Frustrated contacting brokers on boats for sale in the Med

[Tellie]

Walk into a Ferrari dealership with 370K and they will roll out the red carpet, wine, and beautiful women to get you what ever you're heart desires. Talk to a Cat broker, especially international, with 370K and you're lucky to get a yawn out of them.

[TheThunderbird]

I would fit a numer of prospects into a workable agenda, and plan for a 3w journey around.

Cats are much popular in France, and in some charter companies (Croatia, Greece, turkey).

Anyway, I'd rather seek direct contacts with O.

I had painful experiences with dealers, some are real crooks here (l).

Due to the costs of marinas (150% of a same length monohull) cats are scarce here

[sailorcherry]

I've noticed some nice looking deals on some cats in Turkey. She is not a Broker to my knowledge but Yeloya here on CF is the lady to go to on all things about cruising in Turkey (she works for a charter company). Maybe ask her?

[UFO]

Originally Posted by brad03159

Hi UFO,
I noticed you are from Perth WA and planning on taking the jump into sailing.
Iam from Perth and starting the hunt for the appropriate cat to purchase in the med for our next adventure.
We might cross paths sometime in the future.
Good luck with your boat hunting.

Cheers
Brad

Hi Brad,
Good to hear another Perth-ite.

Good Luck with your boat hunting as well

[Artzoo]

Thank you for all your comments and advice, its been most enlightening.

I have to say the frustration has eased. I have had great responses from Christophe from Dream Yachts and Ant from Multihull Solutions!! As well as some great contacts from the wonderful people from this great forum.

The search continues.. I will let you know how it all pans out.

Again many thanks to all those that responded with comments, contacts and advice.

Cheers
Greg

[Catapault]

Originally Posted by sailorcherry

I've noticed some nice looking deals on some cats in Turkey. She is not a Broker to my knowledge but Yeloya here on CF is the lady to go to on all things about cruising in Turkey (she works for a charter company). Maybe ask her?

FYI: Yeloya = Him, not her...

He does know a lot about anything cruising in Turkey, I agree.. He and his staff at Offshore yachting did my Refit on our turkey bought L450. Very happy (see my thread in Lagoon forum).

As for Brokers, I had similar experience with US and Carrib brokers. Frankly, they mostly all came accross as snake oil salesmen, and made next to no effort to assist, either as a buyers broker, or when trying to buy something they list.

The number of boats which were 'listed', which didn't actually exist anymore was also stunning. The number of times I got 'no, thats not for sale, but I have this other one at twice the price' was amazing...

That said, we eventually got a great broker, in Bodrum, Sarp Gunnes, at Evo Yachting. He worked hard to get us the boat at a good price, even after first one fell through.

I can also recommend buying in Turkey, and visiting there. Don't belive everything you read, its a great place.

Regards

[sailorcherry]

çok üzgünüm Yeloya :/

[sailorcherry]

+1
It has to be the most underrated place in the Med, imo. Very safe too, they really have a handle on the T issue. I'm here now actually (over the years now I have spent about 5 months here and have Turkish fam here, Turquoise coast area).

The media and unfortunately ignorant people have really given it a bad name (yes there are some political issues that I don't care for not helping either).

Further, the most honest people I have ever met anywhere in the world are Turkish. Example, twice myself or family has been out and about and money fell out of my purse and my Dad had some fall out of his pocket (me 350Lira, Dad 200). The server turned in mine and my Dad found his money taped to the windshield of his car! We of course tipped them to thank them and they were very hesitant in accepting. They are starving for business in many areas and are getting hammered against the dollar (about 3.7:1usd). So come visit!
(for Americans hopefully this visa drama is remedied very soon).

Originally Posted by Catapault

I can also recommend buying in Turkey, and visiting there. Don't belive everything you read, its a great place.

Regards

[Artzoo]

Originally Posted by Catapault

FYI: Yeloya = Him, not her...

He does know a lot about anything cruising in Turkey, I agree.. He and his staff at Offshore yachting did my Refit on our turkey bought L450. Very happy (see my thread in Lagoon forum).

As for Brokers, I had similar experience with US and Carrib brokers. Frankly, they mostly all came accross as snake oil salesmen, and made next to no effort to assist, either as a buyers broker, or when trying to buy something they list.

The number of boats which were 'listed', which didn't actually exist anymore was also stunning. The number of times I got 'no, thats not for sale, but I have this other one at twice the price' was amazing...

That said, we eventually got a great broker, in Bodrum, Sarp Gunnes, at Evo Yachting. He worked hard to get us the boat at a good price, even after first one fell through.

I can also recommend buying in Turkey, and visiting there. Don't belive everything you read, its a great place.

Regards

Thanks Catapault

Seems there's a lot of good things being said about Turkey here, both as a destination to buyand a place to visit.

I drove through Turkey way back in 1986 from Greece right across east then followed the southern coast right around and back into Greece so I know its a great place. Was a fantastic place then, people sooo friendly and I had a great time, seems the same applies still from your comments.

Sounds like a good place to start and I'll have to get to know Yeloya

Greg

[Artzoo]

Can anyone recommend a decent marine surveyor specializing in catamarans in marmar is turkey???

Kindest regards
Greg

[crankysailor]

Ok glad to see it is not just me..

I am sitting here trying to find our next boat working at it almost full time I swear.. it is so bad it is no longer funny. Calling them on the phone doesn't help either. You get some mailbox and no one calls you back. It is also not an exclusive Med problem. I have called a few in the Caribbean and I am still waiting to hear from them. And no this is not just cause of the holidays. We have been actively shopping since early November.

Maybe it has to do with the bracket you are working on.. in the sub 100K bracket, maybe it is just not that interesting to them? better commissions in the super yacht sector or something?

Either way, if you are a seller, you are doing yourself a disservice by engaging a broker. I have started tracking the owners of boats for sale with brokers (a bit of detectivesque work and cross referencing on sites on the internet works sometimes) .. but doubt that most buyers are so motivated like me to go thru such troubles.

[CatNewBee]

I had a similar experiance with a broker from NZ selling a NZ cruising cat in the Med.

Only pictures and description, he wants the contract + deposit first before even have a look at the vessel. This is a No-Go.

Also made inquiries on some Lagoon cats in Greece, they were under way chartering and it was almost not possible to find a way to see them somewhere in advance, the brokers were from Croatia, very responsive on e-mails - but as long as you want to travel and see what you want to buy it gets difficult.

I am in Europe, but still it is not easy to find what you are looking for. Many good cats are sold at the end of the charter season even still under contract. The market is tight and the demand is high.

As a non-EU citizen I would recommend to look for ex-charter boats, you get 20% lower prices because VAT is not paid on them and EU buyers must pay the VAT on top after purchase - so they seem to be cheep, but they are not for Europeans. Also there are some offers in Turkey, Seychelles or Israel that stay forever on the portals because people do not want to travel there / have some prejudice for buying there.

There were some Lagoon 440 in Spain and one in Greece/ 420 in Greece and one in Croatia around this fall, but in my opinion too expensive for their age. Also some Fountaine Pajot Lipari in Turkey and Croatia / Orana in Turkey / Belize in Greece / Bahia in Greece and a Catana 48 in France, a Leopard 46 in Turkey, a Privilege 435 in Italy, a Lagoon 400 on the Seychelles etc.

Some Lagoon 400 were sold very quickly almost just the same week they popped up.

You can check out the web site of Dreamyacht charter / Sunsail charter and the other large charter companies, chances are you can make a deal before the boats are listed on Yachtworld. You should approach them at the mid / end of the season (in Europe around July / August / latest September.