Where to sell a boat

[Sluce]

We are currently in the Bahamas, about to return to the states. Due to health issues this is going to be our last cruise and we will need to put Voyager on the market.
Where do you think the best market is, on the Southeastern coast, to sell a cruising sailboat?
Our home is on the west coast so we can go anywhere from Florida to the Chesapeake easily. I just want to take the boat where it will be sold quickly.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Stan

[model 10]

If it does not sell quickly you want to stay south of VA. Winter storage is a problem. North Florida has good dry storage and is not such bad place to sell from. Good location for people driving around looking at boats on the east coast too.

[Amapola]

Annapolis, Maryland.

[Sluce]

Thanks all.
I was told Annapolis was not a good place to sell a cruising boat, that most people there were looking for boats for the Bay. Any thoughts?

[valhalla360]

Florida seems to be the center of boat sales but any of the major cruising destinations on the east coast would work.


Other than getting back to pull the boat and winterize it, I don't understand the concern with being north of Virginia. There are plenty of large cruising boats north of Virginia. Only real downside, is buyers can see the boat in the water all winter in Florida...of course, now you have to be more concerned with hurricane season compared to further north.

[mariner36bob]

May not apply to cruising sailboats but when I sold my powerboat I sold it in Florida. I'm from Northeast USA and the boat was used here. Because of the short season she had low hours on all systems compared to similar boats from the Southeast. That was a factor resulting in multiple offers and realizing my asking price very quickly. Also the deal closed in December which would not have happened up here. My boat broker buddies have a tough time over winter.


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[Caribbeachbum]

Ft. Lauderdale. Lots of sailboats on the market there. That's a good thing, even though counterintuitive. As a buyer having to pay for plane and hotel, the more boats you can look at on a given trip, the more likely you are to go on it. As a seller, you want people to come look at your boat. So it works. Also, direct flights on Southwest are a great incentive to go there. And as noted already, it's a year-round marketplace. Plus, any goods are services you can possibly imagine needing for a yacht are readily available.

[Sluce]

Thank you all for your suggestions. CF always comes through with good advice.

[RonRock]

Might start with an ad on CF. Maybe a buyer here will help you decide.

[hellosailor]

Problem with Fort Liquordale is that you are now coming into hurricane season, a bad time to leave a boat abandoned at a broker's dock. Considering that, Annapolis might be safer bet.


FLL can be a convenient place to fly into, cheaper than Miami, lots of boat sales, but if you do that, think about selling it FAST and making sure the broker will agree to hurricane protection and the insurer won't tell you "good luck, we're out of here."

[Gpolar]

Well. What kind of boat you have? And how much u thinking. I am currently looking at buying a boat.


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[brownoarsman]

If selling in Florida, may be good to set a price to sell quick as you mentioned. When I was boat shopping, I looked at a lot of boats that had only been on the hard for a few months and they looked like they'd been deteriorating for years. Mold, fungus, corrosion, etc. all seems to grow very fast on unattended boats in FL.


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[robinco]

This is probably not what you want, but since I have it handy possibly of some interest.
Several years ago I was interested in buying a boat 37-40ft but then didn't know that much about prices.
So downloaded data from yachtworld.com on about 1550 individual boats of 56 different makes, made between 1980-2002, and did a factorial regression (I sometimes did this sort of stuff for a living in an earlier life) of asking prices as related to length, years old, make of boat and location of the selling broker. Aim was to try to separate out these effects on asking price.
Highest asking prices (after length, year and location allowed for) were for Hallberg-Rassy, Nauticat, Najad and Malo. Around average were Krogen, Wauquiez, Farr and Freedom. Lowest were, as expected, some of the generally ex-charter type boats Feeling, Elan, Roberts, Bavaria.
Regards location, the charter boat bases again as expected had generally the lowest asking prices.
The full list of locations that I used was (prices here are $000 differences from the average boat in the collection)

[brownoarsman]

Cool! I also used to do some of this stuff As you mentioned, charter boat areas are expected to have the lowest prices but if age is being used as the proxy for condition, the lower prices in charter boat areas probably contain some of that condition component as well in terms of hours on engine and generally heavier use of the boats found there.
Obviously you know that, but just wanted to spell it out for other readers.
Really cool data set! Thanks for publishing it!


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