Foxtons, Inc. - Real Estate Co. with Retail Broker

Back-add, 10/16/2007: Informants have written in regarding Foxtons, Inc. (foxtons.com), a New Jersey-based real estate company with a retail mortgage broker division, has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, laying off 350 of 380 employees. From a news article on the closure:

The bankruptcy filing shows Foxtons North America - which includes a real estate broker, a mortgage broker, a title agency, a settlement agency and an advertising agency - had assets of $488,000 and liabilities of $40.9 million.

Left unresolved is what will happen to the 4,400 owners in New Jersey and New York who have contracts with Foxtons to sell their homes.

Foxtons had the following notice regarding their closure posted on their website:

October 2, 2007

We regret to inform you that, due to the recent down turn in the residential real estate market, Foxtons has decided to conduct an orderly liquidation of its business. To accomplish this goal, Foxtons is filing a voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. You will be receiving information concerning the bankruptcy case over the next few days.

Your property continues to be advertised on Foxtons' website and/or your area's Multiple Listing Service, as it was prior to Foxtons' bankruptcy filing. Moreover, the Foxtons signage at your property, if any, can continue to be displayed pending further notice.

As part or the liquidation of its assets, Foxtons is asking the bankruptcy court to authorize the assumption and assignment of your listing agreement with Foxtons to another broker. The identity of the proposed successor broker has not yet been determined. If the bankruptcy court grants this request, and if a successor broker makes a sufficient bid for Foxtons' listing agreements, then the listing agreement for the sale of your home would be assigned to another real estate broker. With the exception of the identity of the listing broker, all of the terms of your listing agreement with Foxtons would remain the same. We hope to have this assignment process completed within fifteen days. You will receive further information from the bankruptcy court concerning this proposal.

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Regarding Foxtons mortgage broker business, one informant indicated Foxtons had around twenty loan officers at peak, closing approximately 200 loans per month.