Local agents, appraisers and others in real estate didn't hold back when they learned that discount broker Foxtons is going out of business.
They clapped when the news was announced at Real Estate Next's second annual conference this morning at the Long Island Marriott in Uniondale.
Paul Schwartz, a certified mortgage planning specialist at Woodbury-based Blackstone Mortgage said one reason Foxtons is folding is because its brokers couldn't provide the same services as full-commission brokers. The audience seemed to agree wholeheartedly.
Newsday photo / Tami Luhby
Comments (1)
It it very telling that cheers would accompany the demise of an alternative offering for consumers from the real estate contingent in New York. In seeking some degree of merit for this attitude, I come up empty. Foxtons (at least in my area) provided superior presentation, upping the ante (and bringing some companies into the current century) with home presentation via the MLS, leaving the door open for continued improvement. Any company finding itself vulnerable right now will likely go quietly- if nothing else, hat's off to Foxtons, for providing the consumer with something that they clearly found of value. The lasting impact of quality presentations, copied by other companies in their haste to "get current" is what should be cheered by both the consumer, and the Realtor community in Long Island- the next major player may not have as much to offer the real estate community (but perhaps more to offer the consumer).