We know that with our large and well-assorted stocks of merchandise and competent organization we ought to be able to supply your needs to your complete satisfaction. One of five stores, we have great opportunities for advantageous buying and we can continually undersell others.
In this connection permit us to call your attention to our newly installed telephone order department. This department is in charge of competent house shoppers, whose duty it is to satisfy your every want, thus enabling our charge patrons to shop by telephone with perfect certainty.
We feel that these advantages may appeal to you and result in our receiving your orders more often.
Very truly yours,
(Handwritten) T. Hunter,
Credit Manager,
Meyer, Haskell & Co.
Selling Real Estate
There are two phases in the writing of letters concerning the sale of real estate. The first phase has to do with the presentation of the proposal in order to arouse sufficient interest in the mind of the prospect to cause him to inspect the property. Comparatively little real estate is sold without personal inspection. The exceptions are offerings of low-priced building sites in distant sections of the country. These are sold sight unseen—else, as a rule, they would never be sold at all. But such real estate selling is more apt to be in the class with fake mining stock than with legitimate buying and selling, and therefore has no place here.
The second phase of letters on real estate comprehends the closing of the sale. For instance, let us say that John Hope has gone so far as to look at a property. He apparently wants to buy the property or is at least interested, but the price and conditions of sale do not exactly suit him. He is so situated that he does not want to talk personally with an agent, or perhaps lives too far away. At any rate, the sale has to be closed by mail. The fact which most concerns the buyer of real estate, provided he is otherwise satisfied with a property, is the title. The title is the legal term by which is denoted the exact character of the ownership. Quite frequently an owner may believe that he has a clear title when, as a matter of fact, his title is derived through some testamentary instrument which gives him a holding only for life, or perhaps trusts have been set up in the will which are a charge upon the property, although all of the beneficiaries of the trust have been long since dead. There are many hundreds of possible legal complications affecting the validity of the title and it is usual to-day to have titles insured and, in agreeing to buy, to specify that the "title must be marketable and insurable by a reputable title insurance company." The word "marketable" as here used means a title which is unquestionable. The prospective buyer must also be careful to specify that the title shall be "free and clear" and that all taxes shall be apportioned to the day of settlement. Otherwise the buyer would have to take title subject to a lien of any judgments or other liens of record and also subject to unpaid taxes.