Barbara Fox

Fox Residential has a new Virtual Office Website, or “VOW,” the company announced today. The VOW gives visitors access to all listings in the city, rather than just the company’s exclusives. “This one-stop shopping eliminates the need to visit multiple websites to find the kind of properties you are looking for,” said company founder Barbara Fox in the announcement. Fox is just the latest of the firms launching VOWs. Century 21 NY Metro, Prudential Douglas Elliman and A.C. Lawrence established VOWs this year, and at the end of 2009, Halstead Property became the first major city firm to institute one. TRD

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Since late 2008, most residential data shows long plunge followed by only a small, recent rebound

From the September issue: Sept. 15, 2008, is seared into many New Yorkers’ memories as the day the investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, shredding confidence in the economy and shoving stock prices — and apartment prices — off a cliff. As the second anniversary of that dark point approaches, there are glimmers of good news. Overall, Manhattan’s residential market has recovered from the lowest post-Lehman lows logged in 2009. Average prices for Manhattan co-op and condo sales, and for rentals in the borough, have bounced back in the low single-digit percentages since last year. However — like the economy as a whole — the residential market still has a long way to go before it hits a solid recovery (see related story on another possible shoe drop here). Pick almost any residential data series, and its chart looks like a hockey stick — a long plunge followed by a small, recent recovery.

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As industry leaders lamented the dissolution of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy, a story The Real Deal broke Wednesday, the Corcoran Group’s CEO Pamela Liebman dismissed rumors that the mid-sized brokerage will be absorbed into Corcoran. “There is no formal incorporation of Coldwell Banker agents into Corcoran,” Liebman said. “This is not a purchase by [Corcoran parent company] NRT.” She said that in the coming weeks, some former CBHK agents may be encouraged to come to Corcoran because the two companies share ties to New Jersey-based Realogy Corporation. Industry sources have said that JoAnne Kennedy, the COO of CBHK, will
be relocated within Realogy, and in a memo released Wednesday, Kennedy
told CBHK brokers that if they “follow her,” they will be able to keep
their listings and data. When asked whether Kennedy would be hired by Corcoran and bring CBHK agents with her, Liebman said she had no comment. [more]