Challenge: Buy Yacht Overseas on House Equity and Come Out Better Off Financially

[dennisail]

Originally Posted by VirtualVagabond

In business everything is negotiable. With a house sale you can arrange early occupation (before final settlement) on payment of occupational interest for the period.
I would think that occupation could be negotiated as a part of the sale agreement, possible with the payment of an additional security bond, refundable on settlement.
Agents, brokers etc hate having to deal with something a bit different to standard... makes them have to think and that's unfamiliar territory for most of them.

I would think that in this buyers market this might be arranged fairly easily.

[boatman61]

All I can say is the Moorings broker that supplied the 331 in Road Harbour said "No way Jose.... there's no insurance coverage..." and he was holding $60,000...
Mind this was '06 so I was likely still 'Bottom Feeding'....

[Dragon Lady]

I'm a bit surprised by the comments about Australian rego.
Thanks to Mark J's warning I made sure I had all my ducks in a row before I left.
The staff at the Australian shipping register are fantastic and helped me out so much.
Where I did fall down was with using Australia Post in the Caribbean as they use DHL.
Under no circumstances use anyone but FedEx, it still takes about 10 days to get documents between Aust and the Caribbean.
The other issue I had was I took 3 weeks and the sacking of a base manager to get the clearance certificate from the French Maritime Authority.
This was because there were outstanding levies to payed not because the system takes so long.
There is a lot of problems in the French system but it can be worked out and if you are buying from someone who is decent they should be able to be worked out before you leave Australia.
That said I had done all this and was still caught out by an employee's incompetence.
I had to wait 3 weeks for my paperwork, but he lost his job which was a shame.
As far as the finances go I think the best advice I received was don't try and make money on the project, just buy a bigger better boat than you could afford to buy in Australia.
The Australian economy is a bit shaky at the moment, but will come good sometime.
Maybe next week maybe in a few years.
If you are in a position to hold onto your boat and enjoy it when you bring it back then sell when times are good go for it!
If you are going to arrive and have to sell straight away to keep your head above water I would wait till my finances are stronger.
Good luck I hope it works out for you all.

P.S. thanks heaps Mark J I hope we meet one day so I can buy you a few beers!

[Shiner]

Having followed this thread with interest I would like to raise a small point, or prediction really.
In our small [130 berth] marina I can list at least eight boats that are American imports and there are around thirty boats for sale.
I am pretty sure that other marinas would have about the same ratios.
I wonder if the overall price of vessels for sale in Australia is about to be forced down by a bit of a "glut" over the next few years.
Might be worth thinking about if you are relying on current Aus market values.
Good luck

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Shiner

In our small [130 berth] marina I can list at least eight boats that are American imports and there are around thirty boats for sale.
I am pretty sure that other marinas would have about the same ratios.
I wonder if the overall price of vessels for sale in Australia is about to be forced down by a bit of a "glut" over the next few years.
Might be worth thinking about if you are relying on current Aus market values.
Good luck

Also have to factor in that not only is everyone who brought in an American import someone who is not in the local market, but also will be more others who are thinking of doing the same and even if they never do will be using those figures as their benchmark (whether or not a fair comparison).

[stevensuf]

well as an eu citizen i can buy an ex charter yacht for export without the vat, lets say late dec do the transat end of jan for west med purchased boat, or buy in the carib and save even more time, head for the panama late march, do the milk run to oz maybe there june ish.

Ex charter yacht, what do i really need to add? epirb, most have as do dingy , life raft/jackets/lines, flares etc what do i really need to add for BLUE WATER? water maker? solar? drogue? nope, im sure you can live without all the deemed long term cruising extras. Virtually all delivery skippers do!!!!!

so lets go back, spend piss all on extras for the boat, buy a cheap 1.5kva generator 300 dollars, saves on lots of engine hours and back up charging. some cheapo plastic 25 litre jugs for fuel/water 8 dollars each. get some pirates of the charts for the journey. hope very little breaks on way (well buy a 3 years old ex charter boat not much will break in a few months)

so a couple of thousand on fuel, your panama transit fees, checking in money for a few stops on way, food, and god knows for what breaks , hopefully very little on a 3 year old boat, 15 percent to aussie gov for import, watch the aircon/fridge nonsense (cfcs) , say 25 % to 30% to get there making 70% gross sure there will be other expenses but id say an easy 50 % if sailing yourself on doing it quickly. cgt ok im not an aussie so dont apply to me and my home gov cant ask for it either stay away from certain islands so no termite nonsense and make sure the bottoms clean (dive clean yourself) dont want their nonsense fees for that.

the biggest danger is something big n expensive goes, which fingers crossed shouldnt happen on a 3 year old boat, rigging should be ok as should engine. yes speed is of the essence as you are fighting an exchange rate, this if your real enemy.