand been confined to any particular To- cality or section, but in all points of the compass the unwary homeSeeker has wan dered in his search for a suitable abode. Verify, the late King Richards woeful lament, My kingdom for horse," might aptly be transposed to express the modern tenant by substituting U for the R in the last word.
 The construction of more than 100 dwell -ings by the Tennessee company at Fair field represents a building investment that will run into six figures. Business property in the lively suburbs is also ex periencing somewhat of boom, judging by the recent deals pulled off in that sec ton, wherA many investors have realized handsome profits within a short time after making their purchases.
 In Norwood, Groom Beatty, the general manager of the Birmingham Realty com pany, is putting up a dozen or so high class residences and has plans drawn for the construction of many more MT Beatty reports that the demand for this property has been greater than, ever be- fore, which is saying whole lot for this popular community. Milner Heights, on the SouthSde, is another residence com- n1unity where unmstakable signs of pros- perity are appearing in the shape of sev- eral handsome new homes erected by prominent citizens who would dodge the dust and still be close to the city. Pres ident Key Milner declares that the de- mand has far exceeded his expectations. Mountain Terrace, Roebuck Springs and other high-class developments are coming into their own and those few bare spots left will soon be improved according to managers in charge.
 TECHNICS GOOD
 Agents have had fine pickings this sea son. said Maj. w. B. Leedy, veteran realtor. ''The demand has been stronger than I have ever known it to be, and nearly all the houses on the market are rapidly being absorbed"
 Phil Dorn, a local broker, is\ said to have made 3S deals in the last 90 days, dragging down about s10,o0O in commits sions alone. Jim Drake, with A. c. Mont gomery, is another hustler who has been signing 'em up almost daily
 ''The month of March was the most re- markable in the history of the real estate business" said MT. Drake. 'T have been in the real estate business F years. and never yet have I seen anything like it. We made g sales last month. The ma jority of these exceeded $3000 each, and on no sale did we receive less than a 5000 cash payment-there may have been one or two exceptions, but no more. This shows that these sales were made to peo- pie who were buying to build permanent homes, and were not bought merely to get hold of the property, hold it for little while with the hopes of selling at better profit"
 In Smith Throckmorton's office Ray Schultz has been leading the contract closers with batting average far above the 900 mark. Ray is getting writer's cramp from autographing the dotted line at the foot of them papers"
 Mack Hines knocked off 8 to 10 nice sales during the past month. some of them big ones, too. MT. Hines says the brisk market promises to hold up through out the summer and stiffen little more by the time October rolls round. He says purchasers are making substantial cash payments and are not planning to buy on the $1 down and $1 a week for the rest of your 1ife'' plan.
 J. L. Yancey, another pioneer agent. reports a steady wholesome demand which may exceed the supply and result in extensive building later in the summer. Godfrey Goldman declares that his firm has seevral nice leases under way be- sides two or three deals for business property. He states. however, that resi- dences ahe the most sou ght after prop erty.
 SOLD 31 PIECES
 'I have sold more property in the last 30 or 60 days than in the three years prior to this one. said John Leedy. "Pur- chasers have come in my office and paid from one-third to all cash for homes. We sold 31 pieces of real estate during the past few weeks and have several more deals hanging fire that will be closed up shortly. Three or four of>our transactions have involved houses that brought more than $10.0004
 'I find that there is some demand for wholesale business property" said Sam Sturgeon. Loans are going begging. Everybody seems to have money and few want to borrow it except those that have no collateral worth considering
 Around at R. F. Manly & Co.'S place seven or eight residences have been sold very recently. "We sold one place for $SOo0 cash, half dozen for prices rang Ing rom lHdl on UOWH tO @zt0t anu nave some deals still under way said Fuller Manly.
 Messer Realty Go. is living up to its rep utation of hustlers. According to M P MessAr, his salesmen have been so busy that they haven't had time to stop for meals.
 Business is good and I am looking for still better business this spring. '' said Mir. Messer. People are beginning to look around again for real estate as an investment. The principal buyers for sometime past have been those seeking homes, with not quite so many who desired to purchase from the stand point of an investment. but we are now getting inquiries from many people whc desire to purchase from this stand- point. Only last night I had an in- quiry from a man who is looking for something."
 GUS A GOOD ONE
 Fuller Kendrick, early this year, es- tablished himself among the heavy hit ters and the big boy is keeping up the fast pace he has set. Gus Pope is another realtor who has been putting em across with startling regularity. Gus has always been known as live wire, a good clean fellow and an aggressive salesman.
 Jerome Tucker. who speeializes in sales