Hi! I'm Glenn Cohen! With my good friend, Jason Sehorn!

[Tenbatsuzen]

Foxtons Real Estate goes out of business. (http://www.foxtons.com/foxtons/about/message.html)

As a former employee of this fine, fine company, let me be the first to say this:

AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH AHAHAH.

Worst. Business. Model. Ever.

Ever see Boiler Room? Same deal.

I'm shocked they stayed in business for this long.

It was the worst customer service, it was the worst way of doing business, and it was just so seedy and filled with sexual harrassment and other crap. I hate to see people lose their jobs, but goddamn this is hysterical.

And yes, I've got stories.

[JPMNICK]

i think the idea was good. 6% commision is insane with todays housing prices.

the problem was no one wanted to work with them because they were not getting the 6%

[mendyweiss]

And yet, they hired you

[Tenbatsuzen]

And yet, they hired you

The turnover rate was amazing there. If you were warm body and could answer a phone, you got a job with them.

[Tenbatsuzen]

i think the idea was good. 6% commision is insane with todays housing prices.

the problem was no one wanted to work with them because they were not getting the 6%

Huh? 6 percent is the industry standard.

The idea was good, but the execution and the people running it were awful.

[JPMNICK]

Huh? 6 percent is the industry standard.

The idea was good, but the execution and the people running it were awful.

i know i was saying the industry standard needs to change. the % is to high for the amount that houses go for. it was different when a house was 200k, but when the average price is 600k in some towns, agents are getting paid way to much for what they do.

[Tenbatsuzen]

i know i was saying the industry standard needs to change. the % is to high for the amount that houses go for. it was different when a house was 200k, but when the average price is 600k in some towns, agents are getting paid way to much for what they do.

That six percent doesn't just all go to the agent. It's split between agent, broker, etc.

[Team_Ramrod]

So I shouldn't waste my time checking the career section on the website then?

[Hottub]

So I shouldn't waste my time checking the career section on the website then?


I wouldn't bother if I were you.
The igloo market is sluggish at best.:blink:

[Team_Ramrod]

I wouldn't bother if I were you.
The igloo market is sluggish at best.:blink:

That's just cause it's "summer" up here... winter is fast approaching though, there will be high demand for the bi level/ split entry igloos in a few weeks.

[ryno1974]

I am not familiar with this company, but I am assuming it is a low commission real estate agency? I agree with the comments that 6% is too high, even though here in Canada it is running around 5%. I don't buy the argument that it gets split between the agents, brokers, etc. The only people that would argue for these ridiculous gouging charges are somehow getting a piece of it.

I just bought a place for $250,000, and the fucking agent made 12,500 for doing NOTHING. She met us there twice to look at it (probably around an hour total time spent) and spent another hour doing paperwork with us. Lets assume that she spent an additional 20 hours doing other stuff for us that we didn't see (which s waaaaay over stated) she still pulled down 568 dollars per hour! Fucking crazy. I didn't care because I was buying and therefore not paying a penny for it, but its still robbery.

There are a couple of well established by the owner type systems that are popular up here. I have used www.comfree.ca (http://www.comfree.ca)with great success. Cost me $600 to sell my house, saved about 10 grand. I have also used www.bytheowner.com (http://www.bytheowner.com) . Both are taking a real chunk out of the agents up here. In fact our last agent tried to get us to sign off that if we were to buy a by the owner home WE would pay her commission, even though she would not show us those houses because they were not MLS listings. I refused, and I think she was intimidated by me or had never had anyone refuse that section before) and crossed it off.

If you are looking for real estate, check out these links.

[Snacks]

first of all 6% is the normal commission rate but can be negotiated. Most will go down to 5% and some will even go down to 4 - 41/2% during a sellers market. If a house sells for $500K and the commission is 6%, the total commission would be $30K. sounds like a lot, but its not. Right off the bat the sellers agent and the buyers agent split it in half. So each gets $15K, then they both have to split it with their broker (the actual company who owns the real estate company). So now the agent has $7500 for the sale. Still sounds like a lot? Its not, out of that $7500 they usually have to pay for advertising, open houses, web submissions, not to mention all the gas, driving and annoying phone calls. Sometimes during a bad market the agent earns every penny they make. Houses can stay on the market for 2,3 ,4 or even more months. Making the agent no money. Some agents have a desk rental fee, pay their own insurance and more. Their has been studies that show selling a house with a broker makes the seller 12-18% more on the sale of their home then listing it "for sale by owner". And most important, they do all the work. Thats part of the reason Foxtons went out of business. People loved the original 2% commission, but the company couldn't make money so they raised it to 3% and the owners still had to do everything, like show the house whenever someone wanted to see it.

[Freitag]

It's been my POV that in this day and age with the internet, getting a seller's agent is stupid. Do the looking yourself. Puts you in a better place to negotiate.

Am I wrong?


And yes, Foxtons touted they marketed your house, but it was very passive marketing. You had to show you own house, and they didn't utilize buyers agents. Since they didnt' share a commission, "real" real estate agents HAAAATED doing business with them.

I couldn't begin to tell you how many calls I got from ticked off home sellers whose house wasn't selling and were trying to get out of their contract. They never got a call back.

Plus, working internally was a real treat. When hired, they asked you to work one weekend shift for half a day.

Because the turnover rate was so high, it would be often that people would be working both weekend days.

I stayed there for about four months before I quit. It was shocking to them because I was one of their "top producers", but it was one of the few times I quit on moral grounds. I didn't make a big deal of it, I just didn't like deceiving people. It kind of sucked too; it was the most money I had made in a long time.

[Team_Ramrod]

Foxtons Real Estate goes out of business. (http://www.foxtons.com/foxtons/about/message.html)

As a former employee of this fine, fine company, let me be the first to say this:

AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH AHAHAH.

Worst. Business. Model. Ever.

Ever see Boiler Room? Same deal.

I'm shocked they stayed in business for this long.

It was the worst customer service, it was the worst way of doing business, and it was just so seedy and filled with sexual harrassment and other crap. I hate to see people lose their jobs, but goddamn this is hysterical.

And yes, I've got stories.

It's been my POV that in this day and age with the internet, getting a seller's agent is stupid. Do the looking yourself. Puts you in a better place to negotiate.

Am I wrong?


And yes, Foxtons touted they marketed your house, but it was very passive marketing. You had to show you own house, and they didn't utilize buyers agents. Since they didnt' share a commission, "real" real estate agents HAAAATED doing business with them.

I couldn't begin to tell you how many calls I got from ticked off home sellers whose house wasn't selling and were trying to get out of their contract. They never got a call back.

Plus, working internally was a real treat. When hired, they asked you to work one weekend shift for half a day.

Because the turnover rate was so high, it would be often that people would be working both weekend days.

I stayed there for about four months before I quit. It was shocking to them because I was one of their "top producers", but it was one of the few times I quit on moral grounds. I didn't make a big deal of it, I just didn't like deceiving people. It kind of sucked too; it was the most money I had made in a long time.

Wait a second....

both of you are familiar with this agency?

What are the odds!!!???

Anyway,

You are right, with the real estate boom up here in Alberta there are a few real estate agents making big money... the rest are either just getting by or are going down. This is the case because of the ease of self listing and the huge influx of agents trying to cash in on the boom.
If you are motivated, you save the commission and do it yourself, if you are not you go with the 'name' and get the biggest dollar you can.

[Kris10]

And to think of all that money they wasted on those green minis :nono: