Pay Seller extra for old Survey??

[Goodxcharly]

If I liked the boat enough and it made it through my own personal filters and I then was still interested I would pay for the sellers survey and save a few bucks.
I had kind of the same thing happen with my current sailboat, no broker involved. Though once I showed a strong interest in the boat the seller decided to hand over the survey and he then went over it with me and U lived happily ever after.
Yes, they are very useful and they might show up issues your surveyor will miss. 2 surveys are better than 1.

[PhilipL]

I know one person who bought a boat using an old survey. It was a disaster - he spent years trying to get it into a usable state and never did. It was sold without him having launched it, at a great financial loss after about 8 years. Mind you, he did live aboard it on the hard.

[gonesail]

Originally Posted by PhilipL

I know one person who bought a boat using an old survey. It was a disaster - he spent years trying to get it into a usable state and never did.

once a broker gave me a previous survey. after I looked at the survey .. I lost interest in the boat. it showed some things that the broker did not highlight. so in some ways it did influence me

[Painless]

Originally Posted by CarlF

I don’t understand getting bent out of shape over this.

I wouldn’t pay $300 for some old survey. But I wouldn’t walk away over this if I wanted the boat.

If the $300 survey has something really bad in it, they wouldn’t show it to you. So why pay $300 to see something that says the boat is great?

And you’ll still get your own survey because your insurance company will need it and your surveyor will find some stuff to negotiate another 5%-10% off the price.

That’s how the game is played.

I looked at a boat and the broker let me see a survey that noted some issues .I had my own survey and sea trial and oil samples done. I used the previous survey to see if the P.O. had corrected the deficits (some had) When I got the oil samples back the engines were fine, the gear boxes not, so I passed. The next buyer bought my survey for $500 and did his own. The Seller had put about 20K into repairs so he bought the boat. All it is is information.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Happ

In real estate a Seller has to disclose anything he knows about the property. As to this survey the Seller may have had the survey done for insurance reasons, etc. Now he figures he can recoup some of the cost which would make me very uncomfortable buying the boat.

I wish there was the same kind of legal obligation in the boat selling world. It doesn't appear to be the case.

There is no good reason for a seller to withhold an existing (and known) survey. The worst reason, IMO, would be because (s)he wants to recoup the cost. That's ridiculous given the price of even the cheapest boat.

As I said, as a potential buyer, refusal to provide an existing survey only send me negative messages. Either the seller is not really serious about wanting to sell their boat, or they're trying to hide something. Either way, it's unlikely that this is the kind of person I want to deal with. There are always more boats for sale. I'd move on.

But from the seller's standpoint, I can see sticking a price on a survey simply to get rid of an annoying tire-kicker. As a seller, the worst kind of people* -- worse than outright scammers -- were the folks who blustered in telling me they knew more about my boat and my circumstances than I did.

I can see slapping a ridiculous fee on a survey in this case, just to get rid of them.


*I say "people" and not 'potential buyers,' because these people are rarely serious.

[BlueH2Obound]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I wish there was the same kind of legal obligation in the boat selling world. It doesn't appear to be the case.

There is no good reason for a seller to withhold an existing (and known) survey. The worst reason, IMO, would be because (s)he wants to recoup the cost. That's ridiculous given the price of even the cheapest boat.

As I said, as a potential buyer, refusal to provide an existing survey only send me negative messages. Either the seller is not really serious about wanting to sell their boat, or they're trying to hide something. Either way, it's unlikely that this is the kind of person I want to deal with. There are always more boats for sale. I'd move on.

But from the seller's standpoint, I can see sticking a price on a survey simply to get rid of an annoying tire-kicker. As a seller, the worst kind of people* -- worse than outright scammers -- were the folks who blustered in telling me they knew more about my boat and my circumstances than I did.

I can see slapping a ridiculous fee on a survey in this case, just to get rid of them.

*I say "people" and not 'potential buyers,' because these people are rarely serious.

Mike, I totally agree. My post earlier was before more information came to light, so to speak. So, now that we have more information, it appears that the broker mentioned in the very first post was Smarter than I thought he was!

[LSI]

Originally Posted by geoleo

While looking for a cruising sailboat in Florida I looked at one thru a broker in the 200k range. The PO had purchased it 8 months earlier. I asked if there was a recent survey. He said there was and the owner would provide a copy for $300 cash ! Walked. Comments.

I suggest anybody needs to pay for there own trusted "surveyor" regardless how old the survey is. What, it the SRVY was done with predigest? or it was the night after a good time, and many other reasons.

Interview the surveyor ask good questions. When I get a request for a survey I ask the buyer many questions to find the buyer's needs. I am astounded what I don't know after 65 y of sailing - still serving the boating community since 72 professionally. You can contact me personally if you like
Matt

[kavw]

It has been a little while since I've been on the lagoon, but I think that seacock drains above waterline? its the sink drain, just below the glassed in stringer.

[Cheechako]

A) you need your own survey on a 200k boat.
B) If you want the old survey, negotiate it as part of the deal.

But frankly, any seller who asks that will likely end up a "problem seller" anyway. He's not trying near hard enough. Walk away.

[BBill]

An old survey may give a hint on something that interests you or may be a total waste. It may be worth it or not. No need to get hung up on why it's for sale or what the motives are. I was sucked into buying a previous survey from broker for a 38' ketch and the survey was a total POS written on one page. I was 21 yrs old at the time and never considered paying for a used survey again. In the end I had it surveyed and passed...and also found the seller knew nothing about the survey being presented for sale by the broker. l'm 74 now and have owned dozens of boats...a few sellers have offered their surveys free and I look at them but still do my own surveys.

Also, I don't offer a previous survey to anyone because i don't want them coming back on me saying I was hiding something...as previous posts here show what the mindset would be. Surveyors miss stuff and owners don't necessarily know the condition of everything either. It has nothing to do with deception or trying to hide anything...in fact I always tell buyers to get a survey and am reluctant if they don't.

If you can't burn $300 to satisfy your curiosity on a $200k boat you probably don't want to buy the boat anyway. Its like owning a Porsche...if you can't flush $1000 down the toilet without flinching you may not want to own one.

[CaptBobR]

Originally Posted by geoleo

While looking for a cruising sailboat in Florida I looked at one thru a broker in the 200k range. The PO had purchased it 8 months earlier. I asked if there was a recent survey. He said there was and the owner would provide a copy for $300 cash ! Walked. Comments.

Surveys are normally written for the EXCLUSIVE use of the person they were written for. Also 8 months is too much time for the older survey to be considered useful

That said, if you we’re evaluating a boat, then you would hire your own surveyor as part of the process

[mvweebles]

Y'all are much more serious than I took the OP. First, thr OP would in all likelihood need his own survey, at the very least for insurance purposes. Just wanted the data point.

Survey could have a lot of interesting information beyond major defects. Age and size of outboard, age of dinghy, model/series of electronics, onboard spares, prop information, ground tackle information, engine serial numbers that can give indication of series or age, hour meter readings (watermaker?), safety gear dates, all sorts of stuff that could be interesting to a buyer or owner way beyond standard valuation related items.

Sharing a survey is a good opportunity for a seller to describe value. If there were defects, describe how they were addressed.

While I can more understand denying a request to a tire kicker, in the end, who cares? It's an email attachment that describes a point-on-time evaluation.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by BBill

If you can't burn $300 to satisfy your curiosity on a $200k boat you probably don't want to buy the boat anyway. Its like owning a Porsche...if you can't flush $1000 down the toilet without flinching you may not want to own one.

Exactly.

If you were serious about this boat, an old survey may be worth $300, though you should also get your own.

Another options would have been to have negotiated the old survey into the purchase price.

But the fact is that if you were so unsure of an offer that this sent you packing, it wasn't going to work out in the first place.

[Brioche]

Probably all that needs to be said has been said, but a new thought comes to mind.
First, if the old survey had red flags, the seller probably would not volunteer it for free or even for a nominal price (at the same time, a buyer should not rely on an old survey alone anyway). Conclusion -- the fact that the seller disclosed the survey means it has no red flags, so buyer doesn't need to see it -- it is simply an indication that if he remains interested he should go ahead and get his own survey. No need to spend money simply to see that there are no red flags.
Second, the demand for a fee for an old survey means either the seller is a jerk, the buyer is a jerk, or they both are. In any case, broker should stock up on aspirin.

[MicHughV]

I'm curious about this $300 survey fee.

I can't think of any boat survey I ever had done, to cost that little.

Typically, the boat surveyor is on the boat most of the day, including the haul out.
Add in drive time to come and see the boat, and the time to write the survey report, and a surveyor will have a substantial amount of time invested in a boat survey.
The final survey report can be many pages long, with photo's, recommended fixes, etc.

I simply don't see any surveyor doing this for $300, not even for a small boat.