Understanding the Latest Jargon in Order to Sell my House

  • By | Photography by David Mitchell | Monday, October 6, 2014

The only chipping we want to see is that done by the fellow above.

As an online Estate Agent I have come to understand much of the jargon used in the estate agency business and would have loved this information in the past, when I came to sell my house. I thought it might be useful, therefore, to give you the ‘heads up’ on some of the terms you might come across whilst selling your home.

At Bear Estate Agents we were aware that when retailers first commenced offering their services online, the language of the day was Ecommerce. This stood for any business operating online to sell their merchandise. Many online merchants came up with names that reflected this and placed an ‘E’ in their names. The most well known probably being Ebay. We gave this a lot of thought and although we are selling houses online, we decided against the ‘E’ word! We wanted something that reflected strength and determination and came up with the Bear. We did consider an Emu, but were worried that we would be accused of burying our heads in the sand! Words ‘evolve’ in the English language and sometimes bear no relation to anything already recognised.

Take the terms ‘gazumping’ and ‘gazundering’ for example. When I came to sell my house, I can’t say there was a long queue of buyers waiting at my door offering ever increasing buying prices! I didn’t accept a price from one buyer, only to accept a higher price from another, days/weeks later. This gazumping, as it’s called, has been replaced to a certain extent, by the practise of ‘sealed bids’. In a sealed bid, you can sell a house which has attracted several offers, in a structured way whereby bids are made and not seen until a chosen date. After this deadline, all the bids can be considered, as the criteria for winning the bid might not be just about the highest price, but also about which vendor has finances in place, or can proceed with the sale quickly, for example. The estate agent has a legal obligation to inform the vendor of any bids offered and the final decision will be theirs.

This leads me to discuss ‘gazundering’, a term used when a buyer suddenly lowers their original offer. As this is often done at the last minute, just before contracts are exchanged, then the vendor is forced into making an onerous decision. Whether to pull out and lose the sale of the house and maybe the purchase of their dream property, or reduce the sale price and then be in a financially ‘difficult’ situation. Unfortunately, this can still happen and has, in fact, acquired a new term. The term of ‘chipping’ is now being used to describe a house sale price being ‘chipped away’ at, in the same way as ‘gazundering’. It’s a new term but equally as unpleasant.

Similarly, renegotiating a sale price usually involves the offer to buy being decreased. This often happens after a structural survey which uncovers work needing to be done at the property. There may be damp or woodworm discovered, for example, and the buyer will renegotiate a price that reflects the work needed to be carried out.

Taking all these ‘terms’ into consideration it’s not surprising that selling a house is so stressful. Being aware of the possible pitfalls can give you an advantage, however. You can plan how to sell your house with your estate agent and discuss how you would like to be represented should problems arise. They will listen to you and give you the advice you need when required and yes, forewarned really is fore armed!