Asking Price vs Selling Price

[bumoko]

OK, I am one of the "Want to bees". I am persueing the dream of buying a 40+ sailboat and heading to the south Pacific.
I am taking sailing classes, jumping on every boat I can find for experience and reading whatever I can find. I am in the vary beginning process of shopping for a boat. I hope to be ready in three or four years for this new lifestyle.
As for the topic (Asking price VS selling price) I am sure they are a very different thing in most cases. In the current economic environment I am sure that some boat owners want to sell and some probably need to sell their boats. Its a buyers market I am told. I assume that boat prices have come down in these times however I like everyone else want to get the best price possible. How dose one figure an offer? 10% 30% 50% off of the asking price, what is reasonable. I realize that there are alot of varibles, where do I start, how do I figure an offer???????????

[Iain]

I do not think any formula can be applied to this one. For example, I just sold a boat I was asking $17,900 and would have taken much less. then asking $14,900 and would have taken a little less. Then I was asking 12,900 and after a few months at 12,900 I sold the boat for full asking price.....

Offer what the boat is worth to you!

[nautical62]

During my last boat search, I ended up having an offer on one boat accepted that was half the original asking price and after a survey still walked away. I ended up purchasing a boat at just under asking price, but from an owner who had a more realistic sense of what his boat was worth. Asking prices vary considerably and I feel it's misguided to assume a fair market price is X percent of asking price.

I feel an offer should reflect what I feel a boat is worth and what I am willing to pay for it, not what someone is asking. What they are asking for me tells me more about how realistic they are and whether or not I should even make that owner an offer.

Do your research. Find out what other similar boats are selling for, compare that to other options and make an offer on a boat you feel is right for you at a price that is fair and you are willing to pay. Don't assume there is any uniform correlation between asking price and probable selling price.

[ADMPRTR]

There is no fixed percentage, IMO.

20% used to be the norm but you might get some one who is desparate one day and not sure if they want to sell the next. I think boat buying a selling is 90% emotion so there are no fixed rules. One rule that seems to be true is that the longer the boat is on the market, typically you have much more negoiating room but again, there are exceptions. A boat is only worth what the last person offered to pay.

The best way is to look at the market, compare similar boats, decide what you want and work in the cost of what the boat doesn't have (i.e. upgrades/repairs).
Then you can go in and instead of doing a wishfull lowball, you can say " boat A has this, boat B has that and your boat has neither but is more expensive...". The problem with lowballing without justification is if they accept it, you wonder what you aren't seeing and if the refuse, you can't generally come back because you have already insulted them with your lowball price. But sometimes lowballing works...

It is all in timing and emotion...

[ViribusUnitis]

Anything is possible.

Watch yachtworld, and see what they are listed for, and then what they are listed for when the boat has a "sale pending".

You'll find the ratios are all over the place. I've seen boats relisted for HALF their origional asking price, and STILL not sell. I've been watching some boat for close to 2 years at this point, still unsold.

All in all, make your that your not paying more than you can afford, and pay what it's worth to you.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by ViribusUnitis

Anything is possible.

Watch yachtworld, and see what they are listed for, and then what they are listed for when the boat has a "sale pending".

.

I was not aware that they changed the advertised price when a sale was pending.

[ViribusUnitis]

Originally Posted by Vasco

I was not aware that they changed the advertised price when a sale was pending.

Typicaly they change the asking price to what ever the agreed price is when the "sale is pending". This is simply a good bussness practice by the brokers. Remember, the lower the price is the better chance the broker has of getting a sale, and thus getting paid. Brokers always like to advertize lower prices if they think it'll help them make a deal!

It enables buyers to "bid" higher than the pending sale, and the seller has a choice if he wants to break the contract, and sell the boat to a higher paying buyer, or stick with the current one.

Don't assume however that the price when they mark it "sale pending" is actualy the price they sell it for. There are alought of reasons why that might not be true.

[Shrubb]

Among the boats I am searching, most of those which are "sale pending" are 15-20% lower priced than those remaining for sale. Same boats, really (released after charter). Indeed these are asking prices, the final price could still be lower (and won't be published). This is an interesting basis on how to place an offer.

[boatman61]

[QUOTE=ViribusUnitis;818149]
It enables buyers to "bid" higher than the pending sale, and the seller has a choice if he wants to break the contract, and sell the boat to a higher paying buyer, or stick with the current one.
QUOTE]

Ahah... Gazumping is alive and well in the US of A......

[zeehag]

for looong time i watched pricing on boats as for loong time --over 20 yrs, i had been looking for the perfect boat for me. i watched asking prices and listened to purchase prices, and i found that the boat i have now, my formosa, with decent condition--pre refit, was 80-90 thousand usd. some 41 formosas/ct's and sea wolf models exceeding 110,000usd. i also found the asking price of same boat with issues pre refit, was around 40-50thousand dollars, and after refit, depending on the individual refitting her, wide range from 40 k - 80k usd. now, in this market, drop that to 80k for awesome, and 30k for any kind of medium care needs some work....and 10k for needs refit and foogly,mebbe ye will fall thru deck, probably engine doesnt run condition.
this wilnot get better for the seller.. i also watched as boats similar to my ericson 35mII were selling at wide ranges of pricing-- there are many reasons for that. interior, year built, refit vs not yet done, many rationales for this wide swing.
on this coast, if out of water, , lower selling rice. is a detriment to have a boat hidden on the hard-- needs trucking and crane to step mast and riggers-- so many things to get ready to splash. most yards are not part of a marina system as in east and gulf coastal areas. getting her to the splashing is on the purchasor.
i took mine off market--word of mouth now is all i have been using... we see what happens--i dont totally lose no matter what happens, so i m not worried about selling--not many folks in that basket.

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by ADMPRTR

There is no fixed percentage, IMO.

20% used to be the norm but you might get some one who is desparate one day and not sure if they want to sell the next. I think boat buying a selling is 90% emotion so there are no fixed rules. One rule that seems to be true is that the longer the boat is on the market, typically you have much more negoiating room but again, there are exceptions. A boat is only worth what the last person offered to pay.

The best way is to look at the market, compare similar boats, decide what you want and work in the cost of what the boat doesn't have (i.e. upgrades/repairs).
Then you can go in and instead of doing a wishfull lowball, you can say " boat A has this, boat B has that and your boat has neither but is more expensive...". The problem with lowballing without justification is if they accept it, you wonder what you aren't seeing and if the refuse, you can't generally come back because you have already insulted them with your lowball price. But sometimes lowballing works...

It is all in timing and emotion...

I've never been insulted by a lowball price. I just assume they are trying it on, and in their shoes I'd be doing the same. At least I know they're interested in buying, the ball is in play and now it's just a question of price.
When selling, I tell them it's my job to show them why it's worth my asking price, and their job to show me why it isn't. It usually gets a chuckle and nobody is offended. I just reverse it when buying.

Also, I've also found that you can lowball without offending if it comes with a genuine compliment.
"Your boat is a real credit to you and we'd love to get this lucky. But unfortunately for both of us it's quite a bit above what we can afford.
We're limited to $xxx. Just thought I'd let you know on the off chance that a quick, clean 'now' sale would suite you rather than wearing all the ongoing costs of slip fees, maintenance, insurance etc for maybe another year or 2..."

It's worked for me in the past and I hope it will in the near future

[avb3]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Ahah... Gazumping is alive and well in the US of A......

Had to look up Gazumping, but then I suppose many would be confused with the skiff of snow we just received.

As far as gazumping goes, we have a saying up here in cold country: "Don't snow the snowman".

[zeta]

Originally Posted by Iain

Offer what the boat is worth to you!

Excellent advice, a good business deal is one where both parties can walk away feeling good. I've always found if you get something for next to nothing, that is probably what it's worth. Someone will always pay less than you for a product while others will pay more--worth to you is all that matters and never be afraid to walk away if it doesn't feel right.

[jr_spyder]

I'll confirm there are no rules as was my experience with my purchase of a 23 y/o boat in Aug. I'll also say YachtWorld is a fantastic resource overall, but all their content comes from the listing brokers. It was amazing to me that many boats have very meager content.

I looked pretty hard at 8 to 10 boats, then very seriously at 4, then made my offer on the winner. I can tell you almost none the original 8 - 10 had the current asking prices on Yachtworld. They had all been reduced over time, but YW wasn't kept up-to-date. The boat I settled on had been reduced just shy of 10%. I offered close to 20% less, and ended up about 15% less, so 25%ish off the YW price.

I didn't thin that was quite good enough so I was able to get a twist into the deal. The the seller, who I was talking with directly even though we both had brokers, was extremely confident everything worked as the boat was maintained in the highest order (and had a premium price compared to others, but was indeed a premium boat). So I had a sizable escrow in the deal that could be used to fix anything I found broken. On the delivery cruise from CT to RI (about 10 hours) I had a hired gun with me experienced with my brand of boat. We had very calm seas and no wind and motored the whole way. So we used the time to go through everything - not to look for broken stuff really - but for me to learn as much as I could about this boat from him. Well, there was some broken stuff including a flaky autopilot, very flaky wind instruments, and a few other things. They all got fixed/replaced out of the escrow. Truth is that I was blessed to have a very honorable seller. He was embarrassed by the flaws and paid the quotes provided by my yard without question.

It's all closed now, and of course other stuff breaks. But we all know that routine.

JR

[Richard Jordan]

Originally Posted by ViribusUnitis

Typicaly they change the asking price to what ever the agreed price is when the "sale is pending". This is simply a good bussness practice by the brokers. Remember, the lower the price is the better chance the broker has of getting a sale, and thus getting paid. Brokers always like to advertize lower prices if they think it'll help them make a deal!

It enables buyers to "bid" higher than the pending sale, and the seller has a choice if he wants to break the contract, and sell the boat to a higher paying buyer, or stick with the current one.

Don't assume however that the price when they mark it "sale pending" is actualy the price they sell it for. There are alought of reasons why that might not be true.

This is 100% false. I have never heard of ask price changed to the agreed price.