The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-10-13

irSIHE following is from an drClcle III On0
Ill New York financial journal, Commerce
and Finance, written by William J. Kelley:
stThe absurdites of the boom in Florida
are in grave danger Of completely obscurlng
4he fundamentals of the State IS situation. Al
ready it is no simple task for the visitor to look
bevond the ridiculous phases of the boom ,
and see the real bases of Florida's develop
ment.
k zone must be quite mad not to appreciate
the absurdities which are met with across the
Florida boundary Greatest of these. is the
swarming army of real estate agents. No Of
ficial count is available, as the State has only
recently begun census of it's citizens who
have entered the realty business. My impress
sion gained while visiting Florida In Septenl-
Der was that real estate concerns occupy from
one-third to one-half Of all the offices along the
principal streets of every Florida city. These
range from tiny cubbyholes with space enough
for desk and telephone to the luxurious full
floor establishments maintained by the preten-
tious subdivisions The small agent exhibits
His wares on blackboard erected on the side
walk with his realty offerings chalked up I'M
der some such caption as For Today only.
FThe other extreme is furnished by the high
grade subdivision possessed of a colorful Span
Ssh name and commodous office which COM
spares in luxury with the lobby of fashionable
resort hotel. A common feature of such Offices
SIS hugh model Of the company's land and I'M
sprovements so elaborate in design and color
Sas to make the appended artists signature
seem quite appropriate. Milady may shop for
real estate in Florida by passing from one
window display to another, just as she shops
for hats or selects a movie by comparing the
display posters of rival picture palaces.
Ts Elm Florida all the arts and wiles which
kAmerica's selling fraternity has perfected are
now for the first time on a large scale being
applied by dealers in real estate. Florida is
demonstrating that land can be distributed
sby much the same types of appeal used by the
stock salesman, the department store, and the
theatrical exhibitor. Decidedly the fair sex
xhas it's part in the general scheme. In the
larger cities one encounters class OF women
quite generally referred to as bird dogs
This unfattering soubriquet aptly describes
lLu0lI IuuCGlOuS, NWulCu ID W punt IuO PAOy.
The high pressure statesmen of some of the
sgrandiose subdivisions maintain one or more of
sthese ladies who establish contacts with likely
prospects, and after enlisting the proper de-
gree of interest turn the prospect over to the
smasculine closer
s ''The president of realty concern was
sexplaining why his firm had engaged large
staff Of saleswomen. I'VE have found that
many prospects hesitate to buy their home
sites until their wives can have an opportunity
TO look over the ground, he said, seriously.
ITO avoid this delay my firm has decided to
add corps Of saleswomen to our staff SO that
the prospective buyer can get woman's point
yof view on the site in which he is interested
sand make it unnecessary for him to wait for
his wife to see it, And the public reads his
announcement in the newspapers without
smile