Our son has an equitation horse valued in the 200k range and are looking to switch to a jumper in the $200K range. Love our trainer but he is telling me the standard buying and selling commission structure is 15% to the buying trainer and selling trainer. Example:
Buyer pays 15% to buying trainer
Seller pays 15% to selling trainer
Total of 30% per transaction.
In other words, for us to change horses, we’d have to pay $30K to sell our $200K horse and $30K to buy the new $200K horse…a total of $60K for a horse we recently purchased for about the same price.
To me, this amount sounds high considering the trainer makes money off shows, stable and more. The transaction also involves a premium horse, not a $5K horse where the commission would be negiglible. If this was a house, the commission would be 6% and the seller/buyer agent would split it.
How do you justify selling or buying a horse for a 5X premium over buying a house?
Any experiences to share? Again, I am looking for insights from others on industry standards. We want to make sure everyone is compensated fairly.