Who Out Foxed Whom?
It really makes me angry to see what Foxtons is doing to there listing clients. That Foxtons would send out a letter that does not even address their clients by name when informing them of the current situation is really just laziness. I guess they did not have a database with client names or the capacity to create a mail merge.
Worse, they are misleading their clients into thinking that having their property on the Foxtons website or in the Multiple Listing Service is in anyway continuing to help sell the property. People, if other agents want to show the property they are going to call the Foxtons that listed the property and since there is nobody to answer the phone, the showing cannot take place, period. No showings to buyers equals … it is not rocket science folks!
To top it all off Foxtons is asking the court to sell the listings to another broker! The truth is that the market already has an excess of properties on it. What company is going to pay to increase their inventory of properties that are not selling (if they were selling Foxtons would not have needed to file for bankruptcy)? So the chances of some brokerage shelling out real dollars for more inventory is mindless. Foxtons hopes that by holding their clients to contracts that are already in breach by a company that has protection under the bankruptcy laws, they might make a little something off the sale of the listings. Hopefully the court will see past the sly maneuver and void the contracts. That way the poor Foxtons saps can take their property to a brokerage house that is still doing business immediately rather than some unforseeable time down the road.
Hopewell Township Voters will find a referendum on the general election ballot in November that asks them to approve a 1-cent increase in the open space tax to be used for walking trails and bike paths. For the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $549,400 the 1-cent hike would mean an additional $55 a year in taxes. With New Jersey having the highest property taxes in the country even a 1-cent increase seems too much.
The 350-acre area surrounding the Princeton Junction Train Station was the topic of the joint meeting between West Windsor Township Council and the Planning Board. The two bodies are far apart in their vision for the project so folks it looks like it will be a while before we know anything substantive. The Council supports a plan that includes only additional parking, a Main Street along Rt571, and traffic improvements. The Planning Board argues that any improvement to the area would be difficult to achieve without housing and other development that would make the project attractive to developers.
While there are many forms of municipal governance used in New Jersey the largest single form is the Borough form of government. Under the Borough form, there is a mayor and a Borough Council. Let’s take a look at how this form of governance works in Princeton Borough.
The Turnpike Authority plans to expand the turnpike between Exit 6 and Exit 8A. The plan at present calls for the extending of the separate car and truck lanes further south making the highway 12 lanes (six in each direction). They would also relocate the Interchange 8 toll plaza to East Windsor and widen the 7A plaza. Finally they would add a lane between Interchange 8A and 9 by restriping the pavement.
Discount Broker Foxtons, previously known as Your Home Direct (YHD) 2%, YHD Foxtons 3% has close up shop! Wednesday night after a lay off of 350 of the remaining 380 employees, company officials said they planned to file for bankruptcy protection. It sounds like it is, take-the-money-and-run time at Foxtons folks. It seems like Foxtons is covering its retreat from the real estate business really well. Even though Foxtons had its membership in the