hunthunthunt Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 RE. 2 beds in E1, E2, E3, N1 under 200K (no ex-la). Obviously, the asking prices listed on your site do not represent the current economic reality. If and when prices adjust to meet my requirements can you please contact me. Regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_duke_of_hazzard Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 I hope you switched your phone off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunthunthunt Posted September 29, 2008 Author Share Posted September 29, 2008 I hope you switched your phone off. I was not stupid enough to give them my phone number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needingsense Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 you'd better specify the size. 2 beds to Foxtons means that you can "fit" two beds in the place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyslad Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 You ought to email Phil spencers property search company as well !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridget Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 I suspect they will be too busy to write back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Live_in_hope Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 I feel so sorry for these foxtons oiks they had aspirations of becoming bankers, they had to settle with being EAs, now they're busy filling in the Mc Donalds application forms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunthunthunt Posted September 30, 2008 Author Share Posted September 30, 2008 I just got a barrage of emails back from Foxtons (3). Firstly, an automated list of properties available, none of which met the specified criteria. An e-business card from their sales negotiator. And finally a scripted response from their 'Senior New Business Consultant' acknowledging the receipt of my email. This sales strategy may have worked 18 months ago, I don't believe it will now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grizzly bear Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 I just got a barrage of emails back from Foxtons (3).Firstly, an automated list of properties available, none of which met the specified criteria. An e-business card from their sales negotiator. And finally a scripted response from their 'Senior New Business Consultant' acknowledging the receipt of my email. This sales strategy may have worked 18 months ago, I don't believe it will now. When we were selling they kept on calling to ask if they could sell my house. They thought intially I should market it at £850k (post credit crunch, early 2008) when all the other agents said £750k. Their fees are much more than other agents which is why we didn't go with them and also they don't have an office in our area. Everytime I spoke to him he of course said he'd get the full price - of course I didn't believe him and was happy when we eventually sold for £660k. Their strategy doesn't work anymore, but bear in mind they were sold out right at the peak - and the new owners are so highly leveraged now that they may well end up being a victim of the HPC..... Reading the "literature" in the posh parts of London, asking prices still stupidly high (remember prices went up 40% during 2007) and the posh agents saying they have only lost 10% - ie just 1/4 of 2007 gains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darwin Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Their fees are much more than other agents which is why we didn't go with them and also they don't have an office in our area. Everytime I spoke to him he of course said he'd get the full price - of course I didn't believe him and was happy when we eventually sold for £660k. What are their fees? I though most agents in London are about 2%, do they get away with charging more than that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brave New World Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 There has been talk of going into Estate Agents and yanking their chain with offering 40% 'of' the property value on houses. Would be interesting to see if folk from this website could start a bit of an email chain to their local Estate Agents saying copying what Hunthunt has put, just to try and leverage some sense of reality in their wee, scared little minds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpo Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 I suspect they will be too busy to write back! I suspect they won't have the man power to write back ... lots of empty desks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibley Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 I know exactly what they thought when they read your e mail. 'Oh no another one with no money' Notice nobody was interested enough to contact you. Trust me. I've got a house I'd sell. If for example I valued my place at 200k, all things considered with the state of the economy etc. I would never part with it for less than 170k. Even if prices dropped more than that I know they would go back up eventually. Look what happened it the last recession. Just wait. No big deal. That's what everyone will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecrashingisles Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 If for example I valued my place at 200k, all things considered with the state of the economy etc. I would never part with it for less than 170k. Even if prices dropped more than that I know they would go back up eventually. Look what happened it the last recession. Just wait. No big deal. That's what everyone will do. That's what the stupid will do. I concede that they may be in the majority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootfair Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 (edited) Some people have stretched themselves to get a mortgage, now their fixed rate deal is gone and the next deal has increased, along with the price of necessities. Credit card debt can be secured against a home with a court order, and unemployment is rising.... some people sadly wont have the choice of sitting on their house and waiting for it to rise again in value. I feel sorry for them,but there is a pattern. We pay 3 times for everything. For the product, through the products failing income/increased costs -and as a taxpayer to bailout those at the top. failing endowments raided pensions cheap "unsecured" credit where the tern "unsecured" is actually meaningless. taxpayer bailing out moneymanagers - And one we all should have seen coming - Massive revenue gained from soaring HPI by both GVT and banks, followed by re-appropriation of the assets at knockdown price. Hmm that happened before...People recovered easier then, because mortgages weren't such a high multiple of income. Its clear in which direction the money flows. ALL OUR MONIES, it belong to them. I know exactly what they thought when they read your e mail. 'Oh no another one with no money' Notice nobody was interested enough to contact you. Trust me. I've got a house I'd sell. If for example I valued my place at 200k, all things considered with the state of the economy etc. I would never part with it for less than 170k. Even if prices dropped more than that I know they would go back up eventually. Look what happened it the last recession. Just wait. No big deal. That's what everyone will do. Edited October 4, 2008 by bootfair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brave New World Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 I know exactly what they thought when they read your e mail. 'Oh no another one with no money' Notice nobody was interested enough to contact you. Trust me. I've got a house I'd sell. If for example I valued my place at 200k, all things considered with the state of the economy etc. I would never part with it for less than 170k. Even if prices dropped more than that I know they would go back up eventually. Look what happened it the last recession. Just wait. No big deal. That's what everyone will do. They will not return to this level in our generation - the credit that facilitated the ludicrous rises in prpoerty value will never be avaialable on the markets and really never was available. So in 6 months time you would bite anyones hand off for 170k. Property prices of the last couple of years are NOT the norm the norm for a 200k house at the moment is based on a SUSTAINABLE market ie 2.5/3 times salary mortgage with 25% deposit which would see the house at 115k at the most, in the right area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grizzly bear Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 What are their fees? I though most agents in London are about 2%, do they get away with charging more than that? I think it was 3%. Other agents offering 1.75% sole or 2.25% joint. Foxtons wanted 3% joint and that would have meant agreeing to 3% for both sides as the other agents would not agree to unequal commission. we didn't use them and that was a contributing factor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renterbob Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 They will not return to this level in our generation - the credit that facilitated the ludicrous rises in prpoerty value will never be avaialable on the markets and really never was available. So in 6 months time you would bite anyones hand off for 170k. Property prices of the last couple of years are NOT the norm the norm for a 200k house at the moment is based on a SUSTAINABLE market ie 2.5/3 times salary mortgage with 25% deposit which would see the house at 115k at the most, in the right area. Foxtons tried this in the USA as well as the UK. You wish to know how it went? Click on Foxtons USA - link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darwin Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 I think it was 3%. Other agents offering 1.75% sole or 2.25% joint. Foxtons wanted 3% joint and that would have meant agreeing to 3% for both sides as the other agents would not agree to unequal commission. we didn't use them and that was a contributing factor. Wow, brutal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunthunthunt Posted October 5, 2008 Author Share Posted October 5, 2008 (edited) Foxtons' subsequent response (my summation): All prices as valued by Foxtons are in line with current market value Foxtons are trading at good levels There are some distressed sellers An anecdote of a property that has 3 buyers, priced at (IMO) 2007 peek Prices are nowhere near my requested amount Contact us if and when prices adjust, you may be waiting a while... I was genuinely surprised at the considered, nature of the response, it did not strike me as a cut and paste job. Though I seriously doubt the validity of the agents claims. Last year, the Shoreditch Foxtons contained at an estimate 40+ staff, the average head count when I walk past now is 5, this is not indicative of trading at good levels. Edited October 5, 2008 by hunthunthunt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snugglybear Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Foxtons' subsequent response (my summation):All prices as valued by Foxtons are in line with current market value Foxtons are trading at good levels There are some distressed sellers An anecdote of a property that has 3 buyers, priced at (IMO) 2007 peek Prices are nowhere near my requested amount Contact us if and when prices adjust, you may be waiting a while... I was genuinely surprised at the considered, nature of the response, it did not strike me as a cut and paste job. Though I seriously doubt the validity of the agents claims. Last year, the Shoreditch Foxtons contained at an estimate 40+ staff, the average head count when I walk past now is 5, this is not indicative of trading at good levels. Do the staff at Foxtons read the Observer, I wonder. An article in the paper's supplement today on the entire unholy economic mess includes the following paragraphs: "Among the most high-profile companies facing severe difficulties is Foxtons, the estate agent based in the south east of England. With employees zipping through London's streets in racing-green Minis and working out of modern offices with giant plasma television screens, no other company epitomises the frenetic property bull market better. Founded in 1981 by Jon Hunt, the firm expanded rapidly, building a business by taking an aggressive stance on house price valuations and commissions. It was a formula that worked well. Profits poured in and growth seemed inexorable. For Hunt, a clipped 55-year-old, payday arrived in May 2007 when BC Partners, one of the country's most respected private equity firms, paid £360m for the 23-branch business. A large share of that went to Hunt, who, not surprisingly, then walked away. Even then, at the height of the boom, eyebrows were raised at the price BC had paid. Today, the deal looks like an albatross and may come to be regarded be regarded as the beginning of the end of private equity's debt-fuelled boom. Foxtons has to repay £23m per month to meet its obligations. The business was stress-tested by BC prior to its acquisition but the scenario involved a fall in transactions of 30 per cent. Now that transactions have all but dried up, the business is in trouble, shedding staff and cutting advertising. Today, BC Partners is locked in talks with the bankers who funded the deal by putting up more than £250m. Whether Foxtons will survive the coming year is very much open to debate. The scant comfort for its backers is that they are far from being alone." No wonder they try to get 3%. £23m per month, eh? Good luck with that, guys. Printable version Send to a friend Share Clip Contact us larger | smaller EmailClose Recipient's email address Your name Add a note (optional) Your IP address will be logged ShareClose Digg reddit Google Bookmarks Yahoo! My Web del.icio.us StumbleUpon Newsvine livejournal Facebook BlinkList Contact usClose Contact the Business editor business.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@observer.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@observer.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 7278 2332 Advertising guide License/buy our content Business Housing market · Credit crunch More newsRelated Oct 4 2008 Profits crashing, house prices falling, jobs axed. So how bad will it get? Oct 1 2008 Builders climb on rate cut hopes Sep 12 2008 Explainer: Special liquidity scheme Sep 2 2008 We will kick-start housing market, promises Gordon Brown Entire article here http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oc....market.foxtons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stop The Ride Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Do the staff at Foxtons read Probably not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
game over Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Probably not. Can they read? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim B. Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I know exactly what they thought when they read your e mail. 'Oh no another one with no money' Notice nobody was interested enough to contact you. Trust me. I've got a house I'd sell. If for example I valued my place at 200k, all things considered with the state of the economy etc. I would never part with it for less than 170k. Even if prices dropped more than that I know they would go back up eventually. Look what happened it the last recession. Just wait. No big deal. That's what everyone will do. You should do some reading about the Japanese house price crash of the 90's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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