you there were cheaper places," he chortled, "and the owner
gave me the advantage of the broker's commission, too. Come out next
spring and see what a bargain I found." In late May there came a wail
for help from the cocksure buyer. A few days of unseasonably warm
weather and a strong east wind had revealed the reason for the
bargain. Back of a wooded area to the rear of his holding, was a
combination hog farm and refuse dump. The owner of it got little or no
rental from the tenant farmer who carried on his noisome business but
he was well aware of its nuisance value to his new neighbor. Here
indeed was a situation requiring the services of that middle man, the
real estate broker. The latter was a good business man and by using
all his guile, he eventually acquired the hog farm for his client at a
fair price. But even at that, the man now had ten additional acres
that he didn't want and couldn't use. When the cost of the added land
and clearing it of refuse had been met, his place was not the bargain
it had seemed originally.

This does not mean that there are never any country places to be had
at real bargains. It is a case of being keen enough or lucky enough to
locate one. There can be a number of legitimate reasons why a piece of
property is on the market at a price below its general worth. There
may be urgent financial reasons why the owner must sell. In this
unhappy situation he cannot be too firm as to price and will usually
accept a sum actually below the market value in order to salvage a
fair proportion of what he may have invested.

Another type of bargain is that of property that has only recently
become available for country homes through the construction of a new
motor highway or some other major development. For example, the
electrification of the Pennsylvania Railroad and a concrete automobile
road from Trenton, New Jersey, into Bucks County, Pennsylvania, have
brought old farms in and around Doylestown, Pennsylvania, within an
hour and a half of New York City. This condition has not existed long
and Bucks County farms on an acreage basis may still be bought
distinctly cheaper than in practically any other section equi-distant
in travel time from New York.

Again, some particular place may be owned by an estate with a number
of heirs who want their money. None of them feels inclined to take
over the property and pay off the others. All are in a hurry to get
their share of what Uncle Henry left. Eventu