What you should know about brokers

[olaf hart]

Keep hearing these stories about bad brokers, usually from the US.
I have bought and sold boats here in Oz for over 40 years, never met a bad broker.
Interestingly, last four boats were bought from their owners direct, no real reason, I still sold through brokers.
I wonder if there is a problem with the US business model.
Here we don't have buyers brokers, brokers only sell local boats on their listings, listings are usually exclusive, and buyers don't seem to travel the country looking at boats the broker has never seen.
Probably a smaller market too, so word of mouth and reputations matter.
Downside is if I am interested in a boat across the country, I need to find someone to do a walkover for me. I have done the same thing in Tassie for a few folks as well.

[B.Babs]

over our years in boating we have made 8 purchases and sales of boats over 30 feet. in those transactions we have only had one bad broker experience and once bad surveyor. both were on a boat we purchased long distance from florida. all the other brokers and surveyors have been wonderful but we did more research on them then we did on the florida purchase. made a mistake of accepting suggestions from locals who may have been loosely tied with the broker and surveyor. anything bad with the florida boat purchase was our own fault. this was before the www so research was a bit tough.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Mad Hatter.

[bjymd]

I used a buyers agent (broker) when I bought my boat: Jamie Birch in St Petersburg FLA.
INVALUABLE.

[FutureStories]

Sorry for the delay getting to responses, I was bottom sanding safety boats at the local sailing center all morning and am preparing for the Bay Bridge Boat show. I will get back to all inquiries. I didnt expect this much traffic, it is overwhelmingly delightful! Already hunting down some desirable leads that interest me. I love exploring new markets and the thoughts of completing international deals is compelling.

[FutureStories]

Alright, I am almost all caught up. I have pulled reports for everyone who asked.

I have had a ton of fun doing this. Next time I offer free services Ill time it better. We have a 20' booth at the Bay Bridge Boat Show this weekend and 9 boats we need to deliver in water. So keeping on top of listings, my boat and helping at the Sailing Center was a task.

Ill be updating my profile shortly including a link to my listings, hopefully something will strike interest for someone! Wanted to upgrade my profile before but the first commission check took a while to come in, getting used to bare bones cruising lifestyle on land. First time budgeting in almost 10 years!

[UNCIVILIZED]

Guys, FutureStories is true to his word, & then some. I asked him for the selling price of a boat that had sold on Yachtworld.com about 2 weeks ago, & he had the answer for me in less than 24hrs. This despite my providing him with an (obviously old) link to the boat in question from a brokerage in the Netherlands. As the Yachtworld one had already been taken down.

Much appreciated!!!

If I find a boat which strikes my fancy somewhere on the Chesapeake, his is surely the door I'll be knocking on!


EDIT: I forgot to say as much, but let me know when your professional brokerage website is up & running. I'd be happy to offer a written thumbs up in your reviews section of said (to be) site.

[tp12]

Nice! We all like a good news story; well done on taking the initiative here FutureStories and delivering a positive outcome

[keith4001r]

Subscribed to this thread. I'm sure to need some advice in the near future.

[FutureStories]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Guys, FutureStories is true to his word, & then some. I asked him for the selling price of a boat that had sold on Yachtworld.com about 2 weeks ago, & he had the answer for me in less than 24hrs. This despite my providing him with an (obviously old) link to the boat in question from a brokerage in the Netherlands. As the Yachtworld one had already been taken down.

Much appreciated!!!

If I find a boat which strikes my fancy somewhere on the Chesapeake, his is surely the door I'll be knocking on!


EDIT: I forgot to say as much, but let me know when your professional brokerage website is up & running. I'd be happy to offer a written thumbs up in your reviews section of said (to be) site.

I work for a company called Hawks Yachts.

www.hawksyachts.com

They brought me on to build the sailboat division. I've done a lot of small craft racing and quit my career managing restaurants to sail more. Cruising dreams ahead!

[Vander Woestijn]

I agree with all the services provided by a broker, he/she deserve their fee. But what if from a listing you contact the owner directly, then negotiate with the owner the boat price down to say 100K, and still the broker gets a 10K margin out of that?? Brokers have to live too, but seems allot to get from just posting a list..

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by Vander Woestijn

I agree with all the services provided by a broker, he/she deserve their fee. But what if from a listing you contact the owner directly, then negotiate with the owner the boat price down to say 100K, and still the broker gets a 10K margin out of that?? Brokers have to live too, but seems allot to get from just posting a list..

If the Seller has a Central (Exclusive) listing with the brokerage then he/she can't do a direct deal. Why would the brokerage pay for marketing, etc if the Seller can go around them?

Seller can try and do an open listing and if the broker accepts the Seller will get minimal marketing but the ability to sell directly.

Pick your poison.

[AussieWayne]

Thank you FutureStories for your assistance with these reports. You delivered and it is very much appreciated.
I am sure you will build a strong business if you keep delivering value for future clients, both sellers and buyers.
Guess who is the first Broker that will come to my mind should I need such a service
AussieWayne

[Boat_Girl]

Originally Posted by sailpower

If the Seller has a Central (Exclusive) listing with the brokerage then he/she can't do a direct deal. Why would the brokerage pay for marketing, etc if the Seller can go around them?

Seller can try and do an open listing and if the broker accepts the Seller will get minimal marketing but the ability to sell directly.

Pick your poison.

You can also ask your broker for an "owner's exclusion," which prevents this situation from happening. I do this a lot, because I agree that I should only get paid for the work I do. Only once has the owner sold without me--usually I'm confident I can get the boat sold, so I offer "owner's exclusions" if the seller is concerned.

Always ask your broker if something like this concerns you! They should accommodate you...if they don't, move on to one who will.

[Thumbs Up]

I just want to point out that unless you are paying your buyers broker on a "fee for service" arrangement that he/she is actually working for the seller. Where is his incentive, for instance, to look at non brokered boats for sale? Where is his incentive to negotiate a better price? And with a buyer's broker, the chance of the selling broker reducing his commission to make the sale is about 0%. I think that is really "what you should know about brokers" and that the piece of "the pie" that the buyers broker is getting could be your piece of pie. Comments?