Brokers

[gaucho]

Really, what is the deal with brokers? Im fine with people being intermediaries. I do think it is good such a profession and a job, as well as people to do it, exist. I think they are a boon for sellers, if they did their job correctly. I have been close to buying a center cockpit for the last months. I have already backed down from two offers I made. Broker wanted me to put a note in the offer I would not contest price after survey ... :/ Really, what? This is for a boat in the caribbean that most people would have to invest quite a bit in travelling to look at it.

I haven't found one broker really willing to invest half a day taking proper pictures, and helping sell the boat. They will reluctantly just say "all the info is on the post in Yachtworld". They really think I will make an offer on a 100,000 usd boat from 7 pictures on Yachtworld? I am a buyer that will look at boats in the east, west and caribbean. I live landlocked, so anything works for me. I guess there are other people like myself, or buying to take somewhere else.

Brokers should not only be "negotiators". They should be sellers. They should do good photography, and make sure they sell through images the boat to a potential buyer. If you lowball them a bit, they start strong arming you into buying blind. Again, give me GOOD photos, GOOD information, history of the boat, service history, SOMETHING so I am more willing to pay closer to asking. Otherwise, I will just cover myself. All boats need work. If you do a good job of letting me know which stuff wont, it will help me be more confident. In the end I feel they are so lazy, they loose a lot of business from everyone else who is not local.

Or maybe it's full of people that will just buy without being thorough. Oh well, there is quite a lot of people playing Pokemon GO and making faces on Snapchat. I guess being dumb buyers is the least of the problems of humanity.

Rant over.

[Caribbeachbum]

A fine rant, and while it's not all brokers, it's far too many. They just really, really hate to fess up about what a boat's problems are. But when they don't, and I pay flight and hotel to have a look, and find the problems, well that broker lost a sale that might have happened otherwise; and any future sale that might otherwise have come up. I have a long memory, and if I'm looking at a boat listed by a crap broker, I have no qualms about calling the seller directly.

[SV DestinyAscen]

Brokers are like real estate agents. On paper they should be customer centric and facilitate the passing of information. In reality - commission isn't dependent on how much information they relay. An industry waiting fo disruption.

[skipmac]

I agree that it's not easy to find a good broker. I used to be a broker and knew a lot of people in the business that were not good at the job and in more than a few cases downright dishonest. I had one boss tell me I was in the wrong business because I was honest in my opinions of boats and wasn't willing to tell a potential buyer anything he/she wanted to hear to get them to buy the boat.

When I started shopping for my latest (last?) boat I found an ad for a likely candidate. I called the broker learned that boat was sold but the broker offered to look for another boat for me. So I gave him my criteria: center cockpit, cutter or sloop rig, modified fin keel with skeg rudder. So a week later the broker sends me a listing for an aft cockpit, full keel ketch. My guess it was his listing so he would get a double commission for selling that particular boat. Idiot. I never called him again or read another email from him.

If you do find a good broker he/she can be a great asset in the purchasing process so stick with him and let him manage the sale unless you find a private seller in the meantime.

[SouthernPride]

SKIPMAC makes good points.

The last point about finding a private seller is what scares brokers. A lot of buyers, and sellers, will cut out the broker to save money on both ends.

I am not a broker so this is only my opinion. I did sell real estate and obviously there are some pretty ironclad contracts involved.

Good luck

[valhalla360]

We've sold with a broker twice. Both times were similar. In addition we've dealt with but not bought thru a broker on several occasions. When you first go in they talk a good game. After that it's a quick slide to the proverbial used car salesman.


Just sold a boat but the offer came in a little low so we countered that we would accept it but it wouldn't include a few things (such as the dingy). When we get the formal offer (written up by the broker) signed by the buyer, there is none of this included. They tell me it's no big deal since we didn't sign yet. Of course it's a big deal because before we were negotiating over the boat with little stuff on the side. Now it's an issue of do we scuttle the deal over a $500 dingy after we found out the buyer didn't even realize it came with a dingy until he went back to the original advertisement because it became a separate negotiation. At first they denied I even brought up the dingy...until I sent them a copy of the 3 paragraph email where I counter offered and one of the paragraphs specifically highlighted it.


Yeah, there is the rare exception but go in assuming the broker is not your friend and if it gets them a quick sale (cutting the listing time is far more profitable than getting an extra 10-20% on the sale price), they will sell you out in a heart beat.