And having been involved in a pay-off situation, just don’t do it. After the second of six scheduled payments the $$ stopped coming. I had to spend a lot of time and effort chasing the $$, and we’re not even talking big dollars here (sub-$1,000) = yes, what was I thinking?!? In my defence, this was some years ago when in my neck of the world you got a pretty good horse for that sort of money :D)
Only horse I ever sold on payments was to another boarder in the barn I was at. One I thought I knew well - we had ridden together and talked for hours over the course of a year. I had a horse for sale that she had always adored, let her take him for a test ride and agreed to let her buy him at a significantly reduced (less than half the asking) price on payments, because she was supposedly a good home.
I saw an ad for him on Craigslist not three days later, priced double what she was supposed to pay me. She hadn’t even made the first payment yet.
Just say NO.
Just say no.
That is what banks are for.
I sold a horse to a friend for their granddaughter, she did very well with him, winning two years the all around in their kid’s division.
It took two years for them to finally pay me the rest of the money owed for the horse, which they did when they sold him to someone else for a lot more.
Another horse a buyer, a nurse at a local hospital, that I had sold another horse for her kid two years before, wanted this one horse for her DH.
She was to pay in three installments, two month apart.
She was short of funds because she was changing jobs, starting in a new hospital.
She called one afternoon right before the second payment was due, crying and yelling that she hated the horse and didn’t have the money to pay for him.
She was having a nervous breakdown.
Finally her DH got on the phone, apologized and he dumped the horse in the barn two hours later.
I always wondered if she was on something or other, could have been a bad situation for all.
I sold one horse to the trainer that I was working with, for his wife to show.
He was to pay over several months, was a little short of money at that time.
Payments were first on time, then dragging, then they quit coming and they lied the check was in the mail.
I finally got paid and I was very disappointed, not only for the non-payment, but that they would have been lying on top of it.
You really never know, but since then, if someone asks to pay on terms, I just say, I am not set up to loan money, that is what banks are for, sorry.
Your trainer is right, people do sell on time some times, but it doesn’t end up well many times, because, well, there were payment problems already up front, why the horse was bought on time, so why take chances that the initial problems paying won’t still be problems paying later?
I would say a very loud DON’T GO THERE.
“you have my personal assurance that they (buyer) won’t let you down”.
:lol::lol::lol: Bhahahahahahahah
No.
[QUOTE=anni;8260139]
My trainer is really pushing me to enter into an installment plan agreement --saying that it’s a completely common way of selling a horse in the US. I’m not really comfortable with it and agree that it sounds like a bad idea. That’s when I asked the buyer to show W2 paystubs/income tax returns and a credit check. The buyer’s agent came back with “you have my personal assurance that they (buyer) won’t let you down”. Sounds extremely sketchy. I was just wondering if any of you has done a payment plan and what type of information was expected to be disclosed.[/QUOTE]
I would laugh at my trainer. I would say, no, YOU put up the load for this buyer. I want hard cold cash. Maybe three installments over a month, but the horse doesn’t leave my property until its paid for.
If they have such good credit, you can ask, why don’t they go get a loan at their bank/cr3edit union, give me the amount and take their sweet time paying the bank?
As for the buyer’s agent, that’s the biggest piece of BS I ever heard. Ask him if he is getting his commission paid to him over a year, too? If this is a big ticket purchase, that comission is probably a good chunk of change, which the buyer could be paying you.
Tell them payments, yes, but horse isn’t theirs until the last payment is made, and it isn’t leaving the property until that’s done, and they can wait until they own it to ride it, too, and if they miss the last payment, too bad, so sad. Be a hard ass! You’d be a fool to fall for any of this.
I’ve sold on time before but only to local folks who I know personally.
I’ve never bought on time. My credit’s good enough for me to get a loan if I’m messing with high dollar horses (which I never did much and don’t do anymore as I’m retired from the breeding business 
).
When a seller does “owner financing” they are the bank. They have to think and behave like a bank. Most of us don’t like banks so becoming one is not a pleasant proposition.
Selling a car, trailer, or any other personal property with owner financing can be equally difficult.
Selling real estate with owner financing carries its own set of problems but at least you know where the real estate is if you have to foreclose.
G.
Whenever I am selling a horse and someone asks to make payments, I always reply sure, as long as the horse stays with me until the final payment is made.
For some reason, this is never acceptable to them and they have then come up with the full payment upfront.
I would not do it.
The only time I sold a horse, she was purchased on a payment plan. However, it was to a local trainer that had a great reputation and she owned her own place. I knew where she lived so it was not like she could hide from me… 
Trainer paid on time for the 5 months and then I signed the papers over to her.
In your situation? Absolutely not. They can either get a loan or save a few months and hope your horse is still for sale.
[QUOTE=alibi_18;8260598]
:lol::lol::lol: Bhahahahahahahah
No.[/QUOTE]
The only appropriate response to the trainer.
It’s like the common scenario of “If you put 3 months of training (@$1K/month) on your $5K horse, I can sell him for $50K!” The correct answer is “great, then give me $5K now, and in 3 months YOU turn around and sell him for 50K”
Trainers and politicians have the same sketchy math skills.
Bet the trainer is getting their cut up front, and in cash. Don’t do payments, ever. There are a lot of threads on here telling you why this won’t work, and how it will end badly. If someone can’t afford to buy, then how can they support the horse properly either?
[QUOTE=Ambitious Kate;8260681]
Tell them payments, yes, but horse isn’t theirs until the last payment is made, and it isn’t leaving the property until that’s done, and they can wait until they own it to ride it, too, and if they miss the last payment, too bad, so sad. Be a hard ass! You’d be a fool to fall for any of this.[/QUOTE]
^^This^^ Also, I forgot to add that in my case, I also insisted that the potential buyers pay board and insure the horse until the horse was paid for. And as I said, the horse doesn’t leave my property until paid in full. Others have made very good points, particularly about the trainers.
OP, it’s not worth the headache. If they want the horse bad enough, they will cough up the cash or get a loan. How much are we talking here?
I’m going to echo, loudly, don’t do it.
I’m also going to suggest you find a new trainer. The fact that s/he is pressuring you to do this when you’ve said you aren’t comfortable is a HUGE red flag.
As my wise mother taught me: “When in doubt, don’t!”
i have before and am doing it now. Just get insurance paid to you if things go wrong. it is a common practice and I would post this in sport horse breeding. Horse has to stay on your property until last payment
one was a weanling in Germany (payoff in 6 months)
The other is in the USA and a yearling (1 yr pay off)
Never had one ask for credit or financials. In contract it does state that if I am over 5 days late, money is forfeited and non refundable. Contract is then void
I bought my horse on ‘payments’. Put half down with the provision to make payments monthly for 6 months; knowing that he would be paid off sooner as I would be receiving my tax refund. We had a full contract written and signed between us. I paid the deposit in cash. All payments were made via cashier’s check.
I took out insurance on the horse. Had the owner’s name as the lien holder. Kept in touch with her and paid him off in 4 months. At the time the last payment was received, she forwarded all paperwork (i.e. vet, breed registration, DNA report, ribbons, etc.) to my attention.
I just wanted to close this out. The buyer was completely unwilling to disclose a credit report/income verification saying that they don’t trust a private person with that information and if I was a bank they wouldn’t have a problem with it. As you can imagine, based on that statement I wasn’t willing to trust them with a loan of 40k – but hey, if they were a bank I wouldn’t have a problem with it! They were also extremely upset that I posted this question on here. Cheers to that!
I once bought a horse this way. Paid half, but left the horse where he was until I finished paying for him a couple of months later. Ended up staying, and the seller and I became good friends.
What that kind of price level, you were wise to step away from that. If they truly want to pay “on time,” they can take a personal loan from a bank and hand you over the cash
[QUOTE=ChocoMare;8280835]
What that kind of price level, you were wise to step away from that. If they truly want to pay “on time,” they can take a personal loan from a bank and hand you over the cash ;)[/QUOTE]
Anyone who actually has the means to buy a $40k horse should be able to secure a bank loan for such an investment. As a buyer, even if I COULD find a seller willing to finance me, I’d want the legal security of a financial institution anyway. The only semi-legit reason I can see to want private financing is so the “loan” won’t appear as a debt on a credit report.
And what trainer in their right mind advises a client to take payments on FORTY GRAND?
Dodged a bullet, indeed. Add that buyer’s agent to the list of people not to do business with!
