Corcoran and Sotheby’s Agents should use “The Code” from parent Realogy

Realogy's

Corcoran and Sotheby’s are both owned by NRT which is intern owned by Realogy. Realogy has a booklet on the internet which defines its policy on “Fair Competion and Antitrust” as well as other lofty principals of Realogy for its employees.

Download The Code Here.

Here’s the text of the “Fair Competition and Antitrust” section:

We will vigorously compete, but do so fairly, complying with all laws protecting competition and the integrity of the marketplace. We will not enter into any formal or informal agreements or discussions with competitors about prices, marketing programs, or matters affecting price, services, sales territory, products, clients or suppliers. We will not take improper action in the marketplace pursuant to an agreement with a competitor.

We recognize that antitrust violations are serious criminal matters that can result in severe fines and jail terms. When we have any doubt as to what constitutes a competitive or antitrust matter, we will contact our Legal department.

I don’t think Reology is serious about its lofty pledge. Here’s why.

We send Sotheby’s President, Kathryn A. Korte a certified “Cease and Desist” letter demanding that Sotheby’s stop its use of O.R.E.X./RealNet which we believe is an illegal conspiracy with 24 of its competitors in restraint of trade.

Sotheby’s law firm, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP wrote me a letter, denying everything but providing no detail with their letter.

The lawyer said:

We have reviewed the letter, as well as the document referenced in the letter. SIR categorically disagrees with the accusations that you make in both. SIR’s business practices, particularly its use of the O.R.E.X. system are perfectly lawful, and not in violation of the antitrust laws, or any other applicable laws.

There is no excuse for a Lawyer who writes such a disingenuous and grossly incomplete letter to me (Claude G. Szyfer).

Do they claim that the O.R.E.X./RealNet distributes cobroke information in a fair way to all competitors?
Do they claim that it is legal to pay 10 to 15 times the cost of running an equivalent MLS as prescribed by law?
Do they claim that it is legal to allow any agent to “Un-check” the distribution of co-broke information to any agent at the will of the agent?
Do they claim that it is legal for each subscriber to O.R.E.X./RealNet to have their own criteria for which agencies gets co-broke information?
Do they claim that the bundling and predatory pricing by O.R.E.X./RealNet HREO.com is legal?
Do they claim that it is legal for O.R.E.X./RealNet to charge widely varying prices for the same or similar service — even free service to certain agencies?
The questions are many, — no answers from Corcoran or Sotheby’s.

I think that Sotheby’s, Corcoran, and Realogy are not serious about:

“We recognize that antitrust violations are serious criminal matters that can result in severe fines and jail teims.”

Looks to me as if Realogy just wants to hide from the severe fines and jail terms — as in hiding under a rock.

Every agent at Sotheby’s and Corcoran should demand a full explanation out of their parent agency.

The law is clear that each agent, in spite of the actions of their agency, is responsible to comply with the “Go to Jail, big fines and damages” antitrust law.
Bank robbers can’t continue to rob banks, just because they make their living that way.

Posted on November 18th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Corcoran, Law-breaking, RealNet/Orex, Sotheby's, What agents do | No Comments »

Lawyer thinks that Corcoran, Sotheby’s, Prudential, etc. Agents have an Antitrust case against their agencies.

I was talking to an attorney who is interested in the cobroke scandal in the Hamptons. He thinks that agents working for O.R.E.X./RealNet subscribers (there are 25 of them) have an antitrust case against their agencies.

The attorney reasoned that because their agencies were breaking the law and supplying them with a “MLS” system which did not fully expose listing information to all the available agents, their opportunity to sell (rent) properties was deminished.

Interesting!!!

Posted on November 18th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Brown Harris Stevens, Corcoran, Devlin McNiff, First Hampton, Prudential, Sotheby's, Town & Country, What agents do | 1 Comment »

Realogy — Financial Problems — they don’t need huge contingent liabilities from Hamptons Arms of Corcoran and Sotheby’s

In 2006, Apollo bought Realogy — owner of NRT, which intern owns Corcoran and Sotheby’s, b Corcoran's Prez Pam Liebman oth are subscribers to O.R.E.X./RealNet — a service which EastEndListings.com claims is operated as an illegal Antitrust conspiracy.

Appolo, with its troubles, doesn’t need another huge contingent liability due to Corcoran and Sotheby’s indiscretions.

Click below to read from Bloomberg.com:

Apollo’s Realogy Seeks Debt Exchange to Avoid Default (Update4)

Click below to read from the New York Post:

REALOGY’S RED INK IS THE LATEST BLACK MARK

Click below to read from www.CNBC.com:

Realogy Corp. offering swap for new loans Sotheby's Prez Kathryn Korte

Click below to read from the New York Times:

As Home Sales Slump, Realogy Juggles Its Debt

Click below to read from Inman.com

Realogy works to avert default on loans

Posted on November 17th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Corcoran, Sotheby's, The Press, What agents do | 2 Comments »

“Tom D” tells it like it is — Corcoran Doesn’t!

Several posts ago, there was a response to The Independent letter to the editor by Corcoran exec and HANFRA President John Halsted.

John was responding to a “Tom D” who wrote into Lona Rubenstein’s column about Co-brokes vs Exclusives.

See: Corcoran’s John S. Halsted, Jr. doesn’t tell it as it is to The Independent

We pointed out how dishonest and untrue John Halsted’s letter to the editor was. Now, “Tom D” has responded to this blog — telling it as it is, something that John Halsted should have done and didn’t.

George,
I am the same Tom D that seems to have sparked a little controversy with my comments. Looks like you have been trying to expose what might be called “fraudulent practices” at worst and decepetive at best. As for Jude Lyons comment about my not knowing about the MLS, I would say that I am quite well acquainted with the MLS. The differences between what the public has access to in the Hamptons vs. CA is absurd. Other than pocket listings that agents have in CA, everything by law is required to be on the MLS. And while the public MLS is not as complete as what realtors get, at least the properties are all there. The realtor spin here on all of this is enough to make my head spin. Keep on exposing this and maybe the Hamptons consumer will eventually benefit.

The abuse by Corcoran, other agencies, and their agents is so terrible and goes on and on and on and on ….

Posted on November 15th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Corcoran, Hanfra, The Press, What agents do | 1 Comment »

HANFRA should be called ‘Corcoran Board of Realtors’

I got the following email from an experienced entrepreneur and Realtor on the East End.

“I find it amazing that the Pres. of HANFRA, John Halstead, acting as President, fostered the development of the MLS system for HANFRA, spent the Associations money to do so, and then refused to have his company’s listings put into this system. Fiduciary responsibility of an officer??? Spend the member’s money and then effectively kill the Board by not participating in what he helped create?? Or just trying to have a ‘cover board’ for his company participation in the NAR? It should be called the Corcoran Board of Realtors.”

We should also blame these other HANFRA Board members. They also spent HANFRA money to build an MLS and their agencies refuse to use it, staying with the expensive and unfair O.R.E.X./RealNet system.

Fredrick Hoffman, Corcoran; Susan Vinski, Brown Harris Stevens; Marty Gleason, Corcoran; Nancy Cervelli; Corcoran; Charles Manger, Brown Harris Stevens; Sandra Woodward Pullman, Corcoran; Ann Rasmussen, Devlin McNiff; Cathy Tweedy, Corcoran.

Certainly Halsted and the other Corcoran, BHS, Devlin McNiff folks on the HANFRA Board are ripe for a lawsuit by outraged HANFRA members — perhaps someone like the experienced entrepreneur who wrote me the email.

Posted on November 14th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Corcoran Brags in the Southampton Press ad about all the houses they sold since Labor Day — Just fuel for a Class Action Suit — against Corcoran and Agents?

In the current Southampton Press, Corcoran Group shows pictures of th Sold, Sold, Sold, ..... irty homes they have sold since Labor Day. The highest price is Susan Breitenbach’s exclusive for $13,950,000 in Amagansett. The lowest price is one in East Quogue for $429,900.

I wonder if these sales are fuel for a Class Action Suit by buyers and sellers against Corcoran for not creating their promised “maximum” (or anything close to “maximum”) exposure.

If such a suit were filed, I think it is likely that the suit would be filed against Corcoran and at least the top agents at Corcoran, like Susan Breitenback who sold three of the thirty homes featured in the Press ad.

As likely: As soon as the word is out to former owners of properties sold by Corcoran, Prudential, Sotheby’s, Brown Harris Stevens, etc about the incomplete exposure of their properties to other agencies, there will be many individual law suits where former owners sue the agency and the agent(s) who didn’t do their job to sell the property.

Susan Breitenback, and all other Corcoran agents, should study the text book you received when you became a real estate agent, the posts on this blog, and re-read the Co-broke White Paper.

Posted on November 8th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Class Action, Corcoran, Law-breaking, The Press | 4 Comments »

Corcoran’s John S. Halsted, Jr. doesn’t tell it as it is to The Independent

Lona Rubenstein’s column several weeks ago (in The Independent and on Hamptons.Com) quoted a “Tom D” and his remarks about “Open” vs “Exclusive” listings.

In the Nov 5, 2008 issue of The Independent, John S. Halsted, Jr. of Corcoran and HANFRA President chose to respond to “Tom D”. John Halsted

Halsted’s take on the difference between “Open” and “Exclusive” listings is correct, and informative. His take on what happens in the real world of the Hamptons real estate is dead wrong, and dishonest.

Halsted chooses the Westhampton Beach market as a focus, and ends his letter to the editor with the following statements:

“The exclusive listing agent’s job is to manage all aspects related to the marketing of the property and that includes sharing the listing with the other agencies that operate in that market area.”

“Tom D. should have no problem finding an agency or agent that can show him every available property in the area where he is looking to buy a home”.

Halsted couldn’t have been more wrong. Because of the dishonest, unlawful, and incomplete way the larger agencies (Corcoran is the largest) distribute information about co-broke opportunities,
most small agencies don’t ever hear about the listing.
Rick Hoffman

Corcoran and twenty-four other agencies use the O.R.E.X./RealNet system to distribute listing information to some agencies and exclude other agencies from receiving the information. The O.R.E.X./RealNet system functions like a Multiple Listing System (MLS), but it costs the subscribing agencies ten to fifteen times the price of MLS systems, which conform to the legal guidelines for the cost of an MLS. Such high prices illegally exclude agancies which cannot afford it. There are hundreds of East End agancies who are not subscribers of the O.R.E.X./RealNet service.

Click on the link to see a table which lists some of the agencies which “operate” in Westhampton Beach and surrounding areas. The “Yes” and “No” pertain to whether a particular small agency is listed as an option to receive O.R.E.X. email notice of any Corcoran listing. If an agency has a “No” in a particular market, then it doesn’t have a prayer of being able to show the Corcoran listings in that area. Since Corcoran won’t have told the small agency about the Corcoran listings, the small agency will not know they exist and will not be able to show those listings to their customer.

So, referring to Halsted’s statement:

“Tom D. should have no problem finding an agency or agent that can show him every available property in the area where he is looking to buy a home.”

The statement may be true if the agency visited by “Tom D” is Corcoran, or perhaps even one of the other subscribers to the O.R.E.X./RealNet conspiracy (See: Cobroke.pdf), but it is not true, and I believe it is dishonest to say otherwise, if the agency selected by “Tom D” is one of the many smaller agencies who are not receiving Corcoran notices and won’t know about the Corcoran’s listings, and, therefore, cannot show any of those properties to their customers.

On reading this post in EastEndListing.com, Corcoran’s attorney “Claude G. Szyfer” , upon instructions from Corcoran President Pamela Liebman, wrote:

“[Corcoran] has repeatedly shared its listing information with any agency upon request, and Corcoran maintains an open policy regarding co-broking that maximizes exposure for properties that it is marketing”.

The lawyer’s statement simply is not true. Corcoran does not “maximize” exposure of properties, when they do not distribute their listing information to all the agencies. The question is not whether Corcoran shares its listing information “with any agency upon request”, and the attorney knows it. It is Corcoran’s responsibility to distribute co-broke information to all.

Mr. Szyfer and Corcoran President Pamela Liebman should read this post, the click on table. Their statement is baloney.

Instead of saying things are true, which aren’t, why doesn’t Ms Liebman just fix the problem? Lots of little firms are being damaged by Corcoran practices.

The attorney and Pam Liebman are in LaLa land.

I believe that the Corcoran system of Co-broking is cruel, uncaring, and law-breaking — even “criminal” (that word was chosen deliberately, in that the antitrust law-breaking could land Corcoran agents and/or managers in jail). Who should be blamed? Probably not Mr. Halsted. Start by blaming Rick Hoffman, Corcoran VP of the Hamptons. He has a law degree, but these exclusionary “selective co-broking” antitrust violations under his watch prove (to me) that his specialty is “Incompetence”.

What kind of lawyer, or manager, would require his company and his company’s real estate agents to use the illegal O.R.E.X./RealNet co-broking system, that excludes agencies from receiving Corcoran listing information. (See: Cobroke.pdf)

Click Here to See the Agencies by market who don’t get notified of Corcoran Exclusives in the areas around Westhampton Beach

You can see from the chart that the following Westhampton Beach area agencies get absolutely no O.R.E.X/RealNet co-broke notices from Corcoran:

Main Street Realty (been in downtown Westhampton Beach for decades)
Crystal Properties
Elliot Gallin
Hamptons Realty
Lanzetta Realty
Star Hamptons
Suffolk Realty

Agencies who receive Corcoran O.R.E.X./RealNet co-broke notices in only one of these NINE markets:

Beach Realty
Fourth Neck Realty
Gateway to Hamptons
Hampton Estates Rlty
Hampton Properties
James R. McLauchlen (in Southampton since before the suits who run Corcoran were born)
JBG Realty
Jean Carbone RE
Quogue East Realty
Real Hamptons Realty
Sea & Surf Properties
WHB Real Estate

There is no excuse for any of the agencies on the table not to receive O.R.E.X./RealNet co-broke notices — that’s the law.

Shame on the suits at Corcoran: Hoffman, Halsted, Liebman, and many more!

Why don’t you write another letter to the editor at The Independent — tell them you are sorry for the lawbreaking and life ruining by Corcoran.

Posted on November 6th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Corcoran, Hanfra, Law-breaking, What agents do | 5 Comments »

Agent at Devlin McNiff Real Estate tells George Simpson to do his homework.

I got the following email from a Devlin McNiff Real Estate:

“we send our listings to everyone……OREX and non-OREX agencies.
please do your homework.
please delete me from your mailing list.

Jennifer Linick

3 North Main Street
East Hampton NY 11937
631 324 6100 X 310
mobile: 631 897 3313
jennifer@devlinmcniff.com”

She doesn’t say what: “we send our listings to everyone……OREX and non-OREX agencies.” means.

I don’t know how anyone would be able to do that and be within the law. Stuart Epstein

And she does not mention that her agency, Devlin McNiff Real Estate, is a member of a conspiracy of some 25 agencies who exclude agencies who can not or will not pay the 10 to 20 time the going price for MLS membership. Such a conspiracy is a major antitrust violation, certainly the owner of her agency, Stuart Epstein know what he did wrong.

Here are her impressive credentials:

“Jennifer is a simple study: a midtown Manhattan girl with all the gifts of city life who, simultaneously since the age of five, spent every spare moment building her family country home in upstate “wilderness”. She finds irresistible the lure of both these worlds. She finds irresistible, therefore, the lure of the Hamptons…its authenticity and natural beauty as well as its ‘new-worldliness’. Fishing in an annual surfcasting tournament or shark-fishing in her boat off the Montauk coast takes up many of her early mornings, but the rest of her day is avidly devoted to her work.

Add to this city/country love an easy appreciation of people (her major in Anthropology at Brandeis University) and a keen grasp of business (with a minor in Economics) and it becomes obvious why Jennifer is a natural in the real estate world. Along with the broad brush of 20 years of residential real estate experience, coming to know well her clients and customers is actually the notably unique key element she brings to the negotiation and subsequent choreography of any transaction.”

Shame on her, she should know better.

Hope Ms Linick doesn’t get fined or jailed.

Posted on November 4th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Devlin McNiff, Law-breaking, What agents do | 1 Comment »

Corcoran VP says “Cobroke white paper has nothing to do with me”

A Senior Vice President of Corcoran got a copy of the “Cobroke White Paper” and said: “I don’t know why George Simpson sent me this, I don’t have anything to do with this. Corcoran management handles all this for me. SrVp

What a horrifying thought — that a Senior Vice President of the largest real estate company in the Hamptons believes that compliance with antitrust laws has nothing do with her!

Had she read the document, she would have learned that it is her responsibility to know her obligations under the law, and to make sure that she follows the law.

As a Corcoran agent and Vice President (her son is a lawyer in NYC), it is my opinion, she cannot avoid breaking the law as she uses O.R.E.X./RealNet.

This lady makes lots of money, has many exclusives — some over $20 Million price.

Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking it, and I believe that using O.R.E.X./RealNet is a perse crime — which means there is no defense — the Court’s only job is to determine the damages/jail sentence.

Posted on November 3rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Corcoran, Law-breaking, What agents do | 4 Comments »

EastEndListings.com

Corcoran and Sotheby’s Agents should use “The Code” from parent Realogy

Lawyer thinks that Corcoran, Sotheby’s, Prudential, etc. Agents have an Antitrust case against their agencies.

Interesting!!!

Realogy — Financial Problems — they don’t need huge contingent liabilities from Hamptons Arms of Corcoran and Sotheby’s

“Tom D” tells it like it is — Corcoran Doesn’t!

HANFRA should be called ‘Corcoran Board of Realtors’

Corcoran Brags in the Southampton Press ad about all the houses they sold since Labor Day — Just fuel for a Class Action Suit — against Corcoran and Agents?

List of Law Breaking Agents Who Continue Using O.R.E.X/RealNet

If any of you have a reason why your continued use of O.R.E.X./RealNet is not a violation of Antitrust Law, please email it to this blog.

Corcoran’s John S. Halsted, Jr. doesn’t tell it as it is to The Independent

Instead of saying things are true, which aren’t, why doesn’t Ms Liebman just fix the problem? Lots of little firms are being damaged by Corcoran practices.

Agent at Devlin McNiff Real Estate tells George Simpson to do his homework.

Corcoran VP says “Cobroke white paper has nothing to do with me”

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