Making an Offer Question???

[Pau Hana]

Originally Posted by rw58ph

I had my surveyor meet me at the boat. Couple of surveys lasted about 15 minutes and couplke of times he did not even get out of the car. Also they often told me about other boats that we might be interest in. I would much rather pay/give a surveyor money than give to the broker. Also it showed the broker I am a serious buyer. I mean 50 to 100 bucks is well spend when purchasing a 200+ grand boat. Then after the survey a offer was made, with no money. My general rule is: If it’s meant to be, It will be!


When I say apprasial/survey is more of a cheap survey like for insurance. I do no mean a full blown detail survey, just a general rap tap, observation feeling if the surveyor and I felt it was worth spending more time for a more detail one. I was more interest in the appraised value and general condition of hull, deck, supper engine and running gear as the rest of the stuff can be replace/up graded.

If I made an offer I walk, take it or leave it. If the buyer made a counter offer then I knew they were willing to negotiate.

Huh? You make the offer AFTER the survey? What seller/broker is going to allow anyone to rap/tap on a vessel not under contract?

Besides, the deposit of earnest money with your offer is subject to whatever conditions/stipulations you request, so your deposit is safe. Why pay a surveyor twice- once for his general opinion, and then again for the detailed survey?

[Dennis.G]

A $50 to $100 quick look at a boat by a surveyor is not the same as a survey. Would need to haul boat for a full survey once under contract.

[Tingum]

The last boat I sold was a similar transaction. The boat was in Fla and the purchaser was coming from Washington state. He wanted to negotiate a firm price before traveling to see the boat. We agreed on a price, subject to seeing the boat, survey, and sea trial. As. Seller I had nothing to loose. Deal went smoothly. So: any offer with a reasonable amount of earnest money is reasonable. I think 20% it too high. Also you hold the purse strings so you can write any clauses you want to in the offer. Good luck.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by Tingum

The last boat I sold was a similar transaction. The boat was in Fla and the purchaser was coming from Washington state. He wanted to negotiate a firm price before traveling to see the boat. We agreed on a price, subject to seeing the boat, survey, and sea trial. As. Seller I had nothing to loose. Deal went smoothly. So: any offer with a reasonable amount of earnest money is reasonable. I think 20% it too high. Also you hold the purse strings so you can write any clauses you want to in the offer. Good luck.

Thank You

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by Pau Hana

Huh? You make the offer AFTER the survey? What seller/broker is going to allow anyone to rap/tap on a vessel not under contract?

Besides, the deposit of earnest money with your offer is subject to whatever conditions/stipulations you request, so your deposit is safe. Why pay a surveyor twice- once for his general opinion, and then again for the detailed survey?

I think he means more of a quick appraisal than the classic survey term. I agree with him, if you are new to boats, or want a knowledgable unbiased opinion on a out of town boat, before you invest time and money for travel, seatrial, boat haul, survey and such. I like that better then asking the broker over the phone what he sees.
I've looked at boats for CFers from out of town. I'm no surveyor, but I can spot a rotten bulkhead, soft decks etc. I take pictures and give them a rough idea of the shape the boat is really in. I did this for my customers too, if they wanted it. Mostly these were new boaters ( you can spot the deer in the headlight look a mile away!) or out of town customers. I'd start at the bow with a note pad and camera and go to town . I liked doing it, i loved crawling around on boats, and was fun to see how much I could catch compared to the surveyor. I never got a perfect score, but still, I was usually working with Mike Firestone, one of the best.

What he is describing is kinda the same thing. But with a real surveyor ( more knowledgable), you are less likely to have a surprise a friend might miss.

Another perk to that is if you do not know a surveyor in that area you get to meet and feel out the surveyor before relying on him heavily during the real boat survey.

[GalaxyGirl]

The owner decline my low offer. Not surprised or disappointed in the least. I'm glad that I posted this thread, because know I have a much better understanding of how to work with a yacht broker.

On to the next...

[Tony B]

GG

There are several different ways to value a boat. One is Blue Book and general market value and the other is what the boat is worth to you. If the boat was only worth the low-balled figure to you, then you made a reasonable move. I never let the asking price dictate how much I make an offer for and my offer is always backed with a 10% deposit. In almost every case, I hand the broker a check, he calls the seller and lets the seller know my offer, contingencies and my deposit in hand. If the seller rejects it, the broker hands my check back to me.
My offer is always based on what the boat is worth to me. The seller always has the choice of rejecting my offer, which happened a lot and so, no big deal.

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by rw58ph

I had my surveyor meet me at the boat. Couple of surveys lasted about 15 minutes and couplke of times he did not even get out of the car.

Really! He didn't even get out of the car? Come on!

Gotta love the internet.

[Tony B]

Most of the good surveyors in my area are very busy. First, they would need at least a 2 week lead time before they could do it and secondly, I seriously doubt they would be driving around with you for less than a $100/hour for just a few hours and commit time to you for boats that may not even be on the market in 2 weeks.
You are very fortunate to have a good surveyor willing to do this or very unfortunate to have a surveyor with time on his hands.
You might want to think about evaluating the surveyor as much as evaluating the boat if both are coming at bargain prices.

[RigelKent]

I was always able to look at boats locally by contacting an agent without any up front money. Of course if you travel there is a risk the boat could be sold to someone else before your view it. But in a buyers market that's less likely to happen. Once you view the boat you might make a written offer subject to conditions (survey, sea trial, sea worthiness, safety, recent maintenance records, seller to remediate any defects, etc.) and make a 10% deposit (preferably to be held in escrow) and with specific dates (or a maximum number of elapsed days) for re mediating defects and closing the sale.

There are lots of old thread that discuss how to write an offer on this site that I found very helpful and saved me money and worry.

Cheers,

[rw58ph]

We were green newbies like GG when we bought the Eagle and did not have the inter net and boat sides so I was dependant on the people I trusted. I made a point to be there for every survey as I learned a lot. Let GG most people thought we had a very low chance of buying qualifying for the boats we were looking at. Also I like to compare shop be for I buy.

The reason he did not get out of the car is he been on the boat before. He was also recommended other boats we should look at to learn and compare. I have found most broker have only a general knowledge of boat like most sales people. A surveyor know boats more in depth, so a surveyor is who I would put my money on.

Also I would not make an offer with our discussing with my bank and insurance as they are a great souce of information. Foolish not to use the resourses informatio available.

[chrisjs]

GG
How many customers of yours have made very low ball offers on real estate without even seeing the property? An uneducated "buyer" does not know the right price. It is so easy to just take 25% off but that is uneducated and unless the seller is in dire straits will usually fail to secure a decent vessel.

[Ocean Girl]

I sold a boat, that was easily worth 110-120,000 for 75,000. I was the buying broker and not happy about my customer low balling a very beautiful, though a bit rough, vessel. BUT, I did his bidding and after a few months the owner took his offer. My customer had a price in his head for that boat, and would not budge.

I saw the boat ten years latter, and it is cherry, new everything, his low ball offer makes more sense now, considering what he spent on the boat to make it his.
Hope that made sense.

[meme]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

I sold a boat, that was easily worth 110-120,000 for 75,000. I was the buying broker and not happy about my customer low balling a very beautiful, though a bit rough, vessel. BUT, I did his bidding and after a few months the owner took his offer. My customer had a price in his head for that boat, and would not budge.

I saw the boat ten years latter, and it is cherry, new everything, his low ball offer makes more sense now, considering what he spent on the boat to make it his.
Hope that made sense.

So true! Anything, boat or real property is only worth what someone is willing to pay. Boats a bit scary as it is considered luxury item. It seems to me, from what I've gleaned over the past year,
that the minute you close on that used boat, it depreciates dramatically,
so best to make sure it has good bones & excellent opportunity to upgrade
and possibly maintain some value for resale.
Tisn't easy, that's fer sure, not a decision to rush into with blind emotion,
as money don't grow on trees.....

EDIT: Just for those who don't realize, I am GG's Mom, and am very much involved with this process ;-)

[Ocean Girl]

Meme, so nice to meet you. My momma is a boater too. I love it when she comes to the boat, she is all business! "Lets repair this or lets revamp that" I love it.