Want To Buy: 40-50 Foot Cat - Somewhat Unorthodox Approach

[geoleo]

ALL that may be blowing in the wind. I just sold my 36ft Cat for the full asking price. The buyers had been looking all over east coast for a year. They said my boat was only one that was same as the photos. And that they appreciated it being clean and dry and that everything worked except the couple litte things that i brought out to them. SO basically a well maintained boat will sell and others wont. In my experience at least and I have sold 5 boats in past 6 years.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by georgetheleo

Your next to last para basically describes what in the Constrction Buyers world is called a whores market. However no 2 whores are alike.

Back to second para-No seller is ever going to set up a reverse auction--your delusional...

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by georgetheleo

ALL that may be blowing in the wind. I just sold my 36ft Cat for the full asking price. The buyers had been looking all over east coast for a year. They said my boat was only one that was same as the photos. And that they appreciated it being clean and dry and that everything worked except the couple litte things that i brought out to them. SO basically a well maintained boat will sell and others wont. In my experience at least and I have sold 5 boats in past 6 years.

I'm not surprised at all to hear this. We have recently been looking at a few cats to get a feel for what size and features we'd like. Most of the boats have been dirty, in need of basic maintenance and at best in fair shape. A few we walked away from within 10 minutes.

The best advice I've heard is if you find the boat you want and you can afford it then buy it because chances are it wouldn't be around for long. I know this runs counter to all the talk here about big discounts but in my opinion its often just that ... talk.

Of course if you're looking for a project boat its another story.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by georgetheleo

ALL that may be blowing in the wind. I just sold my 36ft Cat for the full asking price. The buyers had been looking all over east coast for a year. They said my boat was only one that was same as the photos. And that they appreciated it being clean and dry and that everything worked except the couple litte things that i brought out to them. SO basically a well maintained boat will sell and others wont. In my experience at least and I have sold 5 boats in past 6 years.

George, Glad to hear you sold your boat. I looked at the pix you posted and was impressed that it was a sound design that you seemed to have made several nice upgrades to. I also thought your asking price was a reasonable one. You also made it clear what you thought the boat was worth. All in all what I would consider a serious seller who was reasonable about the whole process.

The only reason I did not drive down to St. Pete and inspect the boat was while your boat had many features that interested me one of my most important criteria was the ability to trailer the boat (something like a F31 or Telstar T2).

I have looked at a few tris you can stand up inside and put on a trailer. I have also seen a wide range of prices, some of which I consider much more realistic than others.

Just because you are realistic about representing your boat and setting a price buyers will find attractive does not mean everyone else does the same thing.

Good on you, and I hope I can find a seller like you with a boat that meets my needs. But as a buyer one of the first things I do is try to assess where the seller is coming from, and many times after I do this I am forced to eliminate the boat from my consideration.

[D&D]

At the risk of stating the obvious (altho we would by NO means be the first to commit that sin!) one very important factor in this process is patience, on both sides.

A paitent buyer will very likely find a very good price. There are impatient sellers of good vessels out there, not many for sure, but you only need one.

As for the sellers' patience, there is that contrary rule often applied to real estate that says 'your first offer will be your best offer'. Perhaps vessels may be (?) a bit different in that it may take simply more time for interested buyers to actually find/see your vessel; that said, there is much truth in christopherv's post that we are "in an economy that does not favor big ticket transactions". Still, perhaps patience could even extend to a better market!?!

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by D&D

SNIP

As for the sellers' patience, there is that contrary rule often applied to real estate that says 'your first offer will be your best offer'.
SNIP

The problem with being a patient seller is that as a rule it will cost money, by some accounts 1/5 of the boats price, to maintain the boat for a year; not to mention in a normal market the value of the boat will decrease as well.

You can often tell by the ad how interested the seller is in selling. I have had sellers fail to respond to my emails about contact information, and by the same token I have had sellers email me after seeing a post in an online forum saying I wanted a particular boat.

[casual]

After settling on a boat why not just ask the agent,or owner can it be bought for?If not move on.Worked for me a few times.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by casual

After settling on a boat why not just ask the agent,or owner can it be bought for?If not move on.Worked for me a few times.

I am not sure there is a one size fits all technique for buying a boat.

Not to say your approach is a bad one but what happens if the answer to your question is "the asking price". Maybe it would have been better to submit an offer.

Ideally I like to meet and talk with the owner and try and get a feel for them. But again, one size may not fit all.

[shadowofrealism]

Good luck trying to use your approach. A Lagoon 440 for $200,000 ? Maybe in Bizzarro World not in the real World. If you find a boat for sale that you like, simply offer a bid with at least a 10% deposit to show you are serious (whether you use a broker or not on either side). Just saying

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by shadowofrealism

Good luck trying to use your approach. A Lagoon 440 for $200,000 ? Maybe in Bizzarro World not in the real World. If you find a boat for sale that you like, simply offer a bid with at least a 10% deposit to show you are serious (whether you use a broker or not on either side). Just saying

I am always in favour of people sending $10 or 20k to complete strangers - just to show they are "serious"........seriously barking , which as a Vendor would be useful to know , but nonetheless does kinda restrict my potential market. YMMV .

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

I am always in favour of people sending $10 or 20k to complete strangers - just to show they are "serious"........seriously barking , which as a Vendor would be useful to know , but nonetheless does kinda restrict my potential market. YMMV .

I know this deposit thing is a prickly issue with some but in our area of the world it become a necessity at some point in the process so I'd recommend finding a broker you trust and working with him/her. That way someone in your court is hold the money.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Doodles

I know this deposit thing is a prickly issue with some but in our area of the world it become a necessity at some point in the process so I'd recommend finding a broker you trust and working with him/her. That way someone in your court is hold the money.

Yeah, "prickly" kinda covers it .

I do understand that in some areas of the world it has become "the norm" and is therefore expected by all parties (Buyer / Vendor / Broker) - even if none of them can adequately explain why . (it comes from a time when Brokers ruled the market by making sure a) they had enough cash to cover any expenses, especially their own b) makes a buyer more willing to accept a deal (even when he discovers he has been fed BS) if he fears his deposit may be lost (at least into the legal system) and c) means that if Buyer and Vendor cut a deal between themselves that Broker still has his fee).

But nonetheless, trying to buy a boat where the other side(s) expect cash up front and won't budge on the issue is something that does need to be considered. Personally I would only consider that approach if the a) the deal was very good (boat and price), b) I had a bit more to go on than an e-mail address and / or a website and c) I felt comfortable that if push came to shove I had enough info to reclaim the deposit in cash or body parts.....even if either approach required some additional expense for outsourcing (legal and etc).

As a Vendor, $500 (or even SFA!) down would suffice for me. Buyer pays for haulout, Surveyor, seatrial (if he wants them), all told that will be $1k or so of cash he won't ever be getting back, if he ain't serious then he is a complete idiot to do all that!............Contract has a completion deadline and at that point I get all the cash (or I don't) - in the meantime the boat will be "off the market", but only insofar as I won't sign any other sale contracts - but boat will still be advertised and any other potential buyers kept warm (including with viewings).

If the sale doesn't complete I haven't lost anything apart from a couple of weeks of being unable to sign a sale contract.....therefore I really don't see the point of a large cash deposit , unless the sale contract is so far in my favour that only an idiot buyer would sign it because 99% of the time the deposit will go back to a buyer for a failed deal (usually enough in a survey to argue a justification for that - even if the real reason is something else).

But, notwithstanding my views on this - I understand that takes two to tango, so I am only ever "right" when the other party agrees with me (and I accept that they don't have to - which is fair enough....but always annoying when a deal fails simply from stupidity!).

[shadowofrealism]

"I am always in favour of people sending $10 or 20k to complete strangers - just to show they are "serious"........seriously barking" --- David Old Jersey

Hope you eyes do not fall out of your head by you rolling them. A seller and/or broker is not going to take anyone seriously unless they back up their offer with a cash deposit. It is easy to give an offer without a deposit as it is withdrawing said offer before the sale goes through. This of course would hurt the seller potentially more then just having their boat taken off the market because of a frivolous promise of purchasing their boat.
Like I said, get real and forget taking the position that sellers are gonna come flocking to you begging you to purchase their boat at some fantasy price that exists only in your mind. Again, if you locate a boat that you like and wanna bid on, then send a written offer with at least a 10% deposit that is non refundable if, at no fault of the seller, you back out before the sale goes through. That is the way it is, be it either a "buyers" or a "sellers" market. Just saying

[tomfl]

I have always wondered about the deposit thing. I have had some brokers want 10%, one wanted 5%, and a guy in a non broker sale basically just wanted an offer.

I wonder what a seller would say if I expected a deposit if the seller presented a counter offer to my original offer.

[shadowofrealism]

Now you are simply being ridiculous.