Deposit at time of sale
 

Hello,

I am selling a boat through a reknown international broker in Thailand,
Lee Marine. A potential buyer has deposited the amount equivalent to
the commission of the broker but before I sign the contract I am
doubtful about the fact that the buyer has 4 weeks to inspect the boat
and that "the seller cannot enter into any other agreement...while this
agreement is in effect".

This seems to be very limiting and works against me. I bear the risk of
loosing opportunities to sell the boat during the next 4 weeks when
this agreement expires. On the other hand, the potential buyer does
take no risk since he can withdraw at anytime and get back his deposit
at 100%. My experience with other brokers was that the buyer will
loose his deposit if he withdraws from the sale. The other way of
working around this would be to shorten the expiration of the agreement
to a week from now.

Thanks in advance for any clarifications,

Philippe

Deposit at time of sale
 

wrote:
Hello,

I am selling a boat through a reknown international broker in Thailand,
Lee Marine. A potential buyer has deposited the amount equivalent to
the commission of the broker but before I sign the contract I am
doubtful about the fact that the buyer has 4 weeks to inspect the boat
and that "the seller cannot enter into any other agreement...while this
agreement is in effect".

This seems to be very limiting and works against me. I bear the risk of
loosing opportunities to sell the boat during the next 4 weeks when
this agreement expires. On the other hand, the potential buyer does
take no risk since he can withdraw at anytime and get back his deposit
at 100%. My experience with other brokers was that the buyer will
loose his deposit if he withdraws from the sale. The other way of
working around this would be to shorten the expiration of the agreement
to a week from now.

Thanks in advance for any clarifications,

Philippe



Welcome to the wonderful world of selling a boat. If it seems like the
buyer has more rights and options than the seller, that's pretty much
how it is.

If the buyer and the boat aren't some great physical distance apart,
(i.e. buyer is in North America, boat is in Thailand) a month is way
too long to tie up the boat pending inspection. A week should be more
than ample.

Now, it that month is for more than just a cursory "inspection" and
covers sea trial and survey as well-------that could be a bit more
reasonable. It may not be possible for the buyer to get his surveyor
aboard on a very short notice, the better surveyors need a couple of
days to prepare a thorough report, and the buyer should be entitled to
a couple of days to consider the report when the survey is done.

Yes, under most contracts the buyer can simply walk away at any time.
All he or she has to do is declare that either the survey or sea trial
were "unsatisfactory", without any need to justify or explain the
alleged dissatisfaction. In the meanwhile, your boat is effectively off
the market- but it might help to consider that each party- buyer and
seller- has placed something of value in escrow at the time you accept
the buyer's conditional offer. You put up the boat (or at least the
opportunity to sell it to somebody else) and the buyer puts up
a decent portion of the sales price.

If the buyer signs off on the sea trial, survey, or other contingencies
and then fails to perform you get to keep the deposit (usually split it
with the broker- up to the amount of the broker's commission had the
sale gone through). If the buyer is ready willing and able to buy and
*you* have a change of heart on the deal then the legal agreement you
have signed with the buyer will allow him or her to proceed against you
in court for breach of contract- probably forcing the sale of the boat
at the agreed upon figure and/or awarding damages to the buyer.