Little business in the real estate market on the East End has left brokers ample time to bicker. The Real Deal reports that in the wake of a lawsuit over sketchy dealings in the industry, more brokers are coming out of the woodwork to complain about the sharing of Hamptons listings, or lack thereof. According to a salesperson at Riverhead's Options Realty, '[The Hamptons] really is like the Twilight Zone...The way that sellers and buyers are treated out there is horrific.' Behind this accusation is the belief that pre-recession practices of faxing listings between competing brokerage firms and an East End-wide hesitancy to join Multi-Listing Services was creating an unfair market, driven by exclusivity rather than an attempt to sell a home. Most brokers now taking the time to voice their outrage are finding a changed world. With the downturn came an end to fax machines and a move towards accepting newish technology (i.e. StreetEasy) which puts a great deal of control in the hands of buyers, rather than brokers, whose industry politics has dominated the system for years.
· Breaking the Hamptons Clubhouse Mindset [TRD]
Filed under:
Loading comments...