Lessons in low-cost real estate brokerage 
Part 6: Discounters down, not out
By Glenn Roberts Jr., Friday, June 24, 2011.
With a fleet of branded vehicles for agents, billboards touting its 2 percent commission for real estate listing services, and 100-person call center, Foxtons North America made a big splash in the Northeast before sinking into financial ruin.
Foxtons North America, originally founded as YHD.com (for "Your Home Deal"), had stirred up resentment among some competitors as it grew to become one of the top brokerages in the New Jersey and New York area, with about 400 employees by 2004 and 500 employees at its peak.
London-based Foxtons Real Estate had invested $20 million in YHD.com in 2001, and the company was rebranded. Foxtons bought out founder Glenn Cohen's interest in the company in 2004.
As with some other prominent low-cost brokerages, the company's business model and cost structure changed over time, in some ways bringing it more in line with the practices of other industry participants. By 2007 its operations ended in bankruptcy proceedings.
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