How Important is Location When Selling a Boat?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by PirateGuy

If your girlfriend ate 2 or 3 chezbugas a day, wouldn’t you soon need a bigga boat?😁

All logic says yes.

Yet, she weighs a scant 94 lbs. Go figure.

[nightowle]

Boat sales are definitely robust here in the NW (I'm in the business....just try to get a surveyor who isn't booked out for 3 weeks), as well as RV sales and motorcycle and bike sales. Anything you can do to get outside without being around lots of other people. I think you should keep the boat in Portland to sell. Anyone truly interested in a Gulfstar will travel there, and in reality, there's a good local market of viable buyers in the area. If it doesn't sell by Labor Day then move it to Annapolis then.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by nightowle

Boat sales are definitely robust here in the NW (I'm in the business....just try to get a surveyor who isn't booked out for 3 weeks), as well as RV sales and motorcycle and bike sales. Anything you can do to get outside without being around lots of other people. I think you should keep the boat in Portland to sell. Anyone truly interested in a Gulfstar will travel there, and in reality, there's a good local market of viable buyers in the area. If it doesn't sell by Labor Day then move it to Annapolis then.

Hmmm. Well, that’s advice I can probably take to the bank since you have your finger on the pulse of the market.

It certainly would make things a lot easier.

May I ask one more question?

I’m looking at outrageous prices for a slip ($2700/ mo) and was hoping to keep her at anchor for showings, which means we’d have to stay on her during the sales process. Bad idea, right? It will show poorly if we’re on her I’m thinking?

The other alternative is a mooring for around $1000/mo.

We have an RV to use while selling and can definitely get all our junk off and have her all cleaned up.

[SV Bacchus]

Isn't Maine hard to get into now? We will be in Annapolis in two weeks and wanted to go to Maine but have been told it is locked down with 2 week quarantine. Will that hamper prospective buyers if that rule is still in effect?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by SV Bacchus

Isn't Maine hard to get into now? We will be in Annapolis in two weeks and wanted to go to Maine but have been told it is locked down with 2 week quarantine. Will that hamper prospective buyers if that rule is still in effect?

Ah, damn it!!

You’re right!

Covid is such a non issue on a boat, I completely forgot. I need to include that variable (variable number 942) into the decision. Ugh.

Maine does have a couple loopholes.

If you’re from specific states in the northeast USA, you can get in, no quarantine. If you’re willing to get tested before you leave home, you can get in, no quarantine.

Being in a very low Covid state and on a boat too, it’s easy to forget it is a factor.

[Stewie12]

Location, location and location to give your boat the maximum exposure to potential buyers.

[tankersteve]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Why do you say that?
Frankly I’m surprised any boats are selling, Car sales are way down, don’t know about house sales.
Seems vast majority of data is supplied by those who have a strong desire to indicate sales are strong, so one wonders how accurate it is, but I believe they are down too.

My marina says they are inundated with work. While painting and brightwork are only 6 weeks behind, major fiberglass and mechanical work is currently being booked for September and later. The local brokers are also doing well.

I think it is because you can socially distance while boating.

Tankersteve

[roland stockham]

About as important as when selling a house but easier to change!

[Island Time O25]

A friend of a friend bought a boat in end of May. Granted he was in a much cheaper segment of the market but still, he was saying that anything in sailaway condition and priced right was going like hot cakes. And he did miss 2 great deals because he was still thinking in terms of last year's market. and slow with making offers. But did get a deal on a decent older Pearson 30 which I helped him sail to his mooring a few weeks ago.

Agree with previous posters' advice re: going to the mid-Atlantic for the sale. Maine is great but a PITA going South compared to starting in the mid-Atlantic. Too many covid related obstacles, etc.

Will your mast fit ICW?

[Cadence]

Take a look at the Charleston, SC. area. Mt. Pleasant is the fast growing yuppy city in the state. Yuppies need BMWs and boats. Reasonable climate and not the glut of boats for sail as in FIA.. Just a thought.

[Chotu]

We’re giving it a couple weeks up here. If no closing, we will move elsewhere. Provided a large cash incentive ($4000) to do the purchase here and not in perfect presentation for a sale. Ie: not cleaned out of our junk yet.

Although we are trapped on the boat at anchor for a couple weeks (broken outboard with water in the oil!!), if we don’t get a dock for the showings, I see nothing wrong with passing that savings on to the buyer.

[GRIT]

Agreed. It makes no difference to the bottom line, but it sure makes a difference to the buyer.

Nice "out of the box" thinking.

Cheers, and good luck.
Paul.

Originally Posted by Chotu

We’re giving it a couple weeks up here. If no closing, we will move elsewhere. Provided a large cash incentive ($4000) to do the purchase here and not in perfect presentation for a sale. Ie: not cleaned out of our junk yet.

Although we are trapped on the boat at anchor for a couple weeks (broken outboard with water in the oil!!), if we don’t get a dock for the showings, I see nothing wrong with passing that savings on to the buyer.

[Jolly Roger]

There are a lot of sensible possibilities to this question, but none are definitive, because they can’t be. There are just too many variables and unknowns, not to mention guesses.
I have nearly always found the maxim, if in doubt, do nothing, to be sound, and a slight modification for a boat might be, if in doubt, stay where you are. The acronym KISS also comes to mind.
Chotu is clearly pragmatic, and as such I would suggest he advertise the boat now, internationally, and offer to reimburse a buyer’s inspection expenses if he buys it. Also, chaise up all the previous prospects, and use the savings from the moving and those outrageous slip costs, to finance it and even negotiate to possibly deliver the boat—always a nice trip on a sold boat. There is more than one way to entice a buyer.
Another way to attract prospects is to take fabulous sharp wide-angle photographs, (which will immediately differentiate his boat from the appalling pictures most people use). These can be taken as each cabin is tidied up in turn, and the junk shifted to another one. That way he can also still live on it, further reducing selling/moving costs.
Paraphrasing Dickens, “It is the best of times, and the worst of times.”
I wish him the best of luck whatever he does.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger

There are a lot of sensible possibilities to this question, but none are definitive, because they can’t be. There are just too many variables and unknowns, not to mention guesses.
I have nearly always found the maxim, if in doubt, do nothing, to be sound, and a slight modification for a boat might be, if in doubt, stay where you are. The acronym KISS also comes to mind.
Chotu is clearly pragmatic, and as such I would suggest he advertise the boat now, internationally, and offer to reimburse a buyer’s inspection expenses if he buys it. Also, chaise up all the previous prospects, and use the savings from the moving and those outrageous slip costs, to finance it and even negotiate to possibly deliver the boat—always a nice trip on a sold boat. There is more than one way to entice a buyer.
Another way to attract prospects is to take fabulous sharp wide-angle photographs, (which will immediately differentiate his boat from the appalling pictures most people use). These can be taken as each cabin is tidied up in turn, and the junk shifted to another one. That way he can also still live on it, further reducing selling/moving costs.
Paraphrasing Dickens, “It is the best of times, and the worst of times.”
I wish him the best of luck whatever he does.

I need to get you on my strategy team. This is a brilliant set of ideas !

[MicHughV]

Florida is also coming into prime hurricane season soon. I would not be in a hurry to move south at this time.

Boats are selling though, I hear thru' the grapevine that marine surveyors are slammed, often with a 4-5 week wait list.

Tough call, but if you really want to sell quickly, price the boat to sell !! Otherwise it could sit on the market for a year....or more....