How to Make a Successful Purchase Offer

[Julie Mor]

What if you owed more on the boat than the offers coming in? And circumstances were such that you couldn't even use it.

Do you
a) Wait for a better offer while paying slip fees and loan payments?

b) Refinance your house so you can write the check you'll need to write at closing

c) Stop paying on the loan and let the bank repo the boat?

d) Start playing the Lottery more often?

e) Take the boat out one last time and go down with the ship?

[Scout 30]

Only buy a boat you can pay cash for.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

Negotiate the best price you can subject to sea trial and survey, then with the survey results you can adjust from that price based on the costs to remedy all the issues found.


S/V B'Shert

This.

Also, To negotiate a low price I will often just tell to the broker to pass on with my offer, "I don't plan on nickel and diming small stuff on the survey"
There's always some big stuff it seems... and if not.. sounds like a good boat to get at the agreed price.

[darylat8750]

Originally Posted by Julie Mor

What if you owed more on the boat than the offers coming in? And circumstances were such that you couldn't even use it.

Do you
a) Wait for a better offer while paying slip fees and loan payments?

b) Refinance your house so you can write the check you'll need to write at closing

c) Stop paying on the loan and let the bank repo the boat?

d) Start playing the Lottery more often?

e) Take the boat out one last time and go down with the ship?

There is the reason to offer only what the boat is worth to you and walk away if it is not accepted. If I were selling I would cut my losses. No matter how much I like a possession it is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Unless I think the market is going to firm up. But I've never had much luck at market timing.....

[PortClydeMe]

Originally Posted by Julie Mor

What if you owed more on the boat than the offers coming in? And circumstances were such that you couldn't even use it.

Do you
a) Wait for a better offer while paying slip fees and loan payments?

b) Refinance your house so you can write the check you'll need to write at closing

c) Stop paying on the loan and let the bank repo the boat?

d) Start playing the Lottery more often?

e) Take the boat out one last time and go down with the ship?

f) Gasoline, matches, an up-to-date insurance policy, and a good alibi.

Option d) is a serious time waster.

How's the novel coming along?

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Julie Mor

What if you owed more on the boat than the offers coming in? And circumstances were such that you couldn't even use it.

Do you
a) Wait for a better offer while paying slip fees and loan payments?

b) Refinance your house so you can write the check you'll need to write at closing

c) Stop paying on the loan and let the bank repo the boat?

d) Start playing the Lottery more often?

e) Take the boat out one last time and go down with the ship?

Grammar is important here...

1) "What if you (Julie) owed more on the boat than the offers coming in? "
2) "What if I (Dan) owed more on the boat than the offers coming in? "
3) "What if one (a random person) owed more on the boat than the offers coming in? "

1) and 3) are dependent on that person's personal circumstances and how much Kharma debt they are willing to take on.

2) Depends on how the loan was secured. Personal (signature) loan, Home equity backed or asset (boat) backed.

Your d) and e) are cute but non-starters for me. Your c) is the worst credible option.

I would do a) for a short time if I could but likely end up with b). If it is a signature loan or home equity loan there is no lien against the boat so the sale is not encumbered.

Asset backed is the messiest, especially if I do not have means to pay the note. I would have to talk to the lender and see if I can refinance the loan to my house, signature or some other way.

If you look at what happened in 2008 and 2009 most people walked away. One will pay their food bill first, their house loan second and everything else after that. That's why boat loans are hard to get.

[Julie Mor]

Originally Posted by PortClydeMe

How's the novel coming along?

If I had any talent, I could write a novel or even non-fiction. But if the story was going to be about buying a boat that was a good investment or was problem free, it would have to be a fairy tale. And even then it would require all the dream metadata I could extract from my imagination.

[PortClydeMe]

Originally Posted by Julie Mor

If I had any talent, I could write a novel or even non-fiction. But if the story was going to be about buying a boat that was a good investment or was problem free, it would have to be a fairy tale. And even then it would require all the dream metadata I could extract from my imagination.

Self publishing aside for a moment, when are planning on informing us as to what the year, make, model, and asking price are?

[s/v Beth]

Give her a break Clyde, this has actually been a good thread to see how different people feel about boat buying and selling.
I should say that I offered 40% because I knew the boat had been in Seattle at the marina (not cheap) for a full year without one offer! It had rotten decks, and a soon to die engine. I did my homework and knew the cost to professionally replace the same (or thought I knew- ha ha) It was 2008 and the sky was falling. Now with new everything, and knowing what it is worth, if I was offered a low ball of 50%, they would walk.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

It was 2008 and the sky was falling. Now with new everything, and knowing what it is worth, if I was offered a low ball of 50%, they would walk.

So his boat is worth 50% until it becomes my boat. I get it now - LOL...

(Don't panic - Just joking. I read what you wrote about fix-ups )

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by Julie Mor

What if you owed more on the boat than the offers coming in? And circumstances were such that you couldn't even use it.

Do you
a) Wait for a better offer while paying slip fees and loan payments?

b) Refinance your house so you can write the check you'll need to write at closing

c) Stop paying on the loan and let the bank repo the boat?

d) Start playing the Lottery more often?

e) Take the boat out one last time and go down with the ship?

Seriously, b & c are the only viable options but b is the right choice.

A: Boats depreciate. If you wait a year for a better offer your boat is worth less at the end of the year plus you have paid carrying costs. The longer you wait the more you lose. The return you hope to achieve with boat ownership is not monetary, it's spiritual.

B: Simply reflects the cost of boat ownership. If you can't afford the cost of boat ownership don't buy a boat.

C: Forces the lender to accept a significant amount of the cost of your boat ownership at the expense of your credit rating. However, ruining your credit rating may not be the only problem. You will still owe the bank a large debt, much larger than the cost of plan b, that they can attempt to collect now or in the future. Or, most likely, they'll sell your debt to someone who will do everything they can to make your life miserable.

D: Rename your boat the Ship Of Fools.

E: That's how I hope to go out although it won't be to escape debt.

I was not kidding when I recommended only buying a boat you can pay cash for. And remember, buying the boat is the cheap part.

[WildWill]

Softies :-P The way you approach a negotiation will shave thousands of dollars off the price, so going soft is literally giving them that money as a gift.

If they accept your low ball, it is beneficial to both parties - there is a reason he has accepted. Circumstances not specified in the asking price! He might be in a weak position. Giving him an offer is giving him an opportunity. I'd rather have a low ball than total silence, and if he has a head on his shoulders he can counter your offer until you find middle ground - if it's obvious there's no middle ground, it's then that you walk away, not from some 'insulting' offer.

1st rule of negotiation: Never accept his first offer!!
2nd rule: Never make a 'good-will' concession without it being asked for. If you go in soft, he will counter hard. If you go in hard, he is more likely to doubt himself.

For anyone interested in getting more boat for your money, there's a great book called "Everything is Negotiable!"

Be optimistic - test the waters. You'll keep three-foot-itis at bay for a little while longer

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by brownoarsman

Oh I get that; if the boat is not in the condition at which you agreed to buy it: renegotiate, owner fix, or walk. But the way the OP phrased this and the ways it's been presented in the past, if I understand her right; she has no intention of paying close to the asking price or even her own offer price, but would rather use the survey to knock it down post-offer. If she does this, then she's out of luck if the surveyor doesn't find anything, and out the survey cost if he does but the seller doesn't want to budge. It just seems like this method places unnecessary risk on the buyer,
vs. getting the low price offer accepted up front. Sellers, after all, can be very tied to a price.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

If the survey finds issues you weren't aware of, by all means negotiate repairs, price reduction or worst case walk away. That is a primary intent of getting a survey.

To go in with the intent of lowering the price based on the survey, is not the purpose of the survey.

If you see that a bulkhead is rotten while first viewing the boat, you negotate that up front. You don't quietly let it slide and then try to nail the owner after the survey. That's a scuzzball approach.

I'm hoping that the OP's initial post was just poorly written and it wasn't her intent to mis-use the survey.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

1 - Get a broker
2 - Inspect the boat with the broker
3 - Get broker to run the sold boat data
4 - Determine a price YOU are willing to pay based on 2&3 dependent on survey
5 - adjust final price based on 4

All this low ball game crap is just insulting! If you think it is a good boat be willing to pay what it is worth, if you don't want the boat just don't waste everyone's time.

You have to have an idea of what the boat is worth and if possible the seller's situaiton so blanket X% off is pointless.

BUT there is a difference between low balling and insulting. The only people who feel insulted are those who are being irrational. I would always rather get an offer than not get an offer.

If you are going to low ball, it's best to phrase it gently, so the owner doesn't feel you are hating on his baby.

Something along the lines of: She's a real beauty but I was only hoping to spend around $X. (and then just let it hang there)

It's not technically an offer and he feels good that you like his baby.

If he is desperate to move the boat, he can accept your non-offer or he can come back with a counter offer. Even if he doesn't, you have the option to come back later and say you really like the boat and you scrounged up a little more so would he possibly consider $Y (maybe get a little sympathy going).

Nothing wrong with this approach. If you retain the will power to walk away, it's extremely effective.

Where it fails is when you fall in love with "THE" boat. If the seller catches on, you won't be getting a deal.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

You have to have an idea of what the boat is worth and if possible the seller's situaiton so blanket X% off is pointless.

You must not really have read what I wrote and you quoted I never said anything like "take X% off"

If you follow what I wrote you will get a boat that meets your needs because the broker will help you identify both the boat and the fair price.