Henry,

Here’s a meaning from the ABC’s “word of the day”, which includes the origin of the word:

Gazump

Kel Richards writes

The word gazump basically means to cheat or swindle in some way. It’s most commonly used in real estate deals. One form of gazumping involves accepting an offer on a property, and, before contracts are exchanged, going back to the young couple who think they’ve secured the property, telling them you’ve had a higher bid (this being entirely fictitious), and, unless they match the higher figure they’ll miss out. The more common form is to accept an offer, receive a (genuine) higher offer and dump the first buyer (with whom you had a handshake deal) without sorrow or ceremony. There appear to be lots of different spellings and pronunciations for this word: gazump, gessump (with an “e” instead of an “a’), gasumph (ending with a “ph” instead of a “p”), gazoomph (with a double-O instead of a “u”) and so on. It appears to come from a Yiddish word “gezumph” meaning “to cheat or overcharge”. It first turns up in English in the 1920s (the earliest citation being from 1928).

http://www.abc.net.au/classic/breakfast/stories/s848907.htm

kay henry

I guess it just goes to show that the “real” price is the sale price. I guess people could add 239% to the price they paid for the property last year and see how it fares- interesting experiment

kay henry

I think property’s not a completely sure thing either, I have to say- no more than shares. Some people lost heavily in two-tiered marketing schemes, and we can all make mistakes. The TT marketing of the 80’s/90’s might have an equivalent in the OTP losses (on recent buys- not on profitable flipping) of 2004.

Sometimes I don’t think it’s just a matter of “financial intelligence” that we make money… when I bought my first place, I had no clue what I was doing- it was luck that it worked. But it might not have worked for me- I might have sold pre-boom, when there was negative growth in the area. Again, it was more luck than knowledge, that I didn’t sell.

As people have said- there are some very savvy rich folks who have lost on shares. It’s comme ci, comme ca, I think- property vs shares… we all have preferences.

kay henry

sis said:

“i would have to give the thumbs that share trading personally for me, beats a weekly wage…”

sis- but it ain’t free to bet on trades. To “beat a weekly wage” you have to get money to bet with. So you’re either using rents or wages to play with, right?

It also depends on what kind of weekly wage you’re talking about. I mean, are you saying you can sit at home, tap a few buttons on a keyboard, and mae a thousand every week? No losses? Just wins all the time? Even rene rivkin didn’t win all the time. Are there days or weeks when you might lose, and so have no wage equivalent at all?

I mean, I know we’re all winners on here [baaa] but I wonder would someone come on and say “oh dear, bad day at the track (oops, stockmarket)… I just lost 5k.”

kay henry

Chan! Stop outing PG as a wifeosexual!

kay henry

gloryboy,

I’ll echo what shaun said re distinguishing friends from people you pay. As for me, I have to use a solicitor and an accountant anyway, and I have always had to. I don’t consider them a “team”, just as when I visit a Doctor, I don’t consider him (or her) as part of my “team”, but I do expect that they know their stuff.

Re a solicitor, just remember that if you’re buying property interstate, you may need to use different solicitors. Many don’t feel comfortable doing interstate transactions, but your solicitor can refer you to someone interstate or you can get recommendations for a local solicitor.

kay henry

richmond said:

“the agent reckons the vendor was going to accept, before a late appointment for someone else to look through this morning, so the vendor decided not to make a decision until then…”

richmond did not get gazumped, because there was no offer and acceptance- only an offer.

kay henry

Expat,

Never heard of ’em, and I can’t find them on the net. Do you have a link to them?

kay henry

bennido,

I don’t use any of those clauses anymore. I just don’t sign anything until i have all the checks done. By the time I sign, it’s a fait accompli. It is usually me suggesting the waiving of the cooling-off period, as I can’t be bothered with the wait.

Oops. forgot to mention.. the way it works with me is, offer and acceptance, and a verbal agreement by the REA not to gazump, and their knowledge that I am serious about the purchase is the way I do these transactions. Just trust on both sides- that I will purchase, and that they won’t gazump.

But i just won’t sign a contract until I’m ready to- and vendors have been ok with that.

kay henry