Halfie gets bidder's remorse

A couple of Mondays ago blogger Halfie  came to see the wooden boat at Mercia Marina that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

(See: Wooden narrowboat 'Friday' for sale cheap) 

He wanted to buy a boat with character, not the sort of conventional 'floating cottage' so common now - even if it did mean spending a lot more on bringing it up to standard.

But his head was quite turned by another boat nearby.  This happens surprisingly often when you are browsing for boats - you've gone to buy one thing and suddenly you've fallen for something completely different.

So instead of offering to buy Friday he put in an offer two days later for the other boat - but was trumped by someone else at the full asking price.

Meanwhile, what of Friday, the boat he originally went to see?  Well, that went for the full asking price to the next person to see it - although that one's something of an unknown quantity, being a rare wooden boat with who-knows-what lurking below the floorboards.

Halfie's two blog posts - Where did I go wrong? and the more practical Why my attempt to buy a boat was unsuccessful - are useful reading for people in his position.

I think he got off lightly - rescued from both boats! - and should be relieved.  If your head is turned by something when you are looking for something else, well, that's a recipe for buyer's remorse. 

Much the same thing happened to me 11 years ago.  I was looking for a classic 'boatman's cabin and engine room' boat in 1999. 

I was the first to see a lovely Les Allen boat with a classic Gardner engine, and left the broker a voicemail message with an offer.  He didn't get the offer until the next day, but later told me that the next person to see the boat offered the full asking price.

I was so upset that I pretty much bought my present boat 'on the rebound', paying almost the full asking price.  Far too much.   And it wasn't what I wanted, not at all. 

Perhaps I simply didn't want to be rejected by another seller.  

For a couple of years I hated my boat, but I was stuck with it - the process of selling it again would have cost too much.

And then a curious thing happened: I settled in to accept my boat, and even grew to love it. Any trade-in to another boat - even a luxury one with expense no object - would now be a wrench.

But was it worth the initial two years of buyers' remorse?   No, not really.

[Buyer's remorse is an anagram of Be so merry, user - it's an 'antigram'.]

Comments

[Andrew Denny]

Halfie, you don't feel you were rescued from the second boat, but *I* have a sneaking suspicion you were!

Not that there was necessarily anything wrong with it for you, except I put myself in your place and I would have got buyers' remorse. 

Andrew

 

[Halfie]

Hmm. I don't feel I was "rescued" from the second boat. I should have bought it. I'm unlikely to buy another one "on the rebound" - I'm just too cautious! Anyway, I have our (soon-to-be ex-?) OwnerShips boat Shadow to worry about now. But if I'd known that the OwnerShips balloon was about to go up that might have spurred me into more decisive action.

[iain smith]

Good advise.We first time buyers can do with all the advise we can get.Is there an idiots guide to buying a boat?