MONEY IN REAL ESTATE.
The Costliest Spot on the Western Hemisphere--A Mile and a Half of
Millionaires--The Kings of the Earth--Why Some Rich Men Do Not Live
in New York--The Country Fool and the Knowing Ones--How Coney
Island Was Born--The Story of a Great Land Sale--Rents in Apartment
Houses--The Fifty-story Office Building--The Man Who Gave a _Carte
Blanche_ Decoration Order, But Won’t Do it Again--The Western Land
Bubble--Good Farms Going to Waste--The Jersey Flats.
No class of men have made greater or securer fortunes than dealers in
real estate. W. C. Ralston, James Lick, and J. J. Astor, are examples of
persons who have accumulated vast sums through investments in land. The
_points_ of real estate are: First, a sound title; second, a keen
foresight of the wants and the roads of civilization; third, a careful
inspection of the neighborhood where a contemplated purchase is located;
fourth, a thorough knowledge of market values of this kind of property;
fifth, non-professional advice, in the disinterested judgment of men
thoroughly familiar with property and prices. Other considerations are
the rate of taxes of various kinds, imposed or likely to be imposed upon
the property. Tax methods in large cities are often ways that are dark.
For this reason, George Gould, the multi-millionaire, and Mr.
Rockefeller, the Standard Oil magnate, have disposed of their urban
properties.