fwiw - it really bothers me that there being another potential buyer
could have
been a major factor (I'm not saying it was in fact, all we have is
Jay's
impression). Maybe it's just me, but if a seller takes a deposit and
starts
the sell/buy process with a buyer, then other potential buyers should
not
be a consideration.

You never know what other people are going to do. When my partners and
myself
were looking for a plane (which I still have), we followed up the ads
in the
LA Times one Saturday. The first plane wasn't what we were looking for,
so we continued on. As we were leaving a guy in a Cadillac showed up to
look at it.

The second plane was more like it - much newer, well equipped, and
reasonably
priced - Not that there weren't some maintenance questions to be
answered.
After we'd been there awhile and were discussing making an offer among
ourselves, the Cadillac guy shows up. Within no more than five minutes
and no more than
a few cursory glances over the plane, he's writing a check. Dunno if it
was
a deposit or full price - we walked away at that point.

David Johnson