The Washington times., 1923-10-13
REALITY IS BEST
EUROPEAN
BUY
Writer Says Real Estate Is the
Best investment to Be
Bought lover There"

DOuSHL ONSI H0ISs
Housing and real estate conCi
lions in Europe are reviewed In
the forthcoming issue of the Real
Estate Magazine by Willard Reed
Messenger, OF New York, who mas
just returned from Europe, where
he attended the international
Housing Conference. In his article
Mr.. Messenger states in part:
The investors of Europe, found,
after visiting eight different coun.
tries this summer, appreciate more
than ever the fundamental value
Of real estate. Stocks and bonds
and paper currency are in many
cases sadly deprecated, but the
man who owns little farm, or q
house and garden, or a few lots on
which he can build a home, or q
good business property, is still the
lucky one.
People can exist without Jewels
and art, but they must have a
place to live and work and trade.
That makes real estate indis-
pensable and therefore valuable
Even in the devastated regions,
prosperity arises from the ruins
Rheims and scissors are nearly
reconstructed. The fields are fertile
Brussels teens with activity.
Antwerp mourns the loss of its
beautiful cathedral windows, but
its harbor and its business thrive.
Belgium's factories are busy and
itself diligently, is again becoming
is competing in the markets Of
MI
Is all sold up. Sheet glass is
available and also cement.
In Paris, one hears of fortunes
vanished, but real estate still. re-
mains. The city is prosperous.
There is a scarcity of apartment
homes and rents are high. Hotels,
shops and amusement places are
crowded. Again. the man who owns
real estate is lucky.
And so It is throughout Europe.
Amsterdam has enjoyed a period Of
active apartment home construc-
ton and has about caught mp with
the present demand, so that many
millions Of Holland brick ara being
exported to the United States.
And again, even in Germany, with
the currency vanishing and savings
bank deposits worthless, the man
who owns his own home is lucky.
The peasant farmers are prosperous
and crops are excellent. Things
are not nearly so bad as they
sound. Marks have been manufac-
tured in Germany for export. The
government doesn't import MARKS.
When they want marks they print
them. Germany doesn't export any
real estate, but makes very de-
termined protest when anybody tries
to occupy any of her real estate.
Germany would give a whole train
load of stocks and bonds and marks
for the Ruhr-unoccupied. That
shows how highly she values real
estate and how accurately. France
appraises printed paper. Thousands
of people outside of Germany. who
bought marks manufactured in Ger
many, now wish they had bought
real estate instead.
The same story, with variations,
could be told on through Denmark
Sweden and Norway. Fortunes
were made in Scandinavia in ship
ping and then lost. Contracts were
Cancelled and supposed profits ois.
appeared. The man who bought
real estate was lucky. The fertile
fields of Denmark and the shops OF
4
Christiania millions have been ex-
0ended for housing since the war
and real estate is in healthy con-
dition.
Back again in England. the ship
wards at Newcastle are quiet but
the landed gentry still thrive, the
sheen and cattle still Craze con-
tentedly along the picturesque Scot
fish countryside In London, on
Regent street, from Piccadilly Cir
Gus to Oxford Circus, in the heart
OF the fashionable shopping center,
a dozen new business buildings are
being constructed to house famous
old firms which have helped to
make the British capital a mart
for, the worlds choicest products.
These sites are so valuable they
are held by the crown and leased,
but cannot be bought.
The greatest industrial leaders,
with whom talked in Europe, are
buying real estate. Hugo SHINES
has been buying hotels and news
paper properties in Germany. Lord
Ieverhulme has just bought 5000
acres only a half-hour from Lon
don. One of the most astute en-
trepeneurs in France is securing
options on real estate in Paris and
told me why.
# may be the lesson taught
graphically by Europe in recent
years, but since my return this
fall I have been called to advise
with more different interests with
more millions ready to invest in
real estate than ever before in so
short a period.