As a new part-time
boat sales dude, I am pleased to see all of this
work out as it should have.
I do think that
boat buying should be a thrilling nerve wracking good time! Boat selling is usually not as much fun. Selling means things are not as cool as you would like in most cases. Selling means you may be realizing that the dream of sailing off is over. Most boats are on the market because they are not used, divorce, or the owner is "too old now". All mostly sad really.
The 10% "deposit" thing seems to be a point of mixed experience and opinion.
Is it a deposit, earnest
money, down payment?
To me it is about good faith:
The offer is accompanied by a deposit of $___ as an indication of good gaith, to be held in trust and credited to the purchase at closing or returned to Buyer in the event that any of the conditions are not met and the transaction does not go through.
10% is standard in my experience, I have seen negotiated to 5% as an example. 0% deposit gets you no closer than "still looking".
Sellers list with brokers because they are usually "done" dealing with the vessel. They don't want to or don't have time to or don't know how to sell by themselves. They pay the big bucks in commission to not have to deal with a lot of "just looking" buyers.
As for As Is, Where Is...
I do think that most sellers would like to sell at the
price that is agreed and signed on the offer sheet regardless of
survey results. I have been along on surveys as a
broker and as a customer and I hear time and time again a
surveyor tell the client that you will want to fix this, you will want to update this, you must fix that, you can put this on your to do list. The
surveyor is telling the buyer this is their boat and they are
buying a boat with these deficiencies. It is up to the buyer to take it or leave it after the surveying is over more or less.
You make an offer contingent on a satisfactory test sail and
survey. If you are not satisfied you are not obligated to complete the
purchase, you get your deposit back, and you keep looking.
This is not to say that you cannot have a discussion about
price again after the inspections. Sellers do want to sell....keep communication open up front and no one gets hurt!
Thanks for all of the insight and sharing experience.
Greg