What you should know about brokers

[FutureStories]

Originally Posted by Capn Jimbo

Question for all, and a good one I hope:

I live in south Florida, found a nice boat in Maine, private seller. We have negotiated and agreed on a price, subject to the usual survey, et al.

Although the price is under $29K and I have a good as-is boat sales contract, and could do this deal myself - well, I would still be more comfortable if I could find a broker to simply handle the paperwork/escrow only. A few hours work.

My questions:
1. Fair price
2. Should I engage a Florida broker, or one in Maine and why?

Muchas gracias...

Email me for comps:
Spencer@HawksYachts.com
Send me:
Boat make, model, length, and year. (Or the FSBO link) and I'll send you sold boats info from the past 2 years of similar boats. Have you seen it in person yet? Remember good clean boats are hard to find and well worth a slight premium (unless you don't have to attend a job 40+ hours a week and have disposable income for extensive refits)

I'll send you comps within the next 48 hours (sorry swamped with sea trials and finishing moving apartments today)

The paperwork I would probably do through a Maine broker, simply because that's the one place you and the buyer will both be. They will probably charge about $1,000 to do the paperwork and stuff. Some of the docs need to be hand signed. Shop a few first and see what they say.

[Flyingriki]

By the way... Spencer has been VERY helpful with my search! Taught me a lot. Nothing I want to pursue but lots of great info. Most my searches ate in Mexico and soCal. Hope to buy him a nice dinner some day!

[buzzstar]

This has been a fascinating thread. It sounds as if there are definite business opportunities for entrepreneurs. One as an escrow provider, maybe together or separately as a paper work processor. I suspect, in the former capacity, you would not compete with brokers, but supplement their services, presumably at an added cost (bonding and fiduciary insurance are not cheap), but maybe valuable to wary parties, and those in different jurisdictions. The paperwork processor end would usually be unneeded if a broker were involved, but there seem to be private transactions where the need exists. It is all similar to, but different than, real estate. I've heard it said that in some states buying real estate involves pushing paper across a table at closing, and usually involves lawyers. In other states, such as California, lawyers are not typically involved, but there is an escrow company, a notary, and a title insurer (another, "heard said," in California you do not rally buy or sell real property, you buy and sell title insurance). Title insurance for boats might be an interesting business opportunity given all the discussions about boat titles that pop up here and other places. Have fun all.

[FutureStories]

Originally Posted by buzzstar

This has been a fascinating thread. It sounds as if there are definite business opportunities for entrepreneurs. One as an escrow provider, maybe together or separately as a paper work processor. I suspect, in the former capacity, you would not compete with brokers, but supplement their services, presumably at an added cost (bonding and fiduciary insurance are not cheap), but maybe valuable to wary parties, and those in different jurisdictions. The paperwork processor end would usually be unneeded if a broker were involved, but there seem to be private transactions where the need exists. It is all similar to, but different than, real estate. I've heard it said that in some states buying real estate involves pushing paper across a table at closing, and usually involves lawyers. In other states, such as California, lawyers are not typically involved, but there is an escrow company, a notary, and a title insurer (another, "heard said," in California you do not rally buy or sell real property, you buy and sell title insurance). Title insurance for boats might be an interesting business opportunity given all the discussions about boat titles that pop up here and other places. Have fun all.

Indeed. We've processed paperwork for private parties before. But it comes at a premium because if it runs through our accounts we have some liability.

Had a deal a few weeks ago where the bank had the seller's name incorrect on the lean. So when we went to pay off the lean took forever. I've also just negotiated deals with private sellers to do a "one time listing" whenever I have a client looking for a specific boat I almost always try to find one offered privately (I make more money, and my clients are usually aware of YachtWorld inventory already) for these arrangements our company handles all the paperwork on both ends and makes it a safer transaction than buyer to seller would be especially with far away boats.