Evening Star Newspaper, September 20, 1924, Page 13

REAL ESTATE. * TAXATION REFORM PLANS | ARE OUTLINED TO STATES Programs Applying General Objectives for Advancement of Real Estate Interest Presented by National Association. . “Programs, applying to the individ- ual States'the general objectives for the advancement of real estate inter- ests outlined by the National Asso- ciation of Real Estate Boards, are now being formulated in a large number of States, particularly with reference to possible action at coming sessions of State legislatures,” says the association in a recent communi- cation. “Taxation reform, particularly in the adjustment to a fair tax distribu- tion and further strengthening of ex- isting license protection, are meas- ures which will be major objectives in a number of States. Two States, Michigan and _California, through ate real estate associations, Ay outlined complete tenta- ative programs for the year. The Indiana Real Estate Asso- ciation at its recent annual conven- tion has undertaken a legislative pro- sram involving a check on State tax expenditure and the drafting of a State real estate license law. Taxes Reduced in New York. “Reduction of 25 per cent in the real estate property tax of New York State was secured by legislative enactment during the past year, an accomplish- ment in which the New York State Association of Real Estate Boards had a large part. Passage of a budget- ing act for lowa is another typical accomplishment of the last State leg- islative period in which realtors through their State organization took the lead,” the report states. Limitation of State bly of local levies by a consti- tutional amendment is the corner stone of the Michigan Real Estate Association’s legislative program for - vear, as it has been outlined by the executive committee of the asso- ciation. Tightening up the State license law by an amendment provid- ing for a competency test is another major measure in the association’s legislative program. The report indicates that the pro- posed amendment would designate the current year as the basic year in reckoning all future tax levies, and would provide that except in event of emergency the total amount of taxes levied by the State legislature in any one vear upon taxable real estate and pe »nal property should in no se exceed the amount raised in vear of passage of the amendment plus 2 per cent of that amount for each calendar year that may have elapsed between the basic year and the vear in which the levy is made. It would provide that the legislature by a two-third vote of members elected may declare that an emer- geney exists and that additional taxes may be raised annually for any number of years not exceeding two. Provision Up in Michigan. The proposed Michigan constitutional provision for limiting the amount of State taxation has been made the objec- tive of the State real tion following an extensive study two years a of the tax laws of every State. A joint resolution to submit a tax-lim ion amendment to the voters at that time passed the House by a good margin, but failed of passing the Sen- ate. State taxes in Michigan, the com- mittee pe out, ha increased ap- proximately 200 per cent in the past ten years. Had the proposed amendment been in force duri t time real es- tate taxes could increased only 20 per cent. “Government costs climb,” the report adds ment is written into the constitution it will result in annual savin; of millions of dollars in the years to come. Another objective cof the State asso- ciation’s legislative program is the aboli- tion in Mi far as po taxation and hav will continue to “If this amend- CONN. AVE. the west side opposite the proposed Ma- sonic Temple—modern 3- story brick building, suitable for a high-class physici has about 13 rooms, 4 baths, gas, electricity and hot-water heat: property is in excellent condition; lot is 28 ft. front. $40,000 Thomas J. Fisher & Co. INC. 738 15th St. N.W. Main 6330 Located on For a small cash payment and easy terms, you can buy one of the most desirable HOMES In a section of northeast Washington, which is on the verge of a great development in home-building operations. You should see our new homes now ready for occupancy at 611 to 629 Morten PL NORTHEAST These beautiful homes are located between 6th and Tth and L and M Streets N.E. Tapestry brick: 6 rooms and bath; hot-water heat; ga: electricity; built-in garag: laundry tubs; front porch these are a few of the de- sirable features in each house. We are only asking $6,950 Inspect_ Them Today or Tomorrow! Open and lighted from 2 P.M. to 9 P.M. C. H. Small & Co. OWNERS AND BUILDERS 1515°'M St. NW. Main 6861 real estate broker will be asked by the California Real Estate Assoclation for the coming year, according to the tenta- tive outline of the State association’s legislative program presented to the board of directors by the association's legislative committee. California License Law Cited. The present California real estate license law empowers the State real es- tate commission to require an educa- tional test. The plan of the State license commission for the administration of this provision for the past year has been to require all applicants for a license to fill out a questionnaire without as- sistance and in their own handwriting. Carrying the requirement a step further in the coming year in the case of new applicants has been suggested by the California real estate commissioner. Further administrative advance is asked by the State association in the protec- tion of the name realtor and in the creation by the real estate commission of field deputies to give force and ef- ficiency to the license act. Legislative enactments further pro- posed in the association’s tentative pro- gram are: 1. A provision that a licensed real estate broker be put on all court appraisals in probate proceedings. 2. A plan to reduce cost of brokers' surety bonds by reducing the bond to $1,000 (as suggested by State license commis- ioner), and by forming a mutual surety company through the State association 3. A provision to give 'an executor or administrator nower to employ a broker to handle estate property and to execute valid contracts to pay a commission. BALTIMORE MOVING DAY. Not More Than 1,500 Families to Change Place of Residence. BALTIMORE, September 20.—It is estimated that not more than 1,500 families will move on October 1. A large number of the heads of these households have purchased homes of their own, according to C. Philip Pitt, secretary of the Real Estate Board. Many have moved out Baltimore City to the various coun- ties, where they can have gardens and raise chickens. The increasing rate of taxation and water rents in Baltimore is the rea- son that many give for moving away from this city. In some instances where householders paid $8 and $§10 in 1923 for water, the charge this year is $12 to $16, Many apartmen have been idle this cording fo a prominent real estate broker, than in years previous. Thi in many instances, is due to the ex- ceedingly high rentals demanded for very small apartments and the lack of servic e s Realty Board to Build. The Miami Realty Board has just signed a contract for the erection of a l5-story administrative building to cost three-quarters of a million dollars. The building will 182 offices, an auditorium, a club room and a dining room, and will have the entire fifteenth floor reserved#for the board’s executive suite. Space not needed for board quarters will be rented for private business. The board announces that the building is planned to be the finest building of its size in the South. of | contain | Interesting House Facing Back Lawn Excellently Proportioned and Ar- ranged, Dwelling That Offers Unusual Possibilities. Great city folks are so used to window gazers that they scarcely no- tice them. But newcomers always remark on the vast number of men, women and children who apparently spend the greater portion of their lives leaning, with their elbows com- fortably propped on pillows, out of their windows to gaze at the passing show. But the suburban dwellers and res- idents of smaller cities know that there is rarely anything so interest- ing happening along their quiet streets as the things that happen daily from May until September in their gardens. And so many care- fully planned country and suburban homes turn their backs calmly on the street or roadway and face their own private garden or grounds. Naturally this trick of placing the service portion of the house on the street sida and the living room and largest porches at the rear would not be a good plan if the building plot were a small one with a depth from the street of only a hundred feet or s0; the view of the clotheslines, ga- rages and garbage pails of the neigh- bors on the other street would be entirely too intimate! But a good deep plot with trees, wide spaces, irregular levels and per- haps a view toward river or far-off meadow lands is too precio to waste on a mere kitchen garden and drying yard, while the owners sit facing the street and a tiresome pro- cession of motor cars you own such a plc ing the house so that garden—and then make worth looking at. This house is so excellently bal- anced in proportion and so charming in combination of materials that it could be erected in vy part of our country. The cut show the back or garden entrance. The front entrance is equally attractive. If it is not possible to build this house of field stone because of its scarcity neighborhood, then the first floor could be made of brick or even ce- ment. Because there is a great demand for gardens the floor plan of this beautiful home has been laid out in such a way that the garden can be enjoyed from all the rooms, and an outdoor room has been incorporates into the house, as may be n. porch is half on the house and half in th Secluded from rough winds, it nevertheless gets full ad- vantage of the sunlight and enjoys an uninterrupted view of the garden It can be reached from the living room, dining room or hall wi the rden it 1 be served on this porch sired The sun room is inclosed in glass in Winter, and one can therefore still enjoy the garden from this room when Winter comes. Let no one m takenly think that gardens lose their charm when blossom time is over. Leaves of trees and plants will go, but some masses of evergreen shrub- bery should be planted so that there s some green in the garden, :n snows are drifting. A ding table for the birds will at- tract as many visitors as did the bird fountain in Summer, and the beauty and interest in the garden changes will be found to last through the year. A full view of the garden through it de- nterior Reflnement —is everywhere apparent in these modern Homes so desirably located in the Northern extension of fine old Cleveland Park. A pleasing variety of architecture affords individuality and adds to the natural attractiveness of this grow- ing residential community. The dwellings are all practically designed and well constructed. They contain— Glass-inclosed Sleeping Porch Three Fine Bedchambers Two Tiled Baths Raised Brick Large Outside replace Pantry Well Equipped Kitchen Separate Rear Paved 16-foot Porch Alley Only a few remain of the Homes thus far completed, but ground is being prepared for the immediate erection of several more groups. 300 to 400 dwellings are eventually to be con- structed In North Cleveland Park Exhibit House—3812 Warren St. Open and Lighted *Til 9 P.M. Take F Street car out Wisconain Avenue, or drive out Massachusetts Avenue and North on Wisconsin to Warren Street. $12,950 and $13,250 Convenient Térms REALTOR—BUILDER K Sts. Main 4600 SeEZEEEEEreE in a| large French doors at the back of the hall is to be had as soon as one enters the street door. At the right of the entrance is the living room, well lighted from groups of windows at two ends of the room. A large fireplace with seats on either side gives a detail of interest to another wall. The dining room is at the left of the hall An unusual detail of this room is the fernery, which is planned to occupy almost the entire garden end of the room. This is literally a bay window in which is a pool made of cement, raised a foot above the floor and lined with blue tile. Ferns could be planted all about this pool and potted plants arranged around them. Thus the whole window would be an “inside the house” garden. This could be omitted if desired and the alcove re ned as a window seat corner; or, by slight alteration of the roof, the wall brought back flush with_the other wall along that side of the house on the other side of the porch. French doors lead out to the porch. Between the kitchen and dining room is a large pantry. \,A doorway has been left in the pantry so that the maid can answer the door bell quick- Iy and easily. There is a small sink in the pantry and another in the kitchen, both beneath the windows, sa that the worker can have plenty of light. A nook in the kitchen pro- vides space for the ice box as well as a pleasant dining place for the maid. Upstairs there are four bedrooms and two baths. The bath for the maid's room is reached through the rear hall. A stairway leads up from the Kkitchen to the maid's room, so that she would not have to pass through the body of the house to reach her own apartments. From the back hallway is a narrow stairway leading to the attic. This house should face the north, glving the garden side the full glow of the southern sun. Since the prices of material and labor vary so materially in different localities, we do not attempt to give an estimate as to the cost, but sug- gest that you consult a local builder, who can give vou detailed informa- tion as to the costs of your exact needs to be installed in this design. | stopped e A large, sheltered porch, a glassed-in sunroom, a bay-window fernery, and many windows, make the most of the lovely garden such a home as this is sure to have. For information as to the procur- ing of building plans of House Plan No. 36, send a stamped and self- addressed envelope to the Real Es- tate Editor, The Star. (Copyright, George Matthew Adams.) Realtor Title Infringed. The Detroit Real Estate Board has taken up 14 cases of infringement of the use of the word realtor in th past six months. The Louisville, Ky. Real Estate Board since January has ht non-realtor firms from advertising themselves as realtors. Home in the Northwest Suburbs For Only $10,250 6519 8th most everybody has. downstairs), a first-floor with 2-CAR GARAGE. The Price and drive one square east 713-715 14th St. N.W. St. N.W. This is a house you owe yourself a look at—if you have realized that you should own your own home, and There are 8 good rooms (5 bedrooms, 2 of them bathroom; also servant’s room in basement, hot-water heat, electricity and gas, front and sleeping porches and a well developed lot, Is Right— And the Terms Convenient (To Get There: Take Georgia Ave. car to Van Buren St. and walk 2 squares east to 8th St—or by auto: Take Piney Branch Road to Van Buren St. to 8th Street.) Open All Day Tomorrow Exclusive Agents Realty Board in Own Quarters. The Cincinnati Real Estate Board owns its own headquarters. The Co- lumbus, Ohio, Real Estate Board has remodeled a building owned as board | headquarters and valued at $154,000. | The Evanston, IiL, Real Estate Board | began to occupy its new $50,000 home | in February of this year. i The Chicago Real Estate Board and | the Pittsburgh Real Estate Board are | in the process of acquiring perma- | nent board homes. The Toledo Real Estate Board is building its own | three-story cut stone structure. S REAL ESTATE. n BUILDING SHOWS TREND TOWARD STABILIZATION Survey From Leading Cities Shows Gain of 3 Per Cent Over Year Ago and 5 Per Cent Over Preceding Month. Building permit reports from 330 cities and towns for August indicated that the trend toward stabilization, which has been evident in the con- struction industry for several months, continued to be the domniant feature, a survey by S. W. Strauss & Co. shows. The total for the 330 cities and towns was $277,458,847, as against $269,373,230 last August and $264,- 376,450 in July this year, a gain of 3 per cent over a year ago and a gain of about 5 per cent over the previous month. “The month of August,” the report states, “with few exceptions during the past decade, has shown a decrease in building permits from July. The increase of about 5 per cent this year would, therefore, seem to point to a healthy condition in the building industry at large. “It will be noted that, taking the country by regions, every region showed some increase over July and only one, the Pacific West, falied to show an increase over August, 1923. South Keeps Active. “The South continued to show un- usual activity in the planning of new construction, with a gain of 46 per cent over last August and 15 per cent over this July. The East gained 3 per cent over August and 2 per cent over July, 1924. The Pacific West had a gain of 14 per cent over July “In the 25 leading cities (selected on a basis of volume of permits) the increase over last August was in keeping with the general stabilizing trend, the total being $173.204.214, against §173,195,515 these same citie about 16 per cent over August, 1922. There was also an increase in these cities over July this year. 33 per cent from August, 1923. Among 3 3per cent from August, 192 the larger cities showing gains ar Miami, 482 per cent; Philadelphia, 9 per cent; Boston, 162 per cen New Orleans, 126 per cent; s Yity, Mo., 98 per cent; Buffalo, per cent; Milwaukee, 44 per cent; Cleveland, 20 per cent, and Chicago, 9 per cent. Except for weakness in some | Washington’s most beautiful homes. with six miles of improved streets. grades of pine, the most outstanding feature of last month's building ma- terials market was the recovery in lumber prices. While July witnessed a definite check to the down-trend of lumber, August brought a definite re- versal, upward changes amounting to 10 per cent in many instances. “Steel showed further weakness both in Chicago and Pittsburgh, though warehouse prices in all cen- ters remained practically unchanged. In New York common brick was off about $3 a thousand, while crushed stone was also somewhat lower in both Eastern and Middle Western centers. Other prices wers prac- tically stabilized at levels established during July.” Washington with a total of $3,434.- 048 for the month of August took thirteenth place in the list of prin- cipal cities. This is somewhat be- hind the total for last year, but when the building construction for the last two months and the present perfod is taken into consideration as a sum total it shows a building boom in the National Capital far in advance of last year. Totals for Citles. The totals for 25 large cities throughout the country are as fol- - New York—P. F. Philadelphia Ban_ Francisco., . Buffalo Raitimore New Orleans. Wash'gton, D. C. Miami .. Pittsburgh . Indianapolis Portland, Ore. ewark, N. J... Providence . Totals $173.195.515 Massachusetts Park I residential section of detached Containing seven million feet of forest-covered land, Includes what remains of The Triangle of Increasing Values between Connecticut, Massach Over five million feet of ‘land sold. $15,000 to $200,000 built and u usetts and Cathedral avenues. Over 175 homes from nder construction. Actual im- provements and home values exceed $7,000,000. Wooded villa sites, lots, central and side hall homes, with lots from 50 to 115 feet front. Middaugh & Shannon, Inc. E STABLISHED 1890 Riggs-Semmes Bldg., Dupont Circle, Potomac 2200 I Quality Predominates 3618-3620 e Porter St. Situated at the crest of the hill—and below this wonderful suburban spot, lies all of Washington. You cannot realize the wonderful natural advantages of this ideal location and character of these two superb homes—until you inspect. These “Homes” really mean everything the word conveys. They are artistic, substantial, and built of the best quality brick obtainable—and throughout you will notice QUALITY—and that touch of refinement as befits a refined home and neighborhood. If you are looking for a home that has been planned and built for comfort, dignity and simplicity, you will not be disappointed. They are absolutely complete in every appointment and unexcelled in QUAL- ITY and finish. . OUTSTANDING FEATURES—Eight enormous rooms: attic; two beautiful tile baths; three wonderful porches; oak floors throughout; entire house copper screened; large daylight cellar; choice electrical fix- tures and selected hardware. Wide and exceptionally deep lot. Cement driveway to brick garage. Price, $18,750 Open for inspection Sunday and daily BOSS & PHELPS Main 9300 = The Home of Homes Realtors 1417 K St. N.W. ; filflfllflHlfllllflllflmmmflmllmfllllllilflllllIllfll“ll|IIHIIIIIIIIIII|I|II|II\IIIIIIllllIIIIIIIIIfl!IllllllllllllllmllllillllllllllllIllllIlII|II|1I|IlI|I|lI|llIH!IIIIIfi