Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mick Mørmøny who wrote (21818)	6/27/2004 11:06:24 AM
From: Mick Mørmøny	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

How Buyers Can Dodge a `Gazump' By PENELOPE GREEN Published: June 27, 2004 HAVE you been gazumped? Agreed to buy a home only to find the seller has accepted another, higher bid behind your back? In many red-hot markets, the practice — unethical, though not illegal — is becoming increasingly common, brokers say. Until recently, few may have heard of the word "gazump," which, according to Edmund Weiner, deputy chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, is an English word common in Britain that means to swindle and dates back to around 1928. There isn't a fail-safe method of dodging a gazump, but there are ways to improve the odds. Most brokers suggest that buyers bid at or above the asking price. They also recommend that the buyers be flexible: that they have no financial contingencies on the sale; that they are pre-approved for a mortgage and ready to meet, say, with a co-op board, and that they be open about a closing date. They should also be quick to draw up a contract. "This only works with a buyer who has seen the market, knows what he or she wants, and what that's worth, and maybe even has been burned once or twice," said Lisa Lippman, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group who specializes in family-sized apartments. "Then," she said, "I will go to the seller's broker and say, `What will it take for you to only keep showing the property for backup?' Sometimes it's a long close, or a certain number. When there is a meeting of the minds, between a seller and buyer, as to what it will take to hold the apartment, I have never had a buyer `gazumped.' " nytimes.com