[Pblais]

I've had great results just working with the selling broker. Twice as a buyer and once as a seller. The bottom line is the best brokers sell the most boats and have the best reputation with both buyers and sellers. Most brokers sell the least amount of boats. It's always been much like real estate where 20 to 10 percent of the brokers close 80 to 90 percent of the total sales. The real shocking story is you have to work hard to sell boats. You have to really work hard to be good at it.

If you are going to use a buyers broker you need to communicate your desire to actually buy a boat, your ability to pay and some level of expression about what you want and what you know. A good brokers also wants to know they will be paid. While they expect to get a cut of the commission, they also need to feel you are not going to be a tire kicker or just bolt when you feel you can cut a better deal on your own. Expect the broker to be sizing you up while you are doing the exact same thing to him. If you don't really trust the broker I would suggest you don't hire them.

If you can find a local broker that you like and feel they have a good reputation, I think it could be a great way to go. If you are going to spend $30,000 then you can't expect a broker to put in 100 hours of work on your behalf and travel the planet to check out boats in person. In your own mind you need to do the math to figure out how hard you can expect them to work.