how realistic are the prices on boat classified sites?

[Cadence]

I doubt much has to do with asking price other the sellers motivation to sell. If not particular motivated why not ask an outrageous price. You can always come down. To many boats or needing to sell to get one you really like probably a realist asking price. The pour guy that lost his job and costs are eating him alive probably as low as what he owes will allow.
New boats are another animal. A group of MBAs probably set that based on factors, who knows. Dealers willing to take a little less is probably the wiggle room on that.
Looking by area could make a difference on new. A dealer may pay more or less depending on shipping or market studies.

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by Cadence

I doubt much has to do with asking price other the sellers motivation to sell. If not particular motivated why not ask an outrageous price. You can always come down. To many boats or needing to sell to get one you really like probably a realist asking price. The pour guy that lost his job and costs are eating him alive probably as low as what he owes will allow.
New boats are another animal. A group of MBAs probably set that based on factors, who knows. Dealers willing to take a little less is probably the wiggle room on that.
Looking by area could make a difference on new. A dealer may pay more or less depending on shipping or market studies.

Because asking an outrageous price turns buyers away.

Just like tossing out a lowball offer turns sellers off.

Most people buying or selling a boat have internet access, and can very quickly see what several examples of same or similar make, model, age, condition, and location, is listed for.

One of several similar boats with an outrageous price will be completely ignored by every knowledgeable buyer.

A low priced boat won't be there (because it sold before it was even listed, or within days of listing "sale pending" was marked on the ad).

Buying / Selling is a symbiotic relationship.

If either party goes into the relationship trying to screw the other, usually the other will simply screw off.

A seller setting an outrageous price, and a buyer trying to get something for nothing are two peas in a pod; they deserve each other.

Often it works out that the low ball shopper buys an over-priced boat at a significant discount off the asking price and thinks they are an excellent wheeler-dealer and stole the boat from the seller. Meanwhile the seller believes he hood-winked the buyer and laughs all the way to the bank.

The first thing I assess when I go to inspect a boat I'm interested in, is not the hull, nor the engine, nor the sails, but the integrity of the seller (owner or broker makes no difference).

For every boat I've purchased, I have felt neither ripped off, nor that I have ripped off, and that's a good feeling I can sleep with.

Whenever I hear someone talk about either how much they sold their boat for, or how little they paid for it, I quickly move on to someone else worth listening to, because anyone who brags about how they screwed someone else over, is not someone I wish to associate with.

[Poche]

It's impossible to assess someone's integrity with few exchanges and it really should not matter given that you have a sea trial and an impartial surveyor to help you.
If you like a boat make an offer based on what the boat is worth to you. If the seller gets angry over the offer then just move on. Nothing personal at all and no reason for hurt feelings on either side.
If your offer is accepted and you come to find out over time that you paid too much it's your problem.

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by Poche

It's impossible to assess someone's integrity with few exchanges and it really should not matter given that you have a sea trial and an impartial surveyor to help you.
If you like a boat make an offer based on what the boat is worth to you. If the seller gets angry over the offer then just move on. Nothing personal at all and no reason for hurt feelings on either side.
If your offer is accepted and you come to find out over time that you paid too much it's your problem.

Not personal?!?!?!?

Offer a man a pittance for his mistress he has toiled over for the best years of his life, with every hard earned cent he could muster?

Not personal?

Maybe not to the purchaser.

Maybe trying to convince themselves this is how they can sleep with themselves.

That's like trashing a guys favourite sports team.

That's like spitting on his mother's grave.

Not personal?

What could be more personal than a man's brow sweat?

Maybe for a POS derelict the yard wants their fees for.

Maybe for a purchaser who has no intent in taking care of a boat as it should be.

For everything else, trust me, it's personal.

Actually, I would never consider a vessel where the owner didn't consider the relationship with his craft "personal".

If it wasn't personal, he wouldn't rebed the chainplates so the core didn't rot.

If it wasn't personal, he wouldn't change the cutlass bearing before the transmission bearing was shot.

If it wasn't personal, he wouldn't adorn her with all the goodies she's got.

If it wasn't personal, she'd be neglected, and she'd be neglected a lot.

(Sorry, just watched the "Grinch".) ;-)

[ramblinrod]

Interestingly, I have pissed off an owner with a low offer.

A yacht club member told me they were planning to sell their boat to buy another.

My wife and I had been considering a bigger boat, so I asked how much they wanted?

They advised the price they were looking for.

I went and had a look.

He watched me look and make mental note of everything that was wrong.

I told him I liked it, but didn't think it was what we were looking for.

A couple months later they asked me to make an offer.

I refused.

They asked again.

I told them they wouldn't like it.

They still asked.

I told them what I would offer (it was about half asking price, and was a fair offer for what it was).

He didn't even respond; just drove off.

2 years later, in the progression of lowered asking prices, it sold for less than 5% over.

And I watched it, and knew I could go back in and get it for my original offer, but didn't want to buy my next boat, to replace the one I currently care for, under those circumstances.

Which is another good point...

When one buys a boat, they should immediately move it to a different location.

So if the new owner continues to care for it properly, the previous owner (who will come by to check now and again) doesn't always wish they kept it, and if the new owner doesn't care for it properly, well, same thing.

How can the two best days in a boater's life, be anything but "personal"?

[Poche]

Buying and selling inanimate things like a boat when a broker is involved is a business. The broker should be concerned with satisfying the buyer and seller (I understand the broker represents the seller). Both should walk away being treated fairly.
A FSBO is going to be disappointed selling their emotions. That's not what a buyer is interested in buying.
If a seller is so wrapped up emotionally or nostalgically with a boat that they get angry they should leave it to a broker.
I don't care if a seller gets angry over a less than expected offer. Again, I offer what it's worth to me. If they don't want it, we walk away. Or should, without it being personal or any anger issues.

[earthbm]

Definitely emotional for many sellers. It’s a big part of their identity. That’s why many good boats don’t sell until many years and $$$$$s of depreciation and costs later. The owners want to take the boats into the grave with them. I think it’s a form of denial about their own mortality.

It’s a bit of a waste for the society (good boats wasting away). But then there is a lot of it about.

[Poche]

There's another option if someone is so emotionally or personally attached to a boat after many years of being your baby. Do the Viking thing. Don't sell it. Why have someone with their mitts all over it? Float out to sea with it burning around you when you pass.

[earthbm]

This is actually quite appealing

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Poche

It's impossible to assess someone's integrity with few exchanges and it really should not matter given that you have a sea trial and an impartial surveyor to help you.
If you like a boat make an offer based on what the boat is worth to you. If the seller gets angry over the offer then just move on. Nothing personal at all and no reason for hurt feelings on either side.
If your offer is accepted and you come to find out over time that you paid too much it's your problem.

I have no idea why he quoted me, I was gust making general observations.
I'm glad he has had good experiences. I agree with you, assessing integrity of a seller or broker may take ESP.

[Poche]

This "lowball" term is way overused and really should disappear. There are a lot of reasons offers are made and not to get something for nothing (I don't think that is very common). Your budget...your opinion of the market...the condition of the boat....what you would have to put into it to get it where you want it. What seems to be most uncommon is boats priced realistically to sell.

[ramblinrod]

In reality, there are some boats that are overpriced, either because the owner doesn't know any better, or they are trying to get more for it than it is worth (which still means they really don't know any better).

These are actually quite few, and one can easily spot them, because they are priced too high in relation to similar vessels (make, model, age, condition, and location), and because they have sat on the market too long. These are not the boats to go and see.

Similarly, there are boats that are under priced. They rarely make it to the ad stage (someone that knows the boat, snaps it up, before it even hits the market.) These are the boats the average "low-baller" never gets to see.

Boats that are "right-priced" deserve an offer that is "right-priced".

A low ball offer on a right-priced boat, is just someone who doesn't know value when they see it, or someone trying to get something for nothing.

I have received a few low ball offers over the years.

I try to give the benefit of the doubt, and politely explain why the boat value is higher than their offer.

If I get they simply didn't understand boat value, I let it slide and see if we can make a deal.

If they explain they have no more to offer, I politely recommend they look at boats they can afford.

If I get the impression they did know, and were trying hood-wink me, my asking price just became firm (for them).

I don't take kindly to anyone trying to rip me off; and whether direct or via broker, that is most definitely "personal".

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by Poche

This "lowball" term is way overused and really should disappear. There are a lot of reasons offers are made and not to get something for nothing (I don't think that is very common). Your budget...your opinion of the market...the condition of the boat....what you would have to put into it to get it where you want it. What seems to be most uncommon is boats priced realistically to sell.

Well, you haven't identified your location, so I cant speak to your local market.

In my market, most boats are priced right. There's a few over-priced, and they sit and sit. There's few underpriced, and nobody sees them before they're sold. And the vast majority, are priced within 10% of where they should be, for those conditions at that time of year.

In our market, there is a tendency for boat prices to drop at the end of the season. This is because, the right priced boats have sold during the height of the season. For the remainder, most sellers deduct an amount equal to annual storage, to get it gone.

If it was priced right, and it still doesn't move over the winter, because the right buyer didn't come along before haul-out, they very well could be put back up to original price for spring, and sell fairly quickly.

There are a few "low-ballers" around, who have wasted countless seller's time, inspecting every nook and cranny of every boat they have gone to see, that they have no intention of offering anywhere near asking price, regardless of what they find. This is by very definition, a "low-baller". They wouldn't know a right-priced boat, if it smacked them in the face.

It is not the sellers responsibility to make up for a purchaser's lack of good money management. If the buyer can't afford anywhere near the asking price, they shouldn't waste everyone's time, trying to purchase a better boat than what they can afford.

[Poche]

Originally Posted by ramblinrod

I don't take kindly to anyone trying to rip me off; and whether direct or via broker, that is most definitely "personal".

Like I said, just walk away. No reason for anything to be personal. A buyer may make an offer for the boat....not for you or your feelings.

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by Poche

Like I said, just walk away. No reason for anything to be personal. A buyer may make an offer for the boat....not for you or your feelings.

Have you ever owned a boat?

Some jerk trying to rip you off isn't personal?

Get real.

Of course it's personal.

They are trying to rip you off, personally, not somebody else, you.

It doesn't get more personal.