Excerpt from Real Estate Accounts: Treating of the Proper Classification, Construction, Struction, and Operation of Accounts for the Real Estate Business, Including Forms It is a curious circumstance that, although accountants generally recognize the value of real estate as an asset, and frequently give evidence of that belief by assigning it a certain pre-eminence when marshalling assets or arranging a balance sheet, there is little literature on the subject of real estate accounting, either here or abroad. One reason for this may be found in the fact that, until recently, we have been almost entirely dependent upon England and Scotland for our accountancy literature; and in those countries there is not the constant development of wild lands, timber tracts, and suburban properties, nor the large and rapid increase in the growth of cities, so evident throughout the United States; nor is there that habit of quick trading which here has become a second nature. Under such circumstances it is but natural that across the ocean the matter has been overlooked or postponed; and on this side of the water accountants have been so fully occupied in keeping abreast of their work that they have had but little time at their disposal in which to tell others what they are doing. A writer in the United States treating of this subject, is then, in a sense, a pioneer and may with propriety beg for himself and for his book the consideration and the allowances usually conceded to pioneers in all fields. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.