I recently had a good look round a narrowboat for sale at a boat brokerage. I liked it a lot, and made an offer on it on Wednesday. The offer wasn't immediately accepted, but I was given the contact details of the owner so he could answer my questions. I spoke to the brokerage on Thursday; everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly. On Friday the broker gave me the owner's contact details; I sent him a list of questions on Friday evening. On Saturday morning I was out when the owner left a message on my home answerphone at 0930 to say that he had received my e-mail and that he was responding to it. The next message on the answerphone was left at 1230 from the brokerage to say that someone had put a deposit on the boat, meaning it was no longer available.
Now, the broker had my mobile phone number, and the owner knew that I was very interested in the boat. How did it end up being sold to someone else? What did I do wrong? When I saw the boat should I immediately have offered the asking price? Was my mistake in waiting for answers to my questions, allowing someone else to slip in with a higher offer? The boat didn't, in the end, sell for the asking price, which I would have been willing to pay.
Should the broker not have come back to me telling me of the improved offer, giving me the chance to improve my offer? I do not understand what went wrong.
Of course, I now feel that the boat would have been the ideal boat, and nothing like that will ever come up again. Not necessarily the case, but that's how I'm feeling.
1 day ago
11 comments:
Let fate decide - YOUR boat will be round the corner.
Of course, if the boating gazumpers fail then fate might let you have this one after all :-)
Good luck with the boat search.....
Sue, Indigo Dream
Aww Halfie that is so wrong, I feel for you. As hard as it is to take, it maybe wasn't the boat for you. The next one will be better!
Good Luck with your search, there is a boat out there with your name on it!
Debbie.
Think of it like this Halfie. No seller expects to get the asking price, they usually set it higher than the value so as to leave negotiating room. If the other buyer has offered a lot more than you, you might have been tempted into a bidding war and paid too much.
There are a lot more boats out there - no need to rush. The more you see the more you learn and your ideas change. We looked at 50 boats before we found Herbie - even then we paid a bit to much for her.
The best of luck with your search.
Sue, I'm not holding out much hope for this boat now.
Debbie, thanks for your sympathy.
Neil, the boat went for less than the asking price. I believe it was a bargain at the asking price, which was what I was prepared to pay. I'm kicking myself for being too casual about it. At the same time as I looked at this boat, I saw another for 33% more and which wasn't as good in my opinion.
Oh well. Thanks all for your good wishes! The search continues, but not too hard... I need to calm down first!
Oh Halfie, I feel for you. I lost a cottage I really wanted to buy a few years back for exactly the same reason. I've never quite got over that, even though the holiday cottage I did buy eventually is lovely and probably better value. It's just that it was in the exact location I wanted, so I know how it feels very well.
Still, Neil could be right. The second buyer must have offered a bit more than you for his offer to have been accepted, and it might have got into a ding dong sort of bid.
Still, I do hope you find another one as good, no..better!
Thanks, VallyP. But isn't that how these things work? Prospective buyer A makes an offer; prospective buyer B is also interested and broker tells B how much A has offered, so B offers more; broker gives A a chance to increase his bid and so on. The problem was that the brokerage didn't let me know someone else had made a better offer. And the owner seems to have been unaware of the fact!
They may have already had the other buyer on a string and then told him you were interested to get him to do the bizz quickly.
Brian
Sounds like a lazy broker to me. A good broker would have suggested a quick response to you and delayed response to the first bidder. I'd call the seller back and tell him you were a serious bidder and would probably have offered the asking price. That being said, I agree with Sue. "Your" boat hasn't shown itself yet. We're all rooting for you.
Brian, I get the impression that it was merely a degree of incompetence on the part of the broker rather than a deliberate act. I think they'd have told me when I made my original offer that someone else had already offered.
Bill, same as for Brian. I agree. But the boat will have gone, it was all too good a deal. And thanks for your sympathy.
The right boat for you is out there somewhere Halfie! Don't give up...
Heth, thanks, and don't worry, I'm not giving up!
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