The Great Boat Hunt - Deja Vu

I have a quote for insurance, and tentative agreement from a marine surveyer for the boat we're trying to buy.  The offer is good until this Friday (February 27), because communicating with the owner is somewhat tricky.

He's working in the former Soviet Union!  From what I gather, he's an engineer, who's family lives further West (I think maybe Louisiana or Texas) and he had been working in Southwest Florida and living aboard the boat.  His job, however, fell victim to Baby Bush's economic policies, and the best offer he got after that was in the Ukraine.  He still had bills to pay and a family to feed, so he took it and put the boat up for sale.

When I transmitted the Purchase Offer to the referring broker, he informed me that there was another offer for the boat, and that it was an as-is offer.  What that means is, the offer isn't contingent on a favorable marine survey, insurability, and sea-trial.  The buyer is willing to accept all of the risks connected with the purchase, without limit.

We really like the boat, so I had to think long and hard about that.  The conclusions I came to are:

• Either the second offer was higher than mine, or it was lower.

• If the competing offer was higher, it's a no-brainer for the owner, he'll either take it or propose a counter-offer.

• If it was lower, the only thing he might gain by taking the lower offer is a reduction in the risk of losing the sale altogether. That might happen if the boat failed to pass muster in either a marine survey or a sea trial.  In that case he could still propose an as is counter offer.

For my own part, I'm not interested in making an as is offer. The offer I have on the table is very close to his listed asking price, and I think it represents a fair market value for the boat. I don't intend to go any higher.

Furthermore, I refuse to assume all of the risk involved in a business transaction.  Such transactions are supposed to distribute risk fairly, despite the fact that our society seems accept otherwise. Having the perception of control over the transaction does not give one party the right to force all of the risk onto the other party. If the current owner has so little confidence in his boat's ability to pass muster, then I can only conclude that his boat may not be the boat for me.

This is the second time this calendar year that I've made an offer on a boat that had been languishing in the market, and the second time (and it's only February!) that a second, competing offer has suddenly appeared out of nowhere.  I wonder why?  Maybe whoever did it to me the first time followed me around until I found this boat.  I know for a fact that the first boat remains unsold.

Anyway,we continue to wait for a response to our offer.  Like I told the referring broker:  There are other boats that can be bought, and I have cash in the bank.