5:19 PM EDT | October 27, 2007
Judge allows bankrupt Foxtons to sell real estate listings
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) _ Thousands of real estate listings held by the now-bankrupt discount brokerage Foxtons can be sold to other companies, a federal judge has ruled.
The decision issued Friday clears the way for Rahway-based Maplewood Homes to buy more than 3,400 New Jersey listings for $100,000, while Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Fillmore Real Estate is spending $110,000 for hundreds of more listings in New York.
West Long Branch-based Foxtons recently filed for bankruptcy, citing its slumping business due to the downturn in the housing market. When it sough to sell the listings, more than 30 homeowners asked the bankruptcy court to void their contracts so they could sign agreements with other real estate agents.
However, the bankruptcy court judge ruled that Foxtons customers who signed a three- or six-month contract will now be customers of Century 21 Atlantic Reality _ which has agreed to market the New Jersey homes for Maplewood _ or Fillmore Real Estate, with the same contract terms.
Foxtons was founded in 1999 on the principle that consumers should not pay a 6 percent commission. Instead, its agents were paid salaries and customers were charged 2 percent.
The company was sold in 2004 and, eventually, commissions were raised to motivate agents to show Foxtons' homes. A private-equity firm then bought the company in May. |
