Just finished an article that gives Seven Reason To Welcome a Recession. At first glance at the title one would think Jeff Strain’s thinking processes were already in a recession but that is just not the case. But clever Jeff thinks outside the recession box and encourages us to join him. So let’s take a look at two of his reasons.
Affordable Housing and Low Mortgage rates topped the list. It is true that during a recession when fewer people are purchasing homes there are more houses available to buyers. It is also true often buyers can find real bargains but in today’s market not only are we already an excess of houses on the market and housing prices are falling and bargains abound. Though finacial and economic specialists have not said we are in a recession per se, it is a perfect time to go house hunting. Add the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank is keeping interest rates low to prevent a recession and qualified buyers have to two elements needed to purchase the home of their dreams.
Well done Jeff!
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.
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 Better Business Bureau (BBB) of New Jersey revoked last year because it failed to respond to complaints, it is only this year that its gravy train has pulled into the rail yard.
Foxtons U.S. is owned by Jon Hunt, who was the founder and owner of Foxtons London. Hunt sold the UK Foxtons in May after a March BBC investigative report found that Foxtons agents engaged in unethical practices such as over-pricing, lying to sellers, collusion with mortgage representatives in the disclosure of buyer financial information etc.
Is it any wonder, no one at Foxtons US, is picking up the phone? The layoff leaves Foxton’s 4,400 current listings in limbo, while the company seeks to protect itself. With only 30 employees and 4,400 seller listings on its books there is no real way for real estate professional, buyers, and sellers to connect and get those properties sold. Who is the real victim here? Since the BBB would have told the sellers about the complaints against Foxtons had the sellers called the agency, then the sellers have to take some responsibility for not doing their research before signing the contract. Momma always said, “You get what you pay for in life” (smile). Traditional Real Estate Brokerage has been around for over 100 years and no true constant can last that long in this society if it didn’t work.
Read the article.