1st time boat finding hiccups

[Knotical]

Hey guys,

I haven't logged on here for a while but have been lurking in the background and picking up tips.

So, I have been actively looking at boats for a few weeks and have encountered a few frustrating events like brokers not having answers to basic questions (conditions of sails and rigging, when was it last in the water, etc.), brokers not returning my calls after viewing a boat... and other minor things.

The best part was where we were shown a boat by "fake brokers" (they may be brokers but not hired by the owner for that particular boat), I was astonished at first but rather found it funny afterwards

Anyway, I just wanted to check in after a long time and vent a little bit, please tell me what other snags you faced while buying your first one.

Best regards.

[barnakiel]

It will depend on where you buy. If a country is full of crooks and thieves, YGWTI.



I went to see the boat I got (our first boat too), met the owner and bought the boat. Cash in hand and keys passed over. No snags. Same story with all my friends buying and selling boats over last 10 years or so.


How big is the boat you buy that you use a broker? $$$?


If your place is that bad, buy elsewhere.


Cheers,
b.

[Knotical]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

How big is the boat you buy that you use a broker? $$$?

I am looking at 30-35ft boats and I don't have a broker of my own, they are the sellers' brokers.

[meridian28]

It could be tough to get a buyers broker on smaller less expensive boats. Talk to some brokers and be candid about how much you have to spend. For example if you are looking at a 40k boat at 10% commission that’s 4K that’s split between the selling and buyers broker. Then the 2k gets split between the broker company and the salesman. Not a lot left to invest time unless the buyer is knowledgeable and has a real good idea what they want.

[CarlF]

Understand that brokers (including buyers brokers) have a built in conflict of interest. They only get paid when a sale happens (the commission). The more deals they do a month the more money they make. It's a business. Nothing wrong with that but don't assume "they are working for you". They are working for themselves. They don't expect to ever see you again after the sale. Always remember that.

As a first time buyer, look only at boats in very good shape. This probably means getting a smaller boat than you'd like. If the price of a boat seems really good, it's likely there's a reason. You just don't have the experience to know what it is. Your buyer's broker isn't going to tell you because it might screw up the deal and his commission.

Budget for the initial purchase price and the first 18 months of upgrades and improvements that follows. Everyone spends more than they expected after the sale. New cushions. New electronics. $5000 for something the surveyor missed (and they always miss things). You might spend 10% of the sale price during this time on a perfect boat and 50% of the sale price on a beat up boat. Don't buy more boat than you can afford to own.

[Knotical]

I have a pretty good idea of what I want and I am looking at boats way within my budget to factor in post-sale repairs.

Q: I liked a boat locally on sale but it likely needs everything upgraded over the next few years (nothing broken on initial viewing and the owner sailed it recently but nothing has been upgraded from what I can tell). I saw a similar boat which is well upgraded (standing rigging, sails, some hoses and pumps, extras like radar, autopilot, windlass) but its located 2 states away and may cost 12-15K more - is it worth buying the latter boat and hire a delivery skipper to bring it home?

[Ruso]

"I have been actively looking at boats for a few weeks" - I would suggest to wait when "a few weeks" becoming "a few month". Patience.. If you are in NY it is big market and eventually something comes up. If you hunting for particular brand/model - get ready to overpay, you don't have much room for maneuver.

[Knotical]

Originally Posted by Ruso

"I have been actively looking at boats for a few weeks" - I would suggest to wait when "a few weeks" becoming "a few month". Patience.. If you are in NY it is big market and eventually something comes up. If you hunting for particular brand/model - get ready to overpay, you don't have much room for maneuver.

Sorry, I should have made that clear.
By "actively" means I have started viewing them with the intention to buy but I have been surfing the listing sites and talking with local yards for almost a year...I have not started searching them recently.

[Ruso]

Originally Posted by moored

Sorry, I should have made that clear.
By "actively" means I have started viewing them with the intention to buy but I have been surfing the listing sites and talking with local yards for almost a year...I have not started searching them recently.

I am actively looking for almost year - a few benefits I observe
1. I have more money to buy the top of the condition boat
2. I starting to understand what and where to look.
3. I get better idea what repair cost and how much time it takes
The only disadvantage I see is loosing 1 year of sailing - have 20 years ahead of me. I can live with it. Ohh... one more - missed couple really good deals.
Many suggest to go with "top of the shape" boat - even pay more, unless you very skilled person with ability to fix her on your own backyard. It hurts when you pay 10K more from average price - but all estimates on "TLC" normally wrong. I would personally go with 10%-20% more price instead of messing with repairs. Evaluate essentials and big price items - engine, rig, haul, sails.. Everything else can be bought separately or upgraded during normal maintenance.
Now out of state purchase... Travel, time loss. Usually you don't get what you see in the posts. If you not stuck with particular brand/model makes sense travel a couple states shorelines to visit every marina there (time factor though)..
If you employed and actively generate revenue I would suggest to wait.. If not - travel out of state to look

[Knotical]

All good points Ruso, thanks.

Originally Posted by Ruso

Usually you don't get what you see in the posts.

^^This is so true

[denverd0n]

Sold the boat I had a couple of years ago. Getting ready to pull the trigger on my "next boat" sometime within a year or two. As such, I've been surfing websites like boattrader.com and yachtworld.com. Only now they have both changed their user interface. I guess they decided that they needed to make some change to keep it fresh. Only the changes have made both sites WAAAAAY WORSE!!!


It is a huge pain to set the criteria that you want. On yachtworld, it now seems that you can ONLY search all of the United States, or ONLY search a single state. No more searching my state and a couple of nearby ones at the same time. How friggin' stupid is THAT!?!


It really never ceases to amaze me how badly some companies fumble their online presence. It's even worse when they had it reasonably good, and then they decide that they have to change just for the sake of change. SHEESH!

[tstano]

We found a buyers broker both times and explained our likes and dislikes. They did searches and we narrowed it to a few to look at. We’re very satisfied that we did. They handled all closing issues and documentation. Tell the broker you’re a serious buyer.

[Centreboard2017]

We share you pain - it took us 3 years of active searching to find our first boat, we are still in the process of getting her back to the UK.

We would scour the internet sites, Yachtworld etc. and viewed boats via big brokers and had the same experiences in different countries. Some really did not give a stuff about knowing anything about the boat they were representing.

We did also view one which was privately advertised by the owner and travelled out to Greece with him to see his boat, so at least he knew about his yacht, oh wait, no he didn't as it had been in quite a serious accident and we found this out but he had no idea. You could see where the hull had been repaired.

It's a real gamble, worse than buying a used car, but once we found our yacht we just got a decent survey done. Good luck

[Ruso]

As addition... Don't trust a single word coming out of selling broker mouth, period. He/she might be very good person, but he is NOT your broker.
Depending on budget hiring a buyer broker might not be such bad idea.

Every statement of "upgrades" should be backed up by documents, BEFORE you spend a dime.

[Knotical]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

It is a huge pain to set the criteria that you want. On yachtworld, it now seems that you can ONLY search all of the United States, or ONLY search a single state. No more searching my state and a couple of nearby ones at the same time. How friggin' stupid is THAT!?!

Yachtworld actually has features that allow you to be more specific.

-When you go to yachtworld(dot)com click on advanced search (mid-left)



-Look at the wide middle section..I usually select "used", "diesel", "all sail"



-Keep scrolling down and you can select the preferred length range (my pref is 30-35ft) and then you can select a region (Northeast for me)



-Since I have been searching so much I then choose 7 or 14 days in "boats added recently" and hit "search"

VOILA

Give it a try, see how you like it.

Best..