RustyBV said:
I work in Houston and this is less than ideal news, HFF was conflict free without any internal leasing and/or management services, so you could refer them work and not worry about referring it to the competition. Marcus & Millichap & Stan Johnson are the only other similar platforms in Houston and they're not at the level of HFF,
That conflict free concept was certainly an HFF selling point, but from my experience it was more of a negative than a positive. HFF doesn't have the boots on the ground knowledge that CBRE/JLL/C&W have on the leasing side that is beneficial to educating potential buyers and sellers current real-time market comps and trends. Good "street brokers" can add a lot of value on the leasing and deal sourcing side that HFF just can't.
That's obviously a blanket statement that isn't universally true, but that "conflict free" line has always rubbed me the wrong way as being slightly arrogant and dismissive of all the different parties involved in successful deals.