Finding the value/worth of a boat to get a loan

[AjThomas]

Hi All,
I'm looking into finally buying my first sailboat, and I'm curious if anyone knows of a site or a book much like an NADA or Kelley's Blue Book for Sailboats? Does anything like that exist? I'm curious how a bank figures out the value in order to supply the loan. Any info is appreciated!
Thanks,
AJ

[davefromoregon]

Won't this information come from your survey?

[Zanshin]

As davefromoregon has already intimated, the value of the boat, as the insurance company or bank would see it, comes from the value that the surveyor will put on it. There is no real equivalent to NADA or Blue Books in the boating world, boats are worth only what someone is willing to pay for them.
Surveyors will use a number of factors to estimate replacement value, including www.yachtworld.com sales values (as non-commercial members we only see the asking prices), and if your boat type is listed on that site you should get a ballpark feel for what the bank might perceive as the boat value.

[sardinebreath]

Yes, a boat is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. But that's no different from anything else in the world. Establishing likely values for a used boat (or for that matter houses or cars or airplanes or tanks), is always a little loosey-goosey, but by far the best single source is http://www.buc.com/ which is precisely the boating equivalent of Kelly Blue Book or NADA. Even surveyors have to use BUC to come up with numbers. It doesn't take into consideration extra gear and it only has a few different condition categories, but it provides a price range for a particular model, year, and location. After looking at a lot of boats, you'll get better and better at determining likely selling prices based on the characteristics of the boats and the price ranges that BUC provides. I think you'll find that the majority of boats start out with asking prices which are significantly higher than likely selling prices--especially those on Yachtworld.

NADA also has a boat section (and unlike BUC, it's free), but most of the time it comes up with values which are well below likely selling prices so it's not very useful.

[Snore]

First THERE IS a NADA for boats - see http://www.nadaguides.com/Boats Google also indicated that KBB his a published listing of values, but I have no experience in that.

Second, based on conversations whenI got my loan, for boat loan purposes lenders like Space Coast Credit Union place more emphasis on the published valuation than the value your surveyor puts on the vessel. Unless the appraisal or sale price is less than the NADA then they will do the "loan to value" calculations based on the lowest of the NADA, survey or sale price.

All that said, any used boat/car/motorcycle price listing is only a crude benchmark. The sale price of a specific unit should be based on the unit's condition and age. If the average Tartan 37c is going at $60k, but the asking price of the unit you are looking at is $80 and she has new sails, rigging, engine, etc, etc. Then the boat may be worth the premium. But from what I learned, it will be hard to convince some lenders that the value for loan purposes is $80 versus the NADA $60. There are also some vessels worth less than the average, or priced less to facilitate a quicker sale.

Not a broker or loan guy, just an avid learner.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, AJ.

[AjThomas]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for all the info. It's exactly what I needed!
Cheers!

[nautical62]

Both BUC and NADA boat guides give selling price information.

Realize that compared to cars, there are far fewer boats of any given model on the market and the condition tends to vary more, so any individual boat sale may vary quite a bit from what either of those guides indicate.

You can follow sites like Yachtworld.com to see what prices boats are listed for and how quickly they do or do not sell. You never know what the actual accepted price was of course, but it can provide some insights. You can speculate for example, that if a given model and year boat has been sitting on the market for a year with an asking price of 60K, that a similar boat with an asking price of 75K is probably over priced.

In the end a boat is of course worth what ever a buyer and seller agree to.

[davefromoregon]

Originally Posted by sardinebreath

Yes, a boat is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. But that's no different from anything else in the world. Establishing likely values for a used boat (or for that matter houses or cars or airplanes or tanks), is always a little loosey-goosey, but by far the best single source is http://www.buc.com/ which is precisely the boating equivalent of Kelly Blue Book or NADA. Even surveyors have to use BUC to come up with numbers. It doesn't take into consideration extra gear and it only has a few different condition categories, but it provides a price range for a particular model, year, and location. After looking at a lot of boats, you'll get better and better at determining likely selling prices based on the characteristics of the boats and the price ranges that BUC provides. I think you'll find that the majority of boats start out with asking prices which are significantly higher than likely selling prices--especially those on Yachtworld. NADA also has a boat section (and unlike BUC, it's free), but most of the time it comes up with values which are well below likely selling prices so it's not very useful.

I just bought a boat and the surveyor used many of these sources to assign a value to the boat.