Paying list price for a new cat?

[freetogether]

I have bought and sold several new Sea Ray and Sea Hunt boats and I have never paid list price for any of them and I never sold them for what I paid for them. I am currently trying to purchase my first new catamaran and the seller will not negotiate off list price at all and has also told me I can get all my money back with a 5% increase in value over the next 3 years... Now I sell real estate for a living not boats, but still I have never heard of such a way of doing business and I have never heard of a boat increasing in value. Am I missing something or just being played?

[CruiserBrad]

You are being played. Unless the hardware on the boat is solid silver! lol

[a64pilot]

So, I can buy four, and make lots of money, right?
You know better, I get irritated when they try to take me for a fool, yeah right I'm paying less for the car than you did, right?

I guess it possible for a boat to be an appreciating asset, but I have never seen it, they are more like automobiles, worth less every year you own it, of course you can lessen the depreciation with really good care, but it is a depreciating asset.


Sent from my iPad Pro using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[SailFastTri]

It can happen if the boat is in demand (even if just to a niche) and the currencies fluctuate to keep new boat prices increasing year after year. Used boat prices are determined by condition, supply/demand, and new boat prices for the same model.

I bought a Dragonfly 920 new in 2001 and sold it in 2006 for 30% more than I paid, but the new boats had increased about 50% during the same period (due to Euro/dollar valuations) and there was a 6+ month backlog. I then bought a Dragonfly 1000 that had been damaged, and the seller was under some kind of duress to move it fast. I put $$$ into a major refurb, sold it 3 years later for about 40% more than I had into it, but it looked gorgeous and everything worked. Condition, along with new boat prices were the major factors.

As they say in the fine print of the prospectus: "Past performance is not an indication of future investment value".

IMHO if you really want that boat and the builder has a backlog and isn't flexible, then you can take it or leave it. That's the way things roll sometimes.

[barnakiel]

Being played.

b.

[smj]

We have owned quite a few catamarans over the last 25 years. From our experience they have sold for more used as they cost new. I think the market now is becoming flooded and this trend is no longer. Good news for buyers maybe not so for sellers. May be good to note that these cats were at least 8+ years old.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[lesterbutch]

Firstly, buying new is generally a mistake! The first buyer depreciation is nearly always 30 to 40 percent! Why eat that loss? Be patient, look carefully, and generally you will find someone who got in over their head and need to get out fast! I hate to sound mercinary but then you take advantage of their bad situation!

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by lesterbutch

Firstly, buying new is generally a mistake! The first buyer depreciation is nearly always 30 to 40 percent! Why eat that loss?

I am not disagreeing, but it is completely opposite to the sell it for more than you paid for it comment.
I don't doubt it doesn't happen, there is a fool born every minute, but doubt seriously it happens often, or most of us would be in Cats.
If it did used to happen, then I bet what will happen will be what happened with the Real Estate market a few years ago. Before that went bust I had several people who thought it doesn't matter what you pay for it, you will sell it for more in a few years, and they believed that, cause they all knew several people that had done just that.

[Scaramanga F25]

There was a time in the 70's if I remember correctly where boat prices were increasing 5 to 10% per year.
My W32 cost was base 37,000$ in early 1974 and I was offered 55,000$, nothing to fancy, sails, stove and a depth sounder, in the fall of 1975.

[FollowingCs]

Antares? maybe. Those things sell 3 years used for the same price as new, because they only build 6 a year, and the schedule is filled the next 2 years, so to get a new one will take 3 years minimum.

~ Following Cs ~

[Traumagas]

Price is only what the Buyer is willing to Pay......Market demand dictates this...... As soon as this World market has another hiccup this will change also.... I have been watching there a Great market for USED cats as one can look here on the classified and see how many want ads are there.......Hell you might even see a Bidding war

[robert sailor]

Fairy tails at best, you buy new, you lose. Owning sailboats never makes any financial sense so don't try to imagine it as it will be very disappointing. Its about using money for pleasure without any regard for ROI. Think of it like money used for entertainment. Buying is just a portion of the fun, now you have to outfit it and that's followed by maintaining it but hey we have more fun sailing than almost anything else we have blown money on. (that was a pun!

[OzClipper]

Maybe the marine broker understands that you are a real estate broker and he/she is just squaring up. Lol