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Old 03-09-2017, 17:12   #1
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A great broker in FL

With all the broker bashing that goes on, I thought I'd post a positive note on my buyer's broker for a just completed purchase. I "met" John via phone 3 or 4 years ago when I called to inquire about a boat. He inquired about what I was looking for, and even though I told him I was just kicking tires and was years away, it did not dissuade him from sending me info and checking in with me every 6 months or so. I never felt pressured or pursued, and his timing was always about right. Sometimes he checked in via email, sometimes by phone, always helpful in answering my questions, be they about specific boats, or the process of buying in the Caribbean when I'm in CA. Sometimes I'd call and pick his brains about a particular boat, or brand or stuff. The calls were always cordial, professional, and low key and I never felt like I was talking to someone who was trying to sell me something, but who's interest was really to help me. I'm a salesman, and I know it's not easy to be that way when you earn based on commissions, but John was a natural at it. I was in contact with a few brokers, but knew if I found something, I'd call him, and boy, am I glad I did.

Around early July, I noticed a cat I had been watching had dropped in price so I gave him a call. I was really almost a year away from being "ready" but did not hesitate to call John because of his demeanor. He pulled up the listing and told me that he was going to be in the VI in a few days and that the listing broker was a friend of his. He'd take a look and report back to me, which he did and said the boat was in better condition than anticipated and that the charter company that ran it was continuing to upgrade and replace critical and expensive items.

We discussed it and agreed on an offer price that was substantially below their reduced asking price. They countered midway and I accepted, pending the usual inspections and survey, etc John recommended having a third party inspector go over the boat before I fly all the way from Cali to inspect. That came back clean and end of July I flew in to inspect and sea trial. Turns out, one of the engines had a cracked the block! Both Yanmars had about 10k hrs and were tired. John was instrumental in getting an agreement that the seller pay for a whole new Yanmar package and I pay for the other by putting that amount in escrow until the second package was delivered and installed. There was never any doubt that his goal was to protect my interest, at times taking an even harder position than me in negotiations. Just Friday, as I was transferring purchase funds, he called me and told me not to release the engine funds as installation was not quite complete, protecting me from making that mistake. I'll now have 2 new engines under warrantee along with all the other items the owner had replaced.
I cannot imagine going thru this without Johns guidance. Splitting the commission, he certainly did not get rich off my purchase, yet treated me like he would.
His name is John Anderson and he works for the Catamaran Company in their St Augustine FL office. Even though they represent Lagoon, he never tried to steer me away from the brands that I was looking for (not a Lagoon).
Johns cell number is 954-821-6450. He will always answer or call you back in short order. I would not hesitate to recommend him, and I just did!

Jeff
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Old 04-09-2017, 06:42   #2
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Re: A great broker in FL

Thanks Jeff.
It's always nice to hear positive news/reviews.
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Old 04-09-2017, 08:58   #3
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Re: A great broker in FL

I'll second the endorsement of John Anderson. We have been working with him for some time now looking for our retirement catamaran. His straight forward demeanor and professionalism is what attracted us to him. He's not one to just push for a sale and that approach resulted in us deciding to go with him. We had already experienced the pressure sale brokers before we met him and to a certain extent had been turned off by brokers. Due to several personal reasons, most recently a pending knee replacement, John has stuck with us conducting followups, recommending boats, providing information on the pros and cons of different models, and sometimes just calling up to see how we are doing.
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Old 04-09-2017, 10:50   #4
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Re: A great broker in FL

Really nice to hear about such professionalism. Thanks for sharing the info.
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Old 04-09-2017, 13:01   #5
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Re: A great broker in FL

So nice to see such a post. There are many great brokers and stories like yours. When I read some of the broker bashing, I get upset, knowing how many good ones are out there. If I read a sequence with a long litany of broker after broker problems, then I identify the one constant in the entire equation, the boater. Either they are horrible at picking brokers or they refuse to work with a buyer's broker and just deal with dozens of others, or they're the problem in the relationships. It takes two to tango. A good customer and a good broker.

In the case the OP has written about, the OP merits credit too. They shared honestly with the broker where they were in the process, never mislead him. They continued to communicate. Then they were loyal when the right boat surfaced. Brokers are more than willing to work with those not going to buy till well in the future. They do get tired of calls from those who won't even share any information and posers who pretend they're ready to buy but aren't even close. So, my compliments to the OP.

It's all about relationships. Find a broker with whom you can have a good relationship. If it's the wrong one, find another, don't blast the entire industry.
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