Hi all,
I'd like to warn anybody in bergen county against using foxtons to sell their home. We signed a 6 month contract, we weren't told that there was a 3 month option, and have been totally screwed ever since. Our agent forgot to list the first open house we had scheduled, just before Christmas when the house looked fantastic. We complained to the branch manager and asked to have a different agent assigned. We were told that the agent "would be talked to", but we wouldn't be getting a new agent and they weren't about to let us out of the contract.
The manager scheduled an open house mid-January and it went great. We had 8 people fill out contact info, so the house is definately sellable. foxtons qualified a buyer 2 days after the open house, whose offer we were ready to accept, and another one 2 days later offering full list price. Now, if we were told that the second offer was from a person who spent most of his time out of the country and was inaccessible most of the time we would have taken the first offer. However, we weren't told about the second buyer's transient status and it bit us in the a$$ when after we were out of attorney review, after the inspection was done, and after we started making the changes they wanted, they disappeared! Two weeks later they showed up in South America and a week later they said they were no longer interested in the house and, by the way, they were denied a mortgage. Nobody has seen the denial letter but it doesn't really matter because nobody bothered to find out or inform us that THE BUYER DIDN'T MAKE A DEPOSIT!!
So her we are, S.O.L. with our house off the market for 2 months because we thought we had it sold and what happens? FOXTONS FORGETS TO SCHEDULE OUR OPEN HOUSE AGAIN!!!
So again we screamed at the branch sales manager who finally decides to change our listing agent, but still won't let us out of the contract saying, in her exact words, "it isn't going to happen".
You may be thinking, well they must have some suggestions on selling your house. Well yes, she suggested raising the commission. We've been paying 2 mortgages for 2 months now, we're looking at continuing to pay 2 mortgages for at least another 2 months, and she expects us to dish out more money to these vultures?
I can't stand these people at this point and the idea of paying them to sell my house makes my skin crawl. I've contacted a couple of lawyers and will be talking to the NJ Real Estate Board to register a formal complaint and outline everything. I'm hoping that everybody involved loses their license, but I know that's a pipe dream.
These people just suck. With any luck this will help save somebody else from making the same mistake we did. If you have to sell your house contact Century 21, ReMax, Coldwell Bankers, Jimmy's Hoboken Real Estate, ANYBODY BUT FOXTONS.
Padraig
South East Bergen County, New Jersey
U.S.A.