We had a potential buyer vet one of our youngsters two weeks ago. She stated that she was going to get a second opinion on the xrays at her local vet hospital due to a concern that she had. We now have another potential buyer who is ready to send a deposit, but I want to give the original person the fair time to make her decision. What is reasonable?
Take the deposit.
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I would contact the first person and ask her what her status is. She has already invested an amount of money toward purchasing your horse.
Sorry, I should have made that clear in the original post. I emailed the original party on 02/01 and inquired about her decision. She stated that she was on a waiting list for the consult with the university and that it could be a couple of more weeks. I do plan on emailing her again today, my question is how much longer should I give her.
In my sales contract there is a blank to be filled in which is the date pre-purchase exams must be accomplished and accepted/rejected by the Buyer. If you don’t have a signed sales contract in place spelling things out, I’d say a phone call telling them you are going forward with another sale… and give them X amount of time to decide (like maybe two more days if they have had two weeks already). In the future find a thorough and comprehensive sales contract to use at the point of purchase. You won’t regret it and it will save both parties much anxiety.
Did original party give you a deposit? If not then tell them you need a non-refundable deposit and you will hold the horse for 30 days. I always do 30 days with a deposit. If original party is not willing to give a deposit then take the deposit from the other party.
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I would contact the first buyer and tell them you have another interested party. Give them 48 hours to make a decision. No deposit or payment in 48 hours, the horse goes to the second party.
I would say take the first deposit, but since the first buyer has vetted/invested money, I think it’s professional to give her a heads up with a short amount of time to make a decision.
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My contract says how much time that they have after the PPE to deliver the full funds for the purchase or decline the purchase.
If your contract doesn’t have that, I would give her 48 business hours to decide.
Simple
Take the deposit from the second buyer and let them know that there is another person in front of them that has first right for 1 week. At the end of the week the second buyer gets the horse. Tell the first buyer that you will hold the horse for another week and that you have already excepted a second deposit. If she can’t find a reputable vet in that amount of time there is something wrong. I suspect she has another horse she is waiting on. You must force her hand to decide. Do not loose a buyer because another one is playing you. I have called into the olympic team vet prior to the Olympics and received a call in a week. I don’t buy their excuse.
Tim
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Thank you for the replies.
[QUOTE=RyTimMick;6825374]
Take the deposit from the second buyer and let them know that there is another person in front of them that has first right for 1 week. At the end of the week the second buyer gets the horse. Tell the first buyer that you will hold the horse for another week and that you have already excepted a second deposit. If she can’t find a reputable vet in that amount of time there is something wrong. I suspect she has another horse she is waiting on. You must force her hand to decide. Do not loose a buyer because another one is playing you. I have called into the olympic team vet prior to the Olympics and received a call in a week. I don’t buy their excuse.
Tim[/QUOTE]
AGREED! Don’t turn away the 2nd buyer because you are waiting on the 1st one to get back to you. What if your first buyer ends up making you wait a few weeks and decides not to buy it? Your 2nd buyer might have already moved on by then.
[QUOTE=RedMare01;6825231]
I would contact the first buyer and tell them you have another interested party. Give them 48 hours to make a decision. No deposit or payment in 48 hours, the horse goes to the second party.
I would say take the first deposit, but since the first buyer has vetted/invested money, I think it’s professional to give her a heads up with a short amount of time to make a decision.[/QUOTE]
This.
Though I think you’ve been more than fair in giving the first person enough time to get their decision figured out.
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Sorry but the initial “I am on a waiting list and it could take weeks” is already something for me that is a no go ! What do people expect ?!
They knew they are going to buy a horse, so that could have arranged in advance for such a thing, if they want a second opinion of university (If they start already like that, I would expect that they are about to find something and be picky - and than ?) .
Since you have already waited for a few weeks that is about it. I would call them, tel them you have a second buyer and they need to tell you until the next day what they want and complete the sale. If not you feel free to offer the horse and if second party is really going ahead, let them pay and buy.
So I am absolutely with RedMare !
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[QUOTE=dbts;6825225]
In my sales contract there is a blank to be filled in which is the date pre-purchase exams must be accomplished and accepted/rejected by the Buyer. If you don’t have a signed sales contract in place spelling things out, I’d say a phone call telling them you are going forward with another sale… and give them X amount of time to decide (like maybe two more days if they have had two weeks already). In the future find a thorough and comprehensive sales contract to use at the point of purchase. You won’t regret it and it will save both parties much anxiety.[/QUOTE]
Our contract is the same way. Two weeks is a long time to be in limbo if they have not put down a deposit. I would contact them, let them know that I have someone else that wants to put down a deposit, so if they plan on moving forward, they have have X amount of days to complete the contract or you will move forward with the other buyer. Maybe I read it wrong, but as a buyer I wouldn’t want to spend that much money doing a full work up of a PPE, sending out for a second opinion, without having put down a deposit to hold said horse. For fear that I would have 1500-2000 in and have the horse sold out from under me.
The other concern I would have as a seller, would be to put the new buyer in limbo while this buyer tries to find “something” in the PPE to renegotiate the purchase price. In the mean time you have lost a potential buyer.
It is a crappy spot to be in, which is why a contract spelled out in the beginning can make sure everyone is on the same page, and no one can be caught of guard by the others decision. It is just easier on everyone that way. Good Luck!
since she apparently already has xrays that she is just waiting for a 2nd opinion on…not waiting on a PPE appointment…then there is no reason she could not have had them looked at by now. Usually I give people who put down a deposit 2 weeks to decide…and for me her 2 weeks is up. If she has not even put down a deposit she has no claim to the horse after this amount of time. I am with the camp that at this point she needs to move or or move aside…waiting weeks for an xray re review is not reasonable. Give her 48 hours.
I was in a very similar situation once and called the first client telling her that I had somebody else coming out to look at the horse she was interested in. Well, her trainer thought I was just putting “pressure” on her and told her to make me wait. The horse in question sold that week and when the trainer called me two weeks later she yelled at me for not having given her client a fair shot.
I takes all kinds… :yes:
“I am on a waiting list and it could take weeks”
Really?? What planet is this university on that it will take weeks to look at a set of x-rays???
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The first buyer is being unreasonable. Still, when you accept a deposit from someone, it is important to put in the contract how much time they have to complete the deal. For example, I usually give a buyer 7-10 days to complete their prepurchase exam. If there was an issue, I might agree to allow an extra week for any follow up tests. I would not give a buyer an open-ended amount of time to complete their exam because of exactly the situation you are running into, some people can dither unreasonably or even just drop off the face of the earth.
Depending on what your sales contract says, it may or may not be legal for you to simply sell the horse to someone else at this point. When you accept a deposit from someone, you are agreeing to sell them the horse and this person has already invested time and money in veterinary exams. Of course, expecting you to hold the horse for a few weeks for a second opinion is blatantly ridiculous. I would call up buyer #1 and let her know that you are unable to give her weeks to make up her mind. Let her know that she has 48 hours or three days or whatever you think is fair and that you will then return her deposit. I think it is very strange for it to take weeks for her to get a second opinion on X-rays. Even if you are in a remote area it takes minutes to email digital X-rays to other vets.
Personally, I would minimize any discussion of the second buyer. It is bad form (IMO) to discuss other buyers, it makes people feel pressured and people invariably think you are doing it on purpose to rush them. Plus, your second buyer may not buy the horse (what if there is another issue on the vet) and the first buyer may come back to you in a few weeks either for this horse or another horse. People change their minds all the time.
I had a similar situation another year. But much worse, as it was not even someone as close as the potential buyer in the OP case.
A prospective buyer was asking a lot of questions back over a long time. We answered, we even got paperwork of the mareline I had never ever to produce before. I am not sure, but the time spread was at least 6 weeks. There was never something like a I only need another week to make my final decision, there was never even a “Could you send a draft of the contract, please”. Or anything clear. Someone else inquired and we sold the horse to that person who happily paid within a week after verbal agreement. Out of kindness we send an email to the first person to tell, horse is sold. The person was very angry with us and said that she had already told her friends she was buying my horse. And we could not have done thatas she already send us a message that she would buy. I was very afraid I missed something so I went through all the mails I had, aswell as the agent involved. But we had nada that indicated anything of a buyer who wants to go ahead with a deal.
I always try to be honest and straight forwad. But I guess there is now one person that thinks I cheated her 
I agree with posters who said it should be included in the sales contract. They have X days to arrange a PPE - after X days, the sale is considered a done deal. I usually give 10 days to 2 weeks - there are plenty of good vets in this area, and most of them will work a PPE in within a few days. The vet hospitals can do a 2nd review within a few days too. Weeks and weeks - not fair to you to hold the horse that long!
If I was a buyer, I would NOT put down a deposit on a horse just to go “on the waiting list”. Nor would I arrange a PPE (and potentially be out $1500 or $2000 in vet fees) to be “next in line”.
I do feel, once someone has invested in a PPE, they have a few days to make up their mind - I have held horses for one week post-PPE so the buyer could get a 2nd opinion. But more then a week is just not reasonable.
Do you have a sales contract? If not, I agree, call AND email and give the first person a deadline, then give the next person a date to come look at the horse.
One trainer once told me - whoever brings me a fistful of cash first… Although I’ve always felt that once a person invests in a PPE, they have earned a SET amount of time to make a decision.
