Bear with the long description please. I'm wondering if this is "common".
I saw a boat on yachtworld that I was potentially interested in, but I couldn't really say for sure because there were only FIVE pictures. There were zero of the engine room, zero of the saloon, zero of the cockpit, zero of the flybridge, zero of the foredeck, and only one of the two heads. So I emailed the broker asking for more info and pictures.
He got back with info (but no pictures) and his sales pitch of "get down here immediately and see it because it will be gone soon!" (yeah, right). I replied that I was in no position to buy the boat because I'm still trying to sell mine, and that I was simply collecting information so that I'd be prepared should something fall into place. He asked for details on my boat (which I provided) and soon replied that the owner was interested in including my boat in trade as part of a deal.
Now my boat has been on the market awhile so that caught my attention. And we were willing to travel to see it because I've never been on this model boat before, and even if I don't buy this one, I'd like to see whether it really meets my needs at all. So I asked to set an appointment to see the boat, assuming that offers and surveys and sea trials and negotiations would follow should it prove to be "all that".
He replied that I couldn't see the boat unless I made a written offer first.
I replied that I had no idea what to offer as I had no idea of the condition. Also all of the travel was at my expense, and the owner wasn't "holding the boat for me" or anything, so I couldn't imagine a reason why an offer would be required. He replied that it was "for my own protection - to keep the price from going up" and that it kept joyriders off the boat. Like I'm going to spend $1200 in airfare for my wife and I to tour his 25 year old boat (and we hadn't asked for a sea trial). He said that this is completely common and standard practice. He wouldn't provide any additional pictures to help fill in my knowledge gap however.
Now I completely understand that the offer is conditional and that it obligates me to nothing. But this high pressure tactic, along with the secrecy of the photos, just gave me a really bad feeling about this whole thing - enough that I was no longer willing to spend my money to travel there just to get disappointed and railroaded into a deal.
So - is that "common practice" to require a written offer for someone to even see a boat?
Thanks
BD