OF REAL-ESTATE DEALERS--OF THE LARGE HANDSOME SALESMEN--OF NOISY
AUCTIONS--OF ABSOLUTE AND UNABSOLUTE AUCTIONS--AND OF PRICES FOR EVERY
POCKETBOOK
The exact number of real-estate dealers in Miami is not known.
Practically every one over eighteen years of age dabbles in real-estate
at one time or another. Almost every one owns a lot somewhere that he is
anxious to get rid of, although it is unanimously admitted by the owners
that every lot in Miami will double in value in a year’s time. Almost
every other doorway along Miami’s crowded streets shelters a real-estate
firm; and whole coveys of real-estate firms are frequently sheltered in
buildings that would be considered small by a family of three people.
Some of the firms keep impressive-looking salesmen standing just outside
of the building in which the firms do business. These salesmen are
large, handsome men for the most part, strikingly dressed in white
trousers, pearl gray sack coats, white shoes, white belts, white
neckties and straw hats tilted knowingly toward the right ear. If one
stops for a moment to admire a window display which shows automobiles,
diamonds and tax-exempt bonds sprouting from the super-fertile soil of
land that is on sale within at one thousand dollars an acre, one of the
salesmen is very apt to come up behind him and tempt him with honeyed
words. It is almost futile to struggle against these salesmen. Unless
one possesses an iron will, he will weakly permit himself to be coaxed
within the portals of the office, where he will spend the better part of
an hour looking at meaningless maps and hearing large sums of money
mentioned with the utmost carelessness and disrespect.
Other real-estate firms constantly carry on selling campaigns that
strongly resemble--in noise, at least--the return of the Twenty-seventh
Division from the War. They resort to brass bands, numbers of
sight-seeing automobiles, silver-tongued orators to cajole the crowd,
and advertisements that inflame the acquisitive spirit of every
beholder. When newcomers see a monster parade of automobiles, headed by
a blaring band, swinging through the streets of Miami, they usually
think, in their innocence, that a three-ring circus has come to town. As
a matter of fact, it is only the firm of Yammer & Yawp taking a mob of
prospects out to its daily auction sale of lots at Rubber Plant Park.
Skilled and expensive real-estate auctioneers are imported from
California and New York--auctioneers capable of selling refrigerating
machines to inhabitants of the Arctic Circle. People are lured to the
auctions by free lunches, by distribution of souvenirs, by the giving
away of automobiles. “We give away,” advertises one subdivision owner,
“a new Ford car each Monday or its equivalent in cash, and other
valuable gifts daily for the duration of the sale. And we will entertain
those who attend the sales with Any Amusements We Are Able To Provide.”
The exact meaning of the last phrase is shrouded in mystery, but it
makes its appeal to those who read between the lines.
“Remember,” shouts another firm, “Remember, We Are Giving Away
Absolutely Gratis a Sedan to the Person Holding the Lucky Number--Get
Your Free Ticket Now.” “Auction! Auction! Auction!” bawls another.
“Beautiful and useful souvenirs and prizes to be given away.” “Come ride
in our busses and win our free prizes,” coaxes another.
Early in 1922 the real-estate firms which disposed of their land by
auction were vociferating passionately that their auctions were bona
fide, that they were “legitimate and sound,” that they were “without
reserve,” that they were absolute. “Absolute auctions” was the
watchword of the hour. The inference was, of course, that a number of
auction sales had been held that were not absolute. “One Thousand
Dollars Reward,” stated one firm in a dignified but bean-spilling
manner, “will be paid for the proof of any buy-bidder at any of our
sales. The opportunity of opportunities to buy a piece of the richest
garden and fruit land in southern Florida. Remember, you make the price
and every lot put up will positively be sold to the highest and best
bidder without limit or reserve.”
This was what had been happening: Real-estate firms had advertised
auctions, put up lots for sale, and, when those in attendance languidly
refused to bid more than six or seven dollars for a lot, used
professional buyers to make phony bids in order either to run up the
price or get the lots off the market. It is possible that such a thing
will never happen again, now that real-estate firms have the habit of
advertising absolute auctions--possible, but scarcely probable. With
five or six auctions being held each day, and with large numbers of
unattractive lots being offered to stolid middle-westerners who have
come more for the free lunch and the automobile ride than for the
real-estate, it is inevitable that some lots will go for about one
dollar and seventy-five cents if everything is left in the hands of the
legitimate prospects. Common sense tells us that no real-estate dealer
could stand such a blow without emitting raucous shrieks of pain, no
matter how persuasively and convincingly he may chatter about absolute
auctions.
Some of the real-estate dealers allow customers to buy land on terms
that would attract even Trotsky, who doesn’t believe in that sort of
thing. Four-hundred-dollar lots in one subdivision can be had for twenty
dollars cash and ten dollars a month, with no interest or taxes for a
year. In another subdivision, one-thousand-two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar
lots sell for one hundred dollars cash and twenty-five dollars a month
until twenty per cent. of the principal has been paid, after which the
buyer can sink back and refrain from paying any more on his principal
for seven and a half years. A firm advertises island water-front lots at
five thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars a lot, the terms being
“seven hundred and fifty cash; balance five hundred every six months; no
interest first year; no taxes till spring 1925.”