Why Don't You Want to Sell Your Boat?

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by Doodles

I have a question and a suggestion.

First, in this market with so many boats to choose from why are you still looking? For several years now we have had a great market for buyers. You say you have been looking for some time, mostly online I suspect, yet you haven't found anything? Are you really serious or do you just like to look and kick tires or maybe you're looking for the ultimate deal?

Second, get yourself a decent buyers broker and let them do the dirty work. They can do the leg work, make the calls, pre-inspections, setup the appointment, etc. It will save you a lot of time and energy, and get you on the water and off the computer.

There is all the advice you will ever need on this subject.


Regarding brokers; a $60,000 boat represents a potential $6,000 commission.

The house takes $3,000 which leaves $3,000 for the selling broker and the listing broker to split.


So for a potential $1,500 fee or even a $3,000 fee if only one broker is involved, a broker shows you boats, attends sea trial and survey, renegotiates after survey, does all the closing paperwork, does the title and registration transfers, collect and remits taxes, etc, etc. I think you will find that a reputable broker accepts all that as part of his job as long as he has a real buyer.

A “real buyer” who hasn’t found a good deal in the last two years might have to reconsider his or her status as a real buyer. A buyer who hasn’t bought a boat in that particular time frame or been unable to find a reputable broker to represent him or her might have some limiting factors that go well beyond your rant on brokers.

[Vasco]

Everyone here says it's a buyers market yet the majority of rants/complaints on this site are from buyers. Very few sellers complaining. Very peculiar.

[Target9000]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

From a Broker's listing..........

I mean honestly.... Was the title of the ad, "Buy this shitty boat."

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Fishspearit

-Call!!! Like someone posted earlier, serious customers call.

Maybe in the 1980s they did. Not anymore. This is the 21st century, and brokers who want to sell boats are going to have to accept that a lot of very darned SERIOUS buyers these days prefer the first contact to be via e-mail.

In fact, I'd say that ALL businesses need to wake up and smell the coffee, and realize that today's generation would often prefer the exchange to begin with e-mails or texts, rather than a phone conversation. If your customers cannot contact you by e-mail you are almost certainly LOSING BUSINESS!

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Jort

Therefore it is important to ask questions like that as a seller. Again, I do understand you don't feel like answering questions like that, but you should always try to give the seller the reassurance you are legit and not a scammer.

I still have to disagree. Yes, the seller should probably ask the buyer some questions. Especially when it gets down to final negotiations on the sale.

If the buyer doesn't want to negotiate, wants to pay more than full price, and doesn't even want to bother seeing the boat... HELLO! Huge red flag here. You don't need to ask him his age or his profession. You need to tell him that you will not release the boat until AFTER all monies have cleared, through your bank and all the way back to his. That will send the scammers running.

Frankly, most such scams are so obvious that you have to be awfully gullible to fall for them. It only takes a little due diligence to avoid the overwhelming majority of scams.

Asking if the buyer is planning to pay cash, if he wants to move the boat to his own dock right away, how soon he wants to have it surveyed, and that sort of thing is fine. Asking him what his budget is, or especially his age or his profession, is simply another way of asking to hear the phrase, "None of your business!"

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Maybe in the 1980s they did. Not anymore. This is the 21st century, and brokers who want to sell boats are going to have to accept that a lot of very darned SERIOUS buyers these days prefer the first contact to be via e-mail.

There is always another side to that.

For example, an often seen email inquiry in response to a YW listing complete with full specs and photos:

Dear Broker Bob, I am interested in your XYZ boat for sale. Please send me additional information and more photographs.
Very Serious Buyer.

The response then is:

Dear Very Serious Buyer,
Thank you for your inquiry. What additional information are you looking for and what additional photographs would you like me to take?
Broker Bob

Several things usually happen at this point;
1. Nothing. No response.
2. Vague responses such as “Anything” or “Whatever you have”.
3. A detailed and specific list.

#3 is the good one unless unless the detailed and specific list includes unrealistic requests for information. Even with number 3 there is often no further feedback or response to subsequent emails after the requested information has been provided.

After awhile some brokers just get jaded about the whole thing and unless the prospect is willing to have some personal interaction they choose not to play the numbers game.

It be what it be.

[rancher44]

Well I am looking for a boat but my money is not available until 1st of May. I have ask for additional details on 3 boats I have had a very good luck in getting replies . My real question is why is the price on a boat that has been advertise for 3 years, no information update, and the price is still outrageous . For example 1998 cat 256k 42' is it no out of line to offer 175 after sea trial and surveyed ?? This is a nice looking boat but has been advertise for 3 plus years .
I plan on doing this up front before I fly down I want to come to some understanding of what I am willing to pay before I waste my time and the owners.

[sailorboy1]

You should run away from any boat that has been on the market for 3 years at the same price etc. There is a reason!

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by sailpower

A “real buyer” who hasn’t found a good deal in the last two years might have to reconsider his or her status as a real buyer. A buyer who hasn’t bought a boat in that particular time frame or been unable to find a reputable broker to represent him or her might have some limiting factors that go well beyond your rant on brokers.

[Kettlewell]

I personally don't think it is "out of line" to offer almost anything on a boat, but the real question to answer is, "is it productive?" First, you have to determine what the boat is worth to you and what it is likely to fetch on the market for the location, etc. You might luck out with a lowball offer once in a great while, but I find that it usually doesn't work, so I move on if that is what I am willing to pay and I sense the owner isn't willing to go there. Sometimes you can offer a low price and explain why the price is realistic and the owner will listen to you, but other owners just list their boats at a high price and figure they'll just continue to use the thing until some sucker comes along or the market changes. Don't get mad about it--just different objectives. There are always other boats to look at and make offers on.

[Morgan Donor]

Sea Hag - I sent you an email aking you if you were possibly interested in buying my boat. You haven't replied.

Are YOU part of the problem?

[boatsail]

As someone who brokers real estate deals in the with a team of 3 licensed agents and 1 unlicensed admin staff, I can tell is wasting my time by our interactions.

My only job in my real estate business is to qualify prospects for buying and selling and then schedule the initial listing appointment or showing appointment between them and my agent. I am on the phone for 5+ hours a day taking care of everything. My goal on the phone is to weed out the tire kickers so that I can get the qualified people to my staff.

Looking for 2 years and not found the right house? Why would I have my agent spend another 2 years? Really, if your particulars are that specific and one of the 18,000+ homes that sold in the area over the last 2 years was not good enough, how in the world will we find one in the next 60 days? I can preview all homes in an area that meet a buyers criteria based on price, condition and amenities in the course of a week. More if we get out only time to time as opposed to every day in a row.

Sellers, if you want 350k and the highest comparable sold 4 months ago for 275k and was a total remodel and your stuff is all original, but you tell me how good it works and that you have it serviced every year and want more than it is worth, I can't waste the time. Then they tell you they won't give their house away. I ask "what would you consider giving it away in regards to price". I get an answer like 325k. Next. Nothing I can do. Guess what. Someone will put it on the market and waste time and money for 6 months till they get fired as an agent. I see it every day.

The saying is that Buyers are liars and sellers are yellers.


You have to deal with people that have realistic expectations as they are the only clients buyer or seller that can be accommodated. Some people can be shown the information and still not come to a logical conclusion.

Example. I get a call from a buyer that tells me they want a home and want to pay 50% of list price. I pull numbers and show them the entire county..Each and every sale that happened (hundreds) Ask they how they can get 50% off list, but not find one single example of this. They insist. I don't work with them.

Time cannot be bought, manufactured, stolen. You only have so much, so must determine how you use it and not let the time vampire (they dont suck blood, but time) get you. Only you can protect your time so that you get a return on it as a broker. We don't get paid for time, but results.

[Fishspearit]

Originally Posted by rancher44

Well I am looking for a boat but my money is not available until 1st of May. I have ask for additional details on 3 boats I have had a very good luck in getting replies . My real question is why is the price on a boat that has been advertise for 3 years, no information update, and the price is still outrageous . For example 1998 cat 256k 42' is it no out of line to offer 175 after sea trial and surveyed ?? This is a nice looking boat but has been advertise for 3 plus years .
I plan on doing this up front before I fly down I want to come to some understanding of what I am willing to pay before I waste my time and the owners.

There can be several reasons for what you are seeing.
-Wife wants the boat sold, Hubby doesn't, "See Honey, the boat is on the market!"

-Boat was listed for sale at too high of a price. Owner thought his listing agreement ended after 6 months, didn't read the fine print where the listing actually ends 30 days after written notice is provided. So listing is still active, but Owner doesn't even know it. Believe me, I've seen this happen plenty of times.

-Maybe the boat really is worth close to the asking price. The only way you will know is if you go look at the boat. There is a certain irony in the fact that piece of crap boats that are cheap get all the attention from bottom feeding buyers(and I mean bottom feeding in the nicest way, we can still be talking expensive boats, but people trying to get unreasonably good deals) while the really well maintained boats that are for sale at the top of their price range often get neglected.

Internet boat shopping can be a curse. Two of the same boats, built the same year by the same builder, with the same equipment, can vary in value by $50,000 depending on the condition. You cannot reasonably base your offer only on the book value and how long it has been for sale. You must inspect it and ascertain it's true value before you can expect your offer to be taken seriously. Remember that the survey/sea trial process can be very stressful for Sellers. When you make a low offer without having seen the boat, you won't be taken very seriously. Just as you don't want to invest in plane fare, surveyor, and haulout fees without knowing the boat has a good chance of passing the survey, the Seller does not want to invest the time and effort in getting the boat ready for a survey/sea trial for a sale at a rock bottom price for a buyer who may walk away as soon as he sees the boat for the first time.

Many, many people just like to "fish" and make low ball offers on boats that have been on the market for a while just to see what they can be bought for. *Buyer's tip*=> When the Seller believes you are serious about your offer and seriously want to buy his particular boat, you have a much better chance of getting the lowest price. Nobody gives their bottom line price to a casually proferred offer.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by rancher44

Well I am looking for a boat but my money is not available until 1st of May. I have ask for additional details on 3 boats I have had a very good luck in getting replies . My real question is why is the price on a boat that has been advertise for 3 years, no information update, and the price is still outrageous . For example 1998 cat 256k 42' is it no out of line to offer 175 after sea trial and surveyed ?? This is a nice looking boat but has been advertise for 3 plus years .
I plan on doing this up front before I fly down I want to come to some understanding of what I am willing to pay before I waste my time and the owners.

You may never know "why" (have you asked?) but does it matter. It wouldn't be the first overpriced boat on the market. But the boat may well be worth that to the seller and he/she may be willing to wait. Whatever, by all means make your offer before you fly down if 175 is all you have budgeted and then move on.

[boatsail]

I'll give you an example of a lowball that came through....This was sent to me by email some time ago on a 300k house. I get them daily.

This person has not been in the house! They even fax these ridiculous things all over town. We come in and each of the 130 agents in the office has 3 of them from the same person.

This is the type of thing that would not get a respone. Funny though, I respond to ever single call and email that comes in. This was responded to as I like to keep my name good with everyone. And in my particular team, that is my job.

My verbal offer includes (see if the seller will accept it before we put into writing)
*108,426.63 >>>all cash offer
*1,000 emd
* all CASH
*quick settlement est 21 days or less depending on title


Based on this houses condition. I cant pay the list price but my offer is pretty close in my opinion especially for what I pay in that area.
I am not working with an agent on this deal and would be willing to let you work both sides if the seller will accept my offer.

ALL CASH DEAL

Seller will net entire 108,426.63
I will have the closing costs paid.