[QUOTE=TouchstoneAcres;4600383]
Maybe contact them and say you have 6k, do they have anything in your budget. Say that you like horse x but cannot afford that. See what happens.[/QUOTE]
That sounds like a reasonable plan. Even if they aren’t that negotiable they might actually have something similiar in your budget or know someone that does.
First of all you have to establish an independant assessment of what the horse is really worth. Are you capable of making that assessment? Do you need to take someone else with you to ride and see what they think? And of course you will have to have the horse vetted.
Horses do not come with a manufacturers suggested retail based on a fixed wholesale cost. They are worth whatever someone is willing to pay. I would, however let them know what you can afford before you go and sit on him. If in their estimation they are going to get very close to the asking price they will tell you not to bother… In this market anything can happen, it’s a buyers market. I am seeing horses go for far less than they have in the past. I’m not talking about GP mounts with big show records, but the lower end of the market is very soft. Take a chance. Right now if I were selling I would let one go to a good home for much less.
If your budget is XX, then why are you looking at XXXX horses? Why should a seller discount their horse by so much “just due to your budget?”
No I am not fussing at the OP. It is a good topic for discussion.
But I have seen people do things like this alot. I have had calls, emails, drop bys, tire kickers, and people who came and rode, to make offers then they give the song and dance about their budgets. If I have a horse for $25k don’t ask me if I will drop just for them, to $15k due to their budget. If you can’t spend $25k what the heck are you doing looking for a WAY more expensive horse. If you don’t like what you see in a $15k horse, then you may have to save a bit longer.
I hate people like this calling or emailing me out of the blue on horses. Most have never seen the horse, let alone ridden it, and want me to drop the price. Like way more than 10%, more like on a few occasions, 25-50% of the original price. Umm, no.
Yes, 10% like somebody else mentioned would be a good offer for less than the asking price. And, there the rare cases where sellers drop their prices significantly. But why should they to accommodate “your budget”.
But if a seller wants $25k lets say, why would ANYbody call and say they have only a budget of $10k - 15k or less. Then don’t waste my time, or theirs.
If you want a horse in that price range then find one. Don’t expect a seller to come down a huge significant amount of money just for “your budget”.
There is a huge difference between a $25k horse and a $75k horse.
Live within your budget, or save more money so you can get what you really want and what will be the BEST horse you can afford. If you can’t afford it, stop looking in that price range.
jmo, spicey as it may be on this COLD 20 degree temp day that is going to last another week or more.
I would just be very clear about with the seller about your budget by phone or e-mail before taking up any more of their time. Either they’ll say… come out anyway and try the horse or forget about it.
[QUOTE=paintlady;4601978]
I would just be very clear about with the seller about your budget by phone or e-mail before taking up any more of their time. Either they’ll say… come out anyway and try the horse or forget about it.[/QUOTE]
Agree, but first, ask them what they consider ‘negotiable’. If it’s within your budget fine, if not let them know and the next step is theirs like paintlady said.
I cetainly don’t mind a person being upfront and honest about their budget and asking to have more info or see the horse anyway ( they may fall in love and be willing to make it happen and come up with the money, or I may feel they are perfect home and negotiate) I wouldn’t turn away a buyer shopping above their budget to at least come try the horse, or answer questions…
BUT I CANNOT stand, Loathe buyers that want to lowball from the first email without asking any questions, without providing any info on themselves, and without seeing the horse!!! I cannot tell you how many one liners I receive “Will you take x amount.” and nothing else written!
Negotiable means different things for each horse I have… I might have one I don’t REALLy want to part with, but bills might make me eager to lease :), or another I would like to place in a good home (and don’t want to advertise them for free and risk scammers) others may have very little wiggle room in price, and still others may be negotiated on “creative” terms… ie: return breeding on a stallion prospect, partial ownership on a talented prospect, significiant discount to a show home that will promote the horse under my breeder prefix etc. etc. etc.
Like others said, it depends on the person that comes out, their goals, experiences, how well they match the horse, and the individual horse and what I had in mind for it…
Just wanted to add that negotiating price does not solely mean money.
In the negotiations on my new horse I raised my initial offer in response to a counter offer, but asked that the seller throw in the horse’s blankets. I would have needed to buy blankets right away for him, anyway. Ask to have his tack included.
Like with buying houses where the date of the closure is part of the bargaining, maybe having the seller keep the horse for a month at the seller’s facility and at their expense works better for you than taking him home right away. That could be the value of a month board.
Or if you really like the horse’s trainer, negotiate in a week worth of lessons on the horse.
Try being creative.
You can never tell. I don’t try to negotiate if the ad says price is firm. If it doesn’t say, I always ask before I see the horse. I have had success buying horses for 70% of the asking price and I think a lot has to do with how your offer is presented.
As a seller, what I hate is people who demand the bottomline price before they come to see the horse. The last horse I sold, the ad had pics of the horse and I said my price was negotiable. A woman called me and said she didn’t have the amount I was asking to spend on a horse. I said I was negotiable and asked her what she had in mind. She wouldn’t say. She wanted a video before she came to see the horse. Fair enough, I made a video. After she saw the video, she wanted to know what my bottomline price was. I told her if she was seriously interested she should come try the horse. She said she didn’t want to do that if I wouldn’t accept an offer in her range but she still refused to tell me what her limitations were. Then she asked me to make another video with specific things in it. I told her no thanks, she was welcome to try the horse anytime though. She got pretty steamed about that. But whatever.
So I think in the end, if you are honest, respectful and considerate, you can make any kind of offer you want but it is important to demonstrate that you are a serious buyer not a tire kicker.
FWIW, I recently bought one for about half of the listed price.
In this case, a mutual friend knew the pony, me and my (tiny) budget and the seller’s interests and circumstances, and recommended that I give her a call. So I did. We chatted for awhile, got along and then I said something like “Well, the pony sounds very nice and I think <mutual friend> is right, we might be a good fit. But I definitely don’t want to insult you or waste your time, so before I come to see her, I want to let you know that my budget is more in the Y range rather than the X range.”
At that point, she said that her main concern was finding the pony a good home and how soon could I come out? We all got along in person too and agreed on a price the next day. (Part of the deal ended up being that I had to take home a couple of bunnies as well, but that was fine :-))
I’d NEVER call a seller up out of the blue with a “Yo, how about $ 1/2 X for that horse that you’re asking $ X for.” What incentive does the seller have to deal with someone like that?
There are so many variables but it never hurts to be a good listener, considerate and polite.
So, some people are saying “don’t waste the seller’s time if you’re not in the same price range, be upfront” but other’s are saying they can’t stand hacing someone immediately open with “how negotiable are you?”
I think I like shygirl’s handling the best.
I think I’ve paid asking price for everything I’ve ever bought but I kind of think I should have bargained a little in retrospect. Certainly doesn’t hurt to ask. No sense in paying more than you have to.
I think expected, is no less than 20% less than the current asking price.
And I think if the potential buyer wants to step outside that limit, he can expect some sellers to react indignantly. And I think sometimes it is real anxiety over financial needs, or offense at being offered a low price, and sometimes it is just ‘horse tradin’’.
I think it’s a mistake to get angry at a low offer. I think it’s better to just say, ‘sorry, no’ and not take it personally. Reactions can get repeated and exaggerated, and make the seller look bad.
Some years ago, a dealer told me some people in town were talking about how she had refused a high amount for a certain horse. She hadn’t been offered that amount, actually. I said, pretty much knowing the response, ‘Wow, shouldn’t you tell them they’re wrong?’ I can’t repeat exactly what was said without repeating some offensive language, the main idea being it was easy for her to make a horse look like it was worth more than it really was.
Another fellow I knew, put it around that he sold a horse to a very famous rider for sixty thousand dollars. I think he sold the horse for about 15k. Maybe less.
Not all people use such methods, but I think it’s important that offense at a price might not be real offense, but just part of horse tradin’.
I definately think you need to be upfront about your budget, without being rude. If the ad says negotiable, then they’re probably willing to negotiate 10-20%, but everyone is different. A $2,000 isn’t likely to be ‘negotiable’ to much less than $1,500. However a $20,000 may be a lot more negotialbe.
I was selling an older pony, not asking a lot of money, but a realistic amount. I said in the advertisement that I was negotiable. I had someone who lived a long distance away tell me that they were only willing to pay 1/2 X for the pony ‘because that’s all we’re willing to spend when buying sight unseen’. Sure, they were upfront, but how is it MY problem if you can’t get out to see my pony? It just annoyed me that that was their reasoning. Should I charge someone who DOES come out to see him a higher price than someone who DOESN’T? Of course not!!
Be honest, but be respectful. And if the advertisement does not say negotiable, do not shop out of your budget.
I almost always am negotiable with my prices, at 15K - 10K would probably be my low price. if someone called and said they only had 6K - I would redirect them to something cheaper, or any other good horse I knew of that was in their price range.
if I say firm, I mean it - unless I’m absolutely in love with the fit between buyer and horse - not something I could determine up front.
If after seeing a horse, a buyer offers me what i consider to be a low price (last deal was 4K on a 7K horse I think) - hopefully we meet somewhere in the middle, and then price is firmed up pending vet check. I do tell buyers that if something is discovered in the prepurchase that is a “problem” we can always talk price again.
But, then I am always a very motivated seller. Once I decide to sell - I want to sell.
With my liberal pricing, I’m happy to say that anytime someone has actually made the trip to my farm to see a horse, they have bought it.
Jill
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