Ann Arbor Is Growing Big Demand For Houses

Showing an Increase of 75 Per Cent in Population in Eight Years

Real Estate Agents Report a Good Rental Business and That Sales of Houses for Homes is Brisk

Ann Arbor is growing lustily, the population is of a high order, house renting is on the boom - think most of the dealers in real estate.

L. D. Carr is somewhat skeptical. But his conclusions are drawn from the sales rather than the rentals. He says that the year has dragged slow and hard, that the sales so far have amounted to only 85 per cent of the corresponding time last year. But the season is later this year. Last year the business was almost all over before Sept. 1. This year, there was little business doing until May and June, but July and August have been better than all the previous months put together, so there is an outlook equally as good as last year's.

The reason Mr. Carr gives for the slower sales of this year is "the uncertainty of the labor, market, the attitude of the trades unions, and the higher prices of material; this makes would be buyers hesitate and consider."

The people who buy, says Mr. Carr, are not the strangers within our gates, but largely the one-year residents, which shows that the people who come here find it to their advantage to own their homes. A large percentage of the sales have been for homes rather than for speculation.

W. H. Butler also emphasizes this point. He says that twelve years ago most of the houses were rented with the idea of speculation and taking boarders. People came here to make their living. Now they come with an other "think," and taking boarders and renting rooms is a secondary matter. There is a distinct and decided improvement in the people's motive, and a home is the main consideration. If houses rented for $18 or $20, said Mr. Butler, people would not wish to rent rooms any more, and houses for sale at $2,500 to $3,000 are in a demand which exceeds the supply.

The renting of houses this year has been extraordinarily good since January. But now is the rush, he says, and houses are renting from one to three a day. Of the dozen good houses between Main and State, one will not be left vacant, he says. The vacant houses in Ann Arbor at present, do not exceed fifty, which is a decrease from the vacancies last year. But last year was bad for renting, said Mr. Butler, because of the abnormal condition of the coal situation, and more houses were rented after the renting season had closed, than in the busy season.

Alderman Emmett Coon says there is more renting up to the present date than there was last year or in years generally and there are undoubtedly more transfers of real estate this year than ordinarily - fully 25 per cent more. That the rental of houses compares favorably with the years before, so that there are scarcely two dozen desirable houses in the city, which are at present available.

F. T. McOmber says there are scarcely fifteen. That the whole tendency of Ann Arbor is toward such a good, healthy growth that there is not a better town in the state in which to do a flourishing rental business. That in the last eight years the population has increased 75 per cent, not including the University pupils, and it is a population of culture rather than mechanics, which snatches up quickly the good and cleanly houses; and squalor is about the only excuse for vacancy in this town. For the residences here have a peculiar advantage over those of many towns, all being built on good stone foundations. There is scarcely a barn without it.

Ann Arbor, said Mr. McOmber enthusiastically, is the best town in the state to start out from in your business. It's an introduction to you. It has been heard from, and its reputation is abroad in the land. People from everywhere have lived in its rental houses and they like to inquire about them.

Real estate business is not only urban, but includes the country, as a farm department has been started about a month, and W. I. Savery rides through the country and as a result has listed 75 first class farms in Washtenaw county, which are for sale and is probably the largest list in the country. J. R. Bach says this is meeting with nice success and there are six or eight prospective bargains at the present time, and that a large number of city people are looking at the farms for investment.

The Ann Arbor population is increasing every day, says Mr. Bach, but the sales and rentals are behind what they were last year. He says he had done nearly as much renting as last year, but has a larger list of vacant houses, which may simply mean that Mr. Bach is doing more business. He has 40 vacant houses at present.

Parker & Smith, though a new firm, started July 1, are at present renting from two to four houses a day, but say August is the rush month, though they can make no comparisons with years passed.