Frustrated Seller - Tartan 37

[Midwesterner]

Originally Posted by taoist

Would appreciate any advice from those who have sold boats. I have a Ted Hood designed 1969 Tartan 37 (Classic series) that I spent 10 yrs, refitting. This is a really nice looking boat with many new parts and a Westerbeke 35 with only 297 hrs. Decided 2 years ago to downsize and put it on the market with a reputable broker, listed at $24,900. I know that there is a limited market for older boats but I'm surprised and disappointed that it hasn't sold. It can be viewed at www.breweryacht.com/profile/dmckenney. Reverie Tartan 37.
Any ideas regarding change in game plan? Lower price, etc.

That's an old boat. Even with lots of refitting, people can get plenty of newer boats. I just bought a Bristol 35.5, with many accessories, well maintained, in good shape, for $27000. In your refit description, you do not mention the age of the standing rigging and chain plates. That would be a concern for people, on a boat of that age.

Is your boat the Ted Hood designed 37? The ad says that it has a full keel. SailboatData says that the Hood design is a fin keel, and says that it was a yawl. The full keel sloop model is said to be a Sparkman and Stephens design.

It's a little heavier than other cruisers it's size, probably suitable for off shore sailing, and maybe slower for people looking for a racer cruiser. People looking for an off shore boat, might steer more toward a newer boat.

If you leave it on the market long enough, someone for whom it fits their particular niche, will likely buy it. But a price reduction is probably warranted.

My boat sat for a bit, 18 months, without selling. I think it did not fit the niche for most people who were shopping for a boat to use on the Chesapeake, because of it's 5'9" draft, fixed keel, and it's relatively heavy weight. But it fits my plan perfectly, because I plan to take it off shore.

I found my boat listed on a Facebook group called, "32 foot or bigger sailboats for sale by owner on the continental U.S."

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1569031749819506

[silkie]

Nothing is new after 2yrs. Give the date it was replaced, or an approximation. As others have said.

I think the big problem is the broker.

[mvweebles]

Read your ad. First words are "1969." Unless you're selling a muscle car, probably not the best marketing. First words should be "Tartan 37." Heck, in your ad, you have to search for the length.

Your not listed on Yachtworld which might be okay, but id expect a CYBA broker to have a full marketing presence.

Boats don't sell themselves. You may want to rethink your choice of broker. Sounds like he'd rebrand sushi "raw dead fish."

[Island Time O25]

Nice boat.

I see several factors converging to prevent a quick sale. The price is not at the top of these but not wholly irrelevant either.

1. Age. Self-explanatory.
2. Interior design. Galley placement not everyone's cup of tea. Plus no 1/4 berth. It's really a day sailor interior.
3. Limited tankage.
4. Listing with a broker. This price range really does not make the brokers jump through the hoops to sell your particular boat. Why excert all the effort when given the same effort he can sell a $100K-$200K boat and get 5-10 times the commission.
5. Covid-19. Or perhaps this should be No. 1 reason.

With a $24K asking price I would go to craigslist, sailboatlistings and sailingtexas, in that order. And of course here on CF you might catch someone's eye. It is a nice classic well known design and the boat is in the right area to be looked at in a few hours drive, between Maine and NJ.

Agree with the poster who suggested haggling with whoever offered $16K. Out of 5 boats I owned I sold three and gave away 1. On all three sold boats the initial offers were around 50% of the asking price. All sold half way between the asking and 1st offers. I knew that 2 of those were worth even more than my initial asking price but the storage and haulout/launch fees were killing me. One more season meant $$ down the drain with no guarantee that the next season I get the asking price or close to it. So I cut the losses and sold to the first serious buyers.

[taoist]

yes that was my thinking as well but this guy wasn't negotiating

[taoist]

S
Thanks for the advice. Yes, I wish the boat were in your country right now.

[ozdigennaro]

Beautiful boat. It would be high on my list if I were buying an old boat.
Oz

[My Wind Lass]

Hi Taoist,
I can understand your frustration trying to sell an older boat especially during this pandemic. I can only reiterate and emphasize what DMF Sailing and Tsuru have already said It is very important to help prospective buyers see themselves in your boat if you want to be successful.
We built our website https://mywindlass.wordpress.com/ to help do just that and almost every visitor who came to see the boat cited the website as having attracted them. We tried to create a vision of what life with our boat was for us and help them to see how they might have the same. Did it work with every visitor? No but it only needs to work for one buyer. In our case, we were successful and sold it last September. We didn't try to hype the boat as much as share our pleasure in owning it. To be fair, we kept our boat in good shape relative to its condition when we first bought it, but there were lots of boats on the market which were also of interest to local buyers.
We are now looking for a boat we can retire on and I can assure you we are seeing a lot of poor quality efforts in showing the boats. It is frustrating when trying to get a feel for all the different options available if people only provide low quality images of poorly lit, overly stuffed or messy spaces with no one in camera appearing to enjoy themselves. We want to see people in the images so we have a reference of the space available and how the users are interacting with the boat and her systems.
So the takeaway is, make an effort to show the boat in its best possible light and help a potential buyer see themself at the helm, laying on deck or in the cockpit, down below, in light winds and heavier to show the boat handles well. Provide your story. It might just help it to become someone else's. Good luck, and I wish you one of those great days in a sailor's life.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by DMF Sailing

I've never purchased a yacht but I've been shopping for them for decades. I'm very experienced at being turned off by boats just from what I see on the internet.

I found a few cosmetic things about your listing that you could improve right away if you were trying to get me to stay a little longer.

In no particular order:

If you want to sell anything old, you have to go out of your way to make it so that I visualize myself sailing it and living on it. That means put in the extra hours of effort to clear out all your junk (sneakers? really?). You did all that work to upkeep the boat; you could remove or replace that ratty netting. See, if I'm thinking about the thoroughness of your repairs that are going to matter, I want to get a sense that you have keen attention to detail...and this listing doesn't convey that.

Which brings me to your choice of pictures. I guess on a 50-year-old vessel, I want to see the condition of the hull and keel and rudder. Otherwise, I just click away to the next listing.

As for your listing: Why, if you are trying to attract attention, do you post a link that sends me to a picture of some guy and other people's boats? I have to search to find yours. Again, if I'm clicking along the internet, that's two too many steps.

Also, call me a land-lubber WAFI, but how do you steer this thing? I didn't notice a wheel, but I did notice that the main traveler is really close to the helmsman's position. That's an advantage for shorthanded sailing, but I'd want a few more perspective shots to get an idea how I fit into this cockpit when I'm sailing.

Ditto with living quarters. I appreciate the shots of the salon and the galley, but I have no sense of the layout of the staterooms. You're up against some nicely outfitted and quartered boats; again, you should make an effort to tell me what I'm getting.

I'm always a little bummed out when I read a listing and pieces of information are left out. Bridge clearance, for example. That's an easy fix.

Finally, for a vessel I might want to use for long passages, given its build and size, your boat has remarkably light fuel and water tankage.

Sorry, you asked why, and I'm giving it to you straight.

Tiller is visible in the Brokers pictures.

[Jammer]

Boat brokers cannot make enough money to eat by selling $20,000 boats, especially ones that are 50 years old.


Keep in mind that the brokers want to sell every buyer a boat. They don't care whether the buyers choose your boat or some other boat they have listed. They have more boats, than buyers.



Basically at that price point the broker isn't going to do anything other than talk on the phone to potential buyers. The quality of the listing and the photography will show that. The boat will have to sell itself, and you will have to provide good photos and good ad copy.



Not many buyers for a 1969 boat, even one in good shape. People buy older fiberglass boats to save money. There are lots of inexpensive 1990s boats in good shape, no need to go back further.


I sold my 1975 fiberglass boat for $1000. 24'. At least I didn't have to cut it up with a chainsaw. I kept dropping the price until sold. Broker didn't encourage that; they do not like to see low pricing as a strategy for getting a sale.



Good luck.

[anacapaisland42]

Sorry.....people are buying pizza.....not steaks
Bill


TE=taoist;3341266]Would appreciate any advice from those who have sold boats. I have a Ted Hood designed 1969 Tartan 37 (Classic series) that I spent 10 yrs, refitting. This is a really nice looking boat with many new parts and a Westerbeke 35 with only 297 hrs. Decided 2 years ago to downsize and put it on the market with a reputable broker, listed at $24,900. I know that there is a limited market for older boats but I'm surprised and disappointed that it hasn't sold. It can be viewed at www.breweryacht.com/profile/dmckenney. Reverie Tartan 37.
Any ideas regarding change in game plan? Lower price, etc.[/QUOTE]

[Rohan]

There might be another option. Does anyone know if it's a viable option to donate a boat like this to a sailing club or something similar, as a tax write off?

[Jammer]

There are some boat donation places that sell your boat on eBay as-is where-is, handle the title/registration paperwork, and use the money for charity. They are a good alternative for trailerable boats.


They offer some advantages for the boat seller over listing a boat on eBay yourself:


1) They have a following of potential buyers who review their listings.


2) They are successful in enforcing a policy of no in-person showings, and a policy of requiring payment in advance of picking up the boat.



3) They will blacklist people who win and pay for an auction and fail to remove the boat within a reasonable period of time (usually a week), and will re-list the boat when this happens. This is largely successful as a deterrent to people backing out of deals.

[Kd9truck]

I have had 2 boats in 5 years I found and bought both on sailboatlistings.com. I still use the listings as reference to check on the marketability. As stated by others you will need to up the presentation game and somehow (polish, clean, wax, stage the photos) a nod to the seaworthiness of your ultraheavy displacement vessel (sailboat data.com). On this site your boat will be shown by price range if it is searched in this manner, you get a lot of boat for that price, hence your frustration.
Just My gut base on NY critical thinking: when you list a vessel at the lower end of a profit margins with a broker they either don’t show it because they are driven to sell up to get larger commissions, or they show your vessel first and use it as a tool to talk up all modern conveniences and justify the necessarily higher prices.
Good luck

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by taoist

According to the broker there have been nibbles with one offer of $16000 - much too low.

An opening offer of $16k is from someone who'd possibly go higher in a negotiation!

My brother-in-law is currently the executor of his stepfather's estate which includes a gorgeous 36' older boat that he has to liquidate, and I suspect it won't fetch more than $20k... canadian. Not enough love for GOBs, I guess, even ones that have been carefully maintained.