Gazunder

Selling a house can be stressful, which is why we’re beyond stoked that a house we’ve had on the market for several months is finally about to close. Our buyers, Mike and Mary Slickster, are about to sign the final paperwork, when they come at us with a big surprise: Even though they previously said they’d pay $500,000 for the house, they’ve now changed their minds and only want to pay $375,000.

What just happened?

Those gazunderers are trying to gazunder us, is what just happened.

A “gazunder” is the practice of trying to lowball the price of real estate after already agreeing on another price, and while it might not necessarily be illegal, it sure isn’t a friendly thing to do. In fact, most people consider it highly unethical. But it happens a lot in the U.K., which is where the term “gazunder” comes from.

(Fun fact: in the U.S., when buyers and sellers get together to make beautiful real estate sale magic, buyers have to sign a binding offer contract promising to pay a specific amount. This makes gazundering a non-thing here.)

As the sellers, we have three options: we can tell the Slicksters to pound sand and put the house back on the market, hoping that a less shady buyer will make us an offer in the future. We can accept their gazunder offer, which might be kind of enticing if (a) we think we won’t get a better offer, or (b) we’re paying so much in carrying costs (i.e., paying the mortgage, utility bills, and insurance on the place while it’s for sale) that we just want to be rid of it. Or we can try and negotiate; maybe we end up selling the house for $415,000, which is less than we wanted, but more than $375,000.

No matter how we slice it, a gazunder means that what we thought was a done deal isn’t, and now we have to figure out our next step.