Brokers

[Magic1st]

I have heard it before, but, I am experiencing it now. I have yet to talk to a broker for a boat I have contacted. I only had one. ONE email me a one line sentence response. Yes it is still available in XXXXXXXX. My questions are simple; for example, is it available and is it on the hard or in the water. Do brokers not want to sell a boat? Really odd... and I would be pissed if I was selling......... Yes, I leave my name and number on all emails and voicemails.

my .02

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Magic1st

I have heard it before, but, I am experiencing it now. I have yet to talk to a broker for a boat I have contacted. I only had one. ONE email me a one line sentence response. Yes it is still available in XXXXXXXX. My questions are simple; for example, is it available and is it on the hard or in the water. Do brokers not want to sell a boat? Really odd... and I would be pissed if I was selling......... Yes, I leave my name and number on all emails and voicemails.

my .02

Having sold boats through brokers, I’ve had the same experience. Months of nothing. Then I tried selling it myself and it sold within 1 week. Several potential buyer lined up for half a dozen showings and first one bought it. This was about 15 years ago, but it was shocking to me that the broker wouldn’t do any work for an approximately $10,000 commission.

Just look at sailboatlistings.com, etc and buy a private sale. It’s a lot easier. Follow the standard process and use a standard marine P&S Agreement. It’ll go much more smoothly.

[ranger58sb]

I suspect brokers get lots of email from tire-kickers...

Call on the phone and talk, see if that works better.

-Chris

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Magic1st

I have heard it before, but, I am experiencing it now. I have yet to talk to a broker for a boat I have contacted. I only had one. ONE email me a one line sentence response. Yes it is still available in XXXXXXXX. My questions are simple; for example, is it available and is it on the hard or in the water. Do brokers not want to sell a boat? Really odd... and I would be pissed if I was selling......... Yes, I leave my name and number on all emails and voicemails.

my .02

I'm sure they are out there, but have yet to meet a broker who was really on the ball. One thing I do know, they all want that commission whenever they sell your boat. Sorry for the stereo type, but if the shoe fits...

Originally Posted by Chotu

Having sold boats through brokers, I’ve had the same experience. Months of nothing. Then I tried selling it myself and it sold within 1 week. Several potential buyer lined up for half a dozen showings and first one bought it. This was about 15 years ago, but it was shocking to me that the broker wouldn’t do any work for an approximately $10,000 commission.

Just look at sailboatlistings.com, etc and buy a private sale. It’s a lot easier. Follow the standard process and use a standard marine P&S Agreement. It’ll go much more smoothly.

Totally agree w/Chotu, if you want to sell your boat, diy. Never sold a boat through a broker or the sites where they want to charge for your listing (never a call through them). Eventually used CL or sailboatlistings and sold boats quickly, usually the 1st or 2nd person to come look at them. If you are selling your boat you know it better than a broker who has many listings. We've looked at boats the brokers knew nothing about/asked very directed questions and the broker just gave us the sellers contact info to ask them directly. To save a step and lots of time, may as well cut out the middle man (even though the seller pays the fee).

[FPNC]

Commission boat sales has become a 'part time job'. Mostly retired boomers that see it as extra income after retirement but don't really need the income to live on. They only take it as seriously as they need to. Which is none to much.

[BlueH2Obound]

Magic, If you are interested in a specific boat, and the broker won't get back to you you might try this: if the boat name is visible in the ad, you can go on appropriate forums, for a trawler, try trawlerforum.com, for a Defever trawler, try Defever forum for example. For a specific brand/model of sailboat, go on forum. Post a pic, ask forum members if they know who owns it. I did this last year with a broker gave me the brush off about a boat. I found the owner on a forum and contacted him directly. I also let him know that his broker wasn't representing him very well, actually he really sucked. Anyway, it didn't end up being the boat for us, but at least I wasn't still wondering . . . Good luck in your search!

Oh, and I might add that brokers not getting back to me has been a recurring problem since we've been actively looking.

Note: Researching and contacting the seller is NOT to be taken as trying to cut the Seller's broker out of the deal. It is to notify/confirm with the Seller this his/her broker may be costing them a sale.

Personally, if I was the Seller, and I found out that my broker was not returning calls/emails, not providing info on my boat to perspective Buyers, I would terminate my representation by that broker because he/she wasn't representing me properly.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

I suspect brokers get lots of email from tire-kickers... Call on the phone and talk, see if that works better.

Any broker who thinks that e-mailers are just tire-kickers, and that serious buyers will call to talk is living in the past. He is a dinosaur, and like the dinosaurs will soon be extinct. Today's generation prefers initial contacts, at least, to be by e-mail or text.


Yeah, sure, a lot of tire-kickers will e-mail. Doesn't change the fact that a lot of very serious buyers will also e-mail. A serious broker, who wants to sell boats, will respond to e-mails.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Any broker who thinks that e-mailers are just tire-kickers, and that serious buyers will call to talk is living in the past. He is a dinosaur, and like the dinosaurs will soon be extinct. Today's generation prefers initial contacts, at least, to be by e-mail or text.


Yeah, sure, a lot of tire-kickers will e-mail. Doesn't change the fact that a lot of very serious buyers will also e-mail. A serious broker, who wants to sell boats, will respond to e-mails.

Agreed. An email is a non-intrusive way to get some more information to help decide if the boat (or other item in question) is worth any further time. And it doesn't force either party to drop what they're doing and worry about it "right now", as it can be responded to when time allows.

[Chotu]

Adding on to the last 2 posts, I do everything over text and email. Why? I am not retired. Who has the free time to spend hours on the phone each day to make contact with maybe 6 people? In the same amount of time, through text and email, I can manage 50+ contacts I owe discussions to.

It’s just more efficient. If I need the human touch, I arrange an in person meeting if the situation warrants it.

So bringing it back to agreeing with the last 2 posts, someone contacting through text or email is sometimes a very qualified buyer since they are managing time well because they have an income.

[Shrew]

-> Call via phone, don't send an E-mail

-> Whether you speak with the broker or leave message, request a showing.

-> Don't ask a bunch of tire-kicker questions during the initial contact. Simply book an appointment.

Tire Kicker Questions:

Is It still available?
Is there a survey?
Are there maintenance records?
How old is......?
When was the last time <Blah> was done?


You can rage against the process all you want, but if you're initial contact is an E-mail asking things like "Is it still available" expect to to enjoy the sound of silence.

Incidentally, 90% of responses from online sites like Craig's List ask the same question. I respond and never get a reply back from the 'interested' buyer.

[Argyle38]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Any broker who thinks that e-mailers are just tire-kickers, and that serious buyers will call to talk is living in the past. He is a dinosaur, and like the dinosaurs will soon be extinct. Today's generation prefers initial contacts, at least, to be by e-mail or text.


Yeah, sure, a lot of tire-kickers will e-mail. Doesn't change the fact that a lot of very serious buyers will also e-mail. A serious broker, who wants to sell boats, will respond to e-mails.

Yeah, no kidding. Not just 'today's generation' either. I'm 46 and have been doing engineering consulting on my own for 12 years. I have my phone number on my web site and business cards, but in reality, I never answer my phone for an unknown number. In that whole time, I can think of maybe one to two initial contacts that were phone calls (left a message), all the rest were emails.

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I am not retired. Who has the free time to spend hours on the phone each day to make contact with maybe 6 people?

You're posting during business hours and have 2 thousand posts in less than 2 years. You have time to make a 2 minute phone call. You're not interviewing him for a job or surveying the boat, you're booking an appointment.

[Shrew]

I've NEVER had a problem with a broker calling me back or booking appointments. Good luck convincing them to do it your way. There are thousands of tire kickers out there. They would literally spend their entire day responding to dead-end E-mail threads.

It's not the broker. It's the thousands of dreamers and tire kickers out there. Hate it if you like, but you're not going to convince an anonymous forum to get the brokers to play their game with your rules.

[Mike OReilly]

Based on my experience as a buyer and a seller I believe brokers mostly just get in the way when dealing in the lower end market*.

All too often brokers can't afford to spend the time necessary sell a lower-end boat. The payouts are usually too small for the time spent. So they don't put in enough time, which means they under-serve their client, and they piss off many potential buyers.

Obviously this is not always the case. There are some brokers who serve the lower market well. And apparently there are some who can never be bothered to do a good job, no matter the payout (as per Chotu's example), but in general I think it better to avoid brokers all together at the lower end of the market.


* By this I generally mean boats selling for under ~$50k.

[Pegu Club]

I have had few interaction with brokers, they were all late, and supplied virtually no added value to the sellers of the boats we looked at outside of removing the padlock on the companion way so we could enter the boats. They all came across as guys who had long since stopped having any actual interest in boats, or were just B/S artists, and knew less about the boats than we had already found out before we made the appointments. So we skipped them altogether and went the for sale by owner route, what a huge difference, it was easier, and far more useful information was happily given. We purchased both of the boats we have owned in that fashion. I suspect a ratio of one in fifty brokers actually do a little of what is expected of them by the seller or buyer. The Broker business sadly has a very bad reputation and it has persisted for decades. It must suck for the few good brokers that are out there to have to overcome that reputation.’

Fair winds,