Soldboats.com

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by ArtM

Surveys can be done at any time. Sometimes the broker has access to a survey that was done previously - though any survey that was not ordered by YOU to meet YOUR needs should be taken lightly. A buyer's survey is not the same as a broker's or owner's survey.

Remember that each surveyor is limited in what he can or will do. Also, he will only do certain things that only he knows unless you specifically request things to be done. Surveyors are all different, and different surveys are done for different purposes. One survey does not fit all!

I forgot to add that the owner has to agree.... you can do a survey at any time, assuming the owner permits it! He may not want to deal with the risks of having a boat surveyed if you have not agreed on a price.

This is a really good point that a lot of rookie purchasers don't get. You do not own the boat! You are entitled to perform only the actions that the owner agrees to.

I advise owners to allow a precursor inspection, about an hour. After an hour, anyone who knows anything about inspecting a boat should know if they are interested enough t put in a conditional offer.

Else the owner could have countless ne'er do wells, climbing all over his boat, tearing stuff apart, stealing stuff, and leaving it in disarray, who are career inspectors with no money and no intention of buying anything unless they get the deal of a lifetime on it. Huge waste of time.

To the OP. I just helped my son with a negotiation this morning. Boat wth average listing price of 42K. After his inspection offered $30K subject to satisfactory survey. I went for the survey day. Surveyor spent 5.5 hours on the boat. Cost $1000. Didn't find anything we didn't see, and actually a few things less, but I do boat maintenance and repairs for living and know exactly what to look for. Based on the surveyors evaluation he split the difference with the owner and dropped the offer to $28K which the owner accepted.

So he got the boat for a good and fair price, didn't screw the owner over, has a clear conscience, and a terrific feeling about his boat purchase. Everybody wins.

[john61ct]

How do people find these 5 y.o. zombie threads to resurrect?

[gamayun]

I like when zombie threads are resurrected when the issue continues to be relevant as this one is. Nothing wrong here IMO. But a crew ad or boat for sale from 5 years ago? The mods should close all those after a year following the original post.....

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by john61ct

How do people find these 5 y.o. zombie threads to resurrect?

If that is a factual question, then they do it by looking through subforums or by doing searches and having the old threads come up in their search.

If that is a rhetorical question about why do they do it the they do it because they want to for whatever reason motivates them. If you are hoping the mods will stop it, nope we won't .

[hellosailor]

In the more tightly managed forums, if you read an older thread and are about to post a reply, a Big Red Box pops up before the REPLY window and says very clearly "Yo, genius, are you sure you want to reply to a terribly old and neglected topic that no one has posted to in ## years? Really? You sure about that? A new thread wouldn't be better?"

And a really clever forum interface can actually fade old threads, so the text appears in gray, not black, and just fades away as it ages. And can even disappear when it gets too old. (It would be nice if they added cobwebs to the old ones, and spiders.(G)

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

In the more tightly managed forums, if you read an older thread and are about to post a reply, a Big Red Box pops up before the REPLY window and says very clearly "Yo, genius, are you sure you want to reply to a terribly old and neglected topic that no one has posted to in ## years? Really? You sure about that? A new thread wouldn't be better?"

And a really clever forum interface can actually fade old threads, so the text appears in gray, not black, and just fades away as it ages. And can even disappear when it gets too old. (It would be nice if they added cobwebs to the old ones, and spiders.(G)

If you wanted to pay for the programming costs for some of these features I'd be happy to pass the suggestions on to the forum owner. Even then I'm not sure he'd care whether an old thread suddenly had legs again.

Why do you care? What's your beef with old threads coming back to life? What's your definition of a thread that is too old to come back to life?

[hellosailor]

I care because:
1-As many others, sometimes I don't see the date when whatever search pulls up an old thread. (And I say "as" because I've made that mistake and replied to a dead thread too.)

2-Like many others, I don't like wasting my time when I go to read "NEW POSTS" only to see that the only new post in the thread, is a ghost thread that someone inadvertently replied to, creating a new thread post. Or worse, a post like "You could fix that by..." to a problem that was resolved or abandoned five years ago.

Having very old threads, accidentally or otherwise, pop up that way is just a waste of time. Cleaning them up is just good housekeeping. In a nautical forum, one might say it is simply keeping things shipshape.

So by all means...Sure, contact the owner. Take a poll. See if any forum members give a damn about the cleanup in aisle seven, or not. Or, if anyone thinks the forum could perhaps distinguish itself by doing that.

[rbk]

Originally Posted by boatman61

What the hell does he care... he's in the plus... by $20,000..
If the surveyor tells the seller the value... sue the bastard..

It’s a moot point anyways. If the survey comes back at 20k /200k over the asking price, (I’d say that’s an acceptable survey) and unless there are caveats regarding the specifics of the survey (won’t go into that but assume -subject to acceptable survey at purchasers expense) each party is bound by the offer should the purchaser accepts the survey and existing terms of sale.

[rbk]

Originally Posted by john61ct

How do people find these 5 y.o. zombie threads to resurrect?

Yup I fell for it. Didn’t read the dates on the new posts.

[john61ct]

Depending on the topic, reality's conditions change enough over time that

facts and advice that used to be perfectly true no longer are.

Not always, but often, a better approach wiuld be to start a fresh thread - they're free!

And if other past threads held valuable background info, just post a link referring to them for those interested.

[Salty Cracker]

Thanks stpeck for the good post. I'm a new buyer and have many of the same questions you did almost 10 yrs ago. I'm glad I found this post when I followed the often snarky advice to "Use the search function". I did a general search for "Boat values" and this very relevant post came up. Thanks Mods for making it available to me.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by stpeck

I am in the process of price negotiations on a 1994 31" boat. The broker who is selling the boat is very reputable. His outfit did the repower in 2005 and has maintained tho boat for years. i am going to keep the boat at the same marina and hope to maintain a good relationship with him.
My question is, could someone who has a soldboats.com account provide me with a search of prices of similar boats sold. Of course I would be willing to pay an appropriate fee. We are about $10K apart.
i am not good at negotiations so the more info I have the better. This is my first purchase of a boat this size/price. I have a good surveyor ready once we come up with a preliminary price.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

This is why you should be using a Buyers Broker. They would have all of that information AND it cost you NOTHING. They get paid by sharing part fo the sales commission and look after YOUR interests.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by john61ct

How do people find these 5 y.o. zombie threads to resurrect?

Google Search finds and brings lots of old threads back to life....