Saturday, Dec 05, 2009
John Hunt sold this business for £370m in May 2007
ThisIsMoney: Foxtons' late accounts spark fears of instability
It seems that the dreamland over ever-rising house prices which estate agents and sellers have been living in is coming to an abrupt end.
Perhaps they could employ me as a wizzo TV celebrity troubleshooter - I'd go in, chat to some of their dim but snappily dressed 'sales consultants', completely ignore what any of them have to say and glibly trumpet "TELL YOUR SELLERS TO DROP THEIR PRICES!" as I saunter towards the door, collecting my cheque on the way out.
Posted by paul @ 11:34 AM (921 views) Add Comment
14 Comments
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1. confused76 said...
Foxtons is de facto owned by BofA and a Japanese bank. BC Partners have lost all of their investment.
These su**ers paid £"10m per agency. You can build and furnish an agency for £1m, was £9m worth to pay for goodwill??!?
Time for the banks to pull the plug.
Bes**rds!! and Charcoal too!! mwauhahhah
read the link below, have a laugh at the directors pumping in the cash to keep the business afloat.
the house of cards is coming down!!
http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/mortgages/john-charcol-is-late-in-filing-2008-accounts/1003226.article
2. confused76 said...
I hate to quote myself...
http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/newsblog/2008/06/blog-foxtons-on-the-rocks-14304.php
great days, great expectations, coming close to being fulfilled
3. drewster said...
Contrary to received wisdom, estate agents actually encourage lower prices. Consider the example of an estate agents' who have a batch of houses worth between £240,000 and £250,000. They can work hard and sell one house per week at the higher price, or they can be lazy and sell two houses per week at the lower price. The hard-working agent gets £5,000 per week commission (at 2%), whereas the lazy agent gets 2x£4,800 = £9,600 per week.
Even if there aren't many properties to sell, the difference in commission between £240,000 and £250,000 is just £200 out of £5,000.
On the flip side, agents have to promise sellers a high price in order to secure the listing in the first place. Rationally we should expect all newly-listed houses to be over-priced, and for the advertised price to fall until it reaches the correct price. In practice houses are too varied to be directly comparable.
4. phdinbubbles said...
I'm weeping inside at the thought of poor old Ray picking up his P45
5. phdinbubbles said...
I suppose you have to think of the knock on effects to the rest of the economy. I mean, what would they do with themselves at http://www.wehatefoxtons.com/
Ok, I'll stop the schadenfreude now.
6. p. doff said...
Why does everybody single out estate agents for the hate campaign? In my experience its tradesmen who are most guilty of expecting to do as little as possible for the maximum return. I get so peed off with shoddy/expensive work that I'd rather do most things for myself, including plumbing, electrics, decorating and all other home maintenance. There are a couple of clowns fitting my Sky HD as I write and there has already been a disagreement over the best/neatest route for the new cable. No doubt I'll be picking up bits of wire and left over rubbish after they have gone like I did last time. Whatever happened to 'pride in your work'?
And don't start me on solicitors! Ripoff Britain indeed.
7. the number cruncher said...
phdinbubbles @5
thanks for the link, I just had a great 1/2 hour reading the posts - fascinating
I have ran door 2 door sales operations (very high standards) as a minor part of one on my 'businesses' and a few of my team have worked for a company called cobra before they joined us, The psychology of cobra is really tantamount to a brainwashing cult, luring young people with the right sort of psychological flaws, like narcissism
Foxtons seams to have hit on the same ethos and psychology of driving young people to work very long hours and treat people terribly for profit (and profit for the company not the employee)
8. letthemfall said...
A friend of mine went to work for Foxtons. He packed it in within a week. His main complaint was the odious and rude clients (young renters in London). Perhaps the punters get the companies they deserve.
I agree about the crass corporate psychology that pervades the economy today. If that's meant to be efficiency I think we can all do without it.
9. crunchy said...
"peed off" Now you would not want to be an electric criminal now would you?
More fool you for paying them for substandard work, or were they working on a tightish budget. It doesn't help either way!
Brits really need to command a better service when called for. No sympathy.
10. crunchy said...
He kept at true good humour's mark
The social flow of pleasure's tide:
He never made a brow look dark,
Nor caused a tear, but when he died.
11. markj69 str05 said...
@p.doff.... 'Whatever happened to 'pride in your work'?
I think it was swapped for greed, and profitability - Escpecially in the financial industry.
It'll be interesting to see the Foxton figures (If they ever emerge) - Could they be cyclicly adjusted (Similar to Seasonally) but accounting for the cyclic dip??? - I bet they have some financial wizardry going on in those books, to put Dumbledore to shame.
Also be interesting to see if anyone received a pay rise or bonus over the last 2 years.
12. cyril said...
@ 6 P.Doff - Foxtons is a special case. But you're right - some estate agents are ok. I even had one the other day who advised me to wait a while before buying a house because he thought the market would go down. (He won't last long I guess).
13. phdinbubbles said...
Foxtons are indeed a special case.
14. ontheotherhand said...
Drewster - estate agents win the business in the first place by suggesting the highest asking prices to the sellers. You are right that they then just want a quick sale, but their hands are somewhat tied by the big number they gave the seller to get their board in front of the house.