In Escrow on Lavezzi 40and about to cancel. HELP!!

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by spinnerbug

Price: one of the lavezzi for sale in U.S. sold for ~170k. Same ag don't know condition or specs.

This price tag is irrelevant without at least a rough idea regarding condition and spec of that particular boat.
Not that it's important now that you backed out. Have you managed to get your deposit back?

[spinnerbug]

Rabbi: the poster was asking about comps. So I gave them to him. The boats were similar but I didn't tour the other one so can't speak as to condition. My guess is the other boat didn't have saltwater as a lubricant but again, I didn't do a survey on that one.

Yes, they sent the deposit right back.

[spinnerbug]

Originally Posted by sailpower

You were a buyer. How were you acting as a broker?

Do you have a bonded escrow account or were you using the listing brokers?

Did you create the purchase agreement or did the listing broker?

Were you suppying all the completed closong paperwork from the buyers side or was the listing agent doing everything?

Are you licensed by your state to file and remit sales tax?

Etc.

Against a 16k commission you asked for a 15k adjustment and a saildrive repair and then complain that the broker wouldn't work with you!

The boat will eventually sell and he will get paid. Whether his share is 5k or 8k, no big deal. I don't know any brokerage houses that will cut a commission that small.

But, it's always your call to move on and pay to survey something else.

Sailpower: I'm in the real estate business. I know what it takes to fill in the blanks of a two page contract. Being bonded protects my earnest money. I would gladly have not sent them the earnest money and bonded myself. Frankly, that's kind of a dumb statement. Yes, I was supplying the completed paperwork. As a buyer, I get the privilege of paying for the closer. The broker isn't doing that. Again, I was acting on my behalf. If anyone thinks the selling broker is acting on the buyer's behalf then I've got a ton of stuff I'd like to sell them. That's just naive thinking. Individuals can pay their own sales tax. Don't need a broker for that. And, we're buying and sailing away. We don't have to pay say tax anyway.

I'm not a seasoned yacht buyer but I can tell from shopping for the last year that brokers with whom we've spoken have added little value to the transactions. If the things listed in this reply are meant to be a defense of the hard work boat brokers put in for money, it's a pretty sad statement. The industry would be ripe for a disrupter. Much like the service provided by boat.com. He seems to post a bunch on this site and from what i've seen, I'm in his court.

As to the rest of the story, I didn't ask the broker to kick in for the whole repairs. I asked them for half of the commission. The same as they would have made if another broker came along. He could have offered even half of that to keep the deal together and it would have been enticing for us and he would have made more than a co-broker situation. That may be a little sophisticated for boat brokers to understand, I don't know. But they haven't sold the boat yet and he'll most likely make the same amount as if he would have closed the dang thing last month. He lost just because of the time value of money.

Either way, we got lucky. I'm finding out more about the boat which would have most likely cost us much more down the road. We may have lost the survey money but it probably saved us in the long run. Maybe another difficult concept for some to grasp?

One more thing, your sentence about " Whether his share is 5k or 8k, no big deal" Is exactly my point. He could have that 8k plus in his pocket right now. Instead, he's still working to make the same commission. In my world, that's foolish. I'm not a boat broker though so I'm probably not as smart as one.

[Factor]

Sell it not sell it, owners decision, buy it not buy it Your decision, work for less, or not Brokers decision.

The other think that interests me is how you know for sure what the brokerage was between the owner and the broker. It may be that to get the listing etc, the broker was already down to a flat fee of $5k or similar. I don't know, and I suspect you don't either.

But fundamentally I really don't understand the bleating, its as if you think they are obligated to do what you want. You decided not to buy and they gave you your deposit back. Sounds like they acted ethically. Seems like they made their decision and you made yours.

[spinnerbug]

Originally Posted by Factor

Sell it not sell it, owners decision, buy it not buy it Your decision, work for less, or not Brokers decision.

The other think that interests me is how you know for sure what the brokerage was between the owner and the broker. It may be that to get the listing etc, the broker was already down to a flat fee of $5k or similar. I don't know, and I suspect you don't either.

But fundamentally I really don't understand the bleating, its as if you think they are obligated to do what you want. You decided not to buy and they gave you your deposit back. Sounds like they acted ethically. Seems like they made their decision and you made yours.

I agree: just feels rude to not reply when people are nice enough to chime in on the subject. You're right, I don't know. I can only speculate.

[witzgall]

One note about saildrives, at least the Volvo drive we had on our last boat. There are two water seals in the leg, and inner and an outer seal. One is designed to keep the oil in, and the other keeps the water out. They have to be installed in a particular direction, they are not just round o rings. The effect if you put them in "Backwards", is that they are now oriented to let oil out, and water in.

This may not have anything to do with the saildrives of topic in this tread, but on any time that there is a leak, it is possible that the owner was maintaining the drive well, but somebody put the seals in wrong when they were last serviced.

Chris