Evening star., 1927-11-12
EFFICIENT REALTY
!. FIRM IS DESCRIBED
John A. Petty Lectures on
! Organization Before Class
at Y. M. c. A.

u The necessity of proper Organiza.
fion of a real estate firm. with all the
glepartments cooperating under one
head SO that they will each act as a
smeans of affording progress to the
>oither. was outlined by John A. Petty,
former secretary of the Real Estate
'sEoard. in n lecture before the regular
:Y. NJ. c. A. class in real estate Mon
day night.
. Taking first the sales department of
a real estate office which deals with
the actual marketing of homes, Mr..
Petty said that besides the necessity Of
a competent and live sales force there
must be a regular backing of Office de-
tail so as to bring this to the highest
point of efficiency. This detail requires
proper ascertaining and listing of
saiable property. so that in an instant
the office or salesman can tell whether
he is at liberty to handle a certain
business or property and that every
property should be properly indexed SO
that full information in respect to it is
always available, he said
Property Management.
Touching upon the matter of prop
arty mana cement, the speaker pointed
out various possible defects of this de-
Judgment where an agent Is manag
ing a property for its owner, so that
the owner will be fully satisfied and
the tenants equally SO. The proper
maintenance and repair of the prop
erty so that it may be kept at the
hest standard with depreciation at
minimum was particularly referred to
as we'll as the proper maintenance of
accounts and systematic and business
like collection of rents. This depart
ment. the speaker said, required par.
ticular skilf and wide knowledge Of
property because of the necessity of
dealing with various parties and bring
ing about ultimate satisfaction to all
concerned.
. In. the mortgage department there
becomes necessary that knowledge
(which comes only with practical ex-
perience and a study of financing.
This experience is not only involved in
financing transactions and matters of
mortgage themselves, but also requires
considerable expertness in reference to
appraisdF matters, which, in turn, are
based largely on knowledge of the
eity's growth, i'm the matters Of securi-
ties and building materials and con-
struction. he said. The other part of
the mortgage department involves the
safes OF mortgage notes 10 investors.
Subdivision work usually differs
from other branches of the Office in
that it Is far more spectacular, the
speaker said. pointing out that this
work has grown considerably in Wash
ington in the past few years.
The building industry is largely one
of specialization. and must be con-
Quoted in the same businesslike man
ner as the rest of the Office, requiring
the employment of building experts
and men of experience in order that
the work undertaken should be a sue
cess Most Offices have insurance de-
partments in which they are agents
for insurance firms or in which they
act as brokers for insurance depart
ments through intimate contact with
owners and tenants and through the
good will that has been established by
dealing with tenants i'm proper and
efficient manner. In fact, Mr.. Petty
declared, all departments can be feed.
ers for the other departments.
Problem Of Personnel.
In speaking about personnel, 1t was
stated that this is a most important
question involving a period Of years