Would you buy without a contract?

[Rufus]

I think all this discussion keys off the last line of my post #54.

I'm fine with a buyer having a surveyor look at the boat....but BEFORE making an offer. I'm not OK with an early "interim" offer contingent on a later survey. Educate yourself and make a best and final offer. I have no interest in dickering over the findings of a surveyor on your payroll. When I said take it or leave it, I was referring to these conditions.

 

[koliver]

Selling a boat and selling a Motorhome are similar in a lot of ways.
My Motorhome found a new home this week. Here is how it went.
I started advertising for the highest price I had seen on comparables. That generated a little interest, but due to border closures, was really not likely to sell at that time. Once the border opened, I advertised with a 10% reduction in price. That generated interest both sides of the border. I had 3 separate couples each spend a day going through everything they wanted to see. I left them alone, unless they needed questions answered. My answers were honest, I held nothing back on any defects. At the end of each viewing the Prospectives promised to get back to me within a day and each one did. I got one offer early in this process, for another 10% off, which I declined.
A few weeks had gone by when the last of those 3, one who had let me know they were not interested, called again within a week to ask if I would consider an offer that was 10% below my ask. By this time I would, so I invited them to come look some more and bring me a deposit, which they did. They came back again this week with the rest of the money and the deal was done.
In writing, there were several texts and email, a deposit changed hands, but perhaps most important, I had a good basis of their life stories, I knew they were honest people, they knew the same about me, and they understood what they were buying, without needing to go outside their own abilities and get tied up in outsider's opinions on the On Board systems, mechanicals, etc. I am happy that it is no longer sitting in my yard, unused, they got a very good deal, I got a fair price.

 

[guy with a boat]

I think all this discussion keys off the last line of my post #54.

I'm fine with a buyer having a surveyor look at the boat....but BEFORE making an offer. I'm not OK with an early "interim" offer contingent on a later survey. Educate yourself and make a best and final offer. I have no interest in dickering over the findings of a surveyor on your payroll. When I said take it or leave it, I was referring to these conditions.

That might be fine with an 18' skiff, but a bigger boat is complicated and requires a survey (or more than one) which can cost a substantial amount of time and money. No informed buyer is going to make that investment without a contract, which then necessarily includes a contingency for the inspection/survey.


If something unforeseen is discovered, it is reasonable to discuss a seller repair or credit, since the deal was made without that defect and repair cost considered. If a survey is done and no significant and unforeseeable defects are discovered, then you have the right to say no to any request for credit. You can also say no to any such request even if the defect is significant and unforeseeable, but you will almost always lose the sale.


Ultimately, the traditional process, which includes the survey contingency, benefits both buyer and seller. It protects the buyer in obvious ways, but also benefits the seller by allowing the buyer to make an offer without discounting for unknown defects.


You can sell you boat any way you want, but your insistence on doing it your way will cost you money most of the time.

 

[slowgoesit]

I think all this discussion keys off the last line of my post #54.

I'm fine with a buyer having a surveyor look at the boat....but BEFORE making an offer. I'm not OK with an early "interim" offer contingent on a later survey. Educate yourself and make a best and final offer. I have no interest in dickering over the findings of a surveyor on your payroll. When I said take it or leave it, I was referring to these conditions.

I'm not going to invest the $$ in a survey until I know that the buyer can't sell it out from under me. Unless you want to pay for the survey upfront, I'll cheerfully find another boat!

 

[SteveK]

I'm not going to invest the $$ in a survey until I know that the buyer can't sell it out from under me. Unless you want to pay for the survey upfront, I'll cheerfully find another boat!

FSBO sales aside, a listed boat should have a seller survey available. IMO

 

[slowgoesit]

Selling one boat, I had a looker, can't really even call him a buyer, anyway, he made an offer 25% lower than asking price on my boat, contingent upon survey, getting insurance, and obtaining "suitable" moorage . . . and included a statement in the P & S stating that in the event he decided not to purchase, I, the seller was responsible for reimbursing him for his costs . . .
I didn't have a problem with survey, or getting insurance, but "suitable" moorage (what IS that anyway? Cheap? Right location?), and reimbursing him for costs were both non-starters. I didn't even respond to his P & S.
Sold the boat a few weeks later for asking price.

 

[SteveK]

I wonder if people want to feel good about making a deal more than buying at a reasonable price.
I can relate an item I had for sale an an acquaintance said he was interested. So I said $x and he said immediately under offered $y. I sold it the next week on the open market for about $100 more than my offer to him after that buyer negotiated me down $50

 

[mvweebles]

Selling one boat, I had a looker, can't really even call him a buyer, anyway, he made an offer 25% lower than asking price on my boat, contingent upon survey, getting insurance, and obtaining "suitable" moorage . . . and included a statement in the P & S stating that in the event he decided not to purchase, I, the seller was responsible for reimbursing him for his costs . . .
I didn't have a problem with survey, or getting insurance, but "suitable" moorage (what IS that anyway? Cheap? Right location?), and reimbursing him for costs were both non-starters. I didn't even respond to his P & S.
Sold the boat a few weeks later for asking price.

As others up-thread have noted, buyers can back-out fairly easily. The laundry list of contingencies sounds like a newbie who has spent too much tme on forums and not enough time in real life.

Time kills deals. I wouldn't mind contingencies as long as they are cleared quickly - a couple weeks, tops. I don't know why folks get all bent out of shape about negotiations. As seller if you don't like the buyer's reduced offer, refuse it. By that point, the buyer has invested quite a bit - if anyone is pissed about a deal falling apart, it's the buyer.

Peter

 

[Jeff F]

I'm fine with a buyer having a surveyor look at the boat....but BEFORE making an offer. I'm not OK with an early "interim" offer contingent on a later survey. Educate yourself and make a best and final offer. I have no interest in dickering over the findings of a surveyor on your payroll. When I said take it or leave it, I was referring to these conditions.

I think you'll be hurting your chances of getting the best deal if those are the terms presented to a prospective buyer.

Are you going to allow sea trials before an offer? Allow someone who isn't ever going to be willing to pay your price to spend a day digging around your boat before finding out?

If I'm a seller I'm not fussed about conditional offers. My criteria is that any contingencies are satisfied as soon as possible. There is very little downside to extending a short duration option to buy to a serious buyer. With the boat under agreement I can still be dealing with other potential buyers while the clock is ticking for the agreed buyer to arrive at a final decision.

I'd add that like you, I'm not interested in further negotiations based on survey, unless the surveyor finds a serious defect that I was unaware of. I'd try as much as possible to point out known defects prior to accepting an offer. Some buyers come in assuming there is another round of negotiations after the survey, but you don't have to agree to a request for a price reduction or enter into further negotiations. When the agreement expires you either have a done deal or the boat is available to purchase again. Buyer's choice.

 

[BruceK]

Divergent views on negotiation expressed here suggest it`s a wonder any boats ever get sold. Hopefully some views expressed lie at the margins and generally,commonsense prevails. If a buyers survey unearthed a genuine defect I was unaware of I would certainly consider an allowance rather than deny reality and let the transaction founder.