Boats Going in Opposite Directions ?

[F15EWSO]

I am looking to buy a boat and recent trips have turned up what were once nice boats when placed in the ads are now boats languishing on the hard or at the dock receiving little to no attention.

With the market being flat apparently these boats are spending lots of time sitting and waiting.

I have this theory that boats go on the market 2-3 years after the current owners are no longer using the boat very much, generally different interests, getting older, suspect there is a laundry list of reasons. Regardless, the boat sits 2-3 yrs with little use, a decision is then made to put the boat on the market and add another year or two waiting and you have some nice photos taken when some "cleaning" was done and now the boat is not looking so sharp.

I have a figure in my head for the price and size we want, I also have money set aside for the "other stuff" that is needed when buying a used boat. The problem is the price being asked and quality of the boat and equipments offered is pretty far from reality of what the ads show based on the inevitable march of time.......

The other part of this is the current owner is lowering the price in the dead market, paying bills and fees and seeing the value of the boat decrease due to age, neglect and enter a death spiral of "No sale".

Have any other buyers seen this trend? Is this a by product of the current market? Is this common based on my notional scenario? Or in summary am I full of shyte?

Thoughts?

[boatman61]

Its not a trend... its always been like that...

[Dragon Lady]

The theory is sound and in my opinion correct however the only view that counts is the seller who has to agree to sell at that price.

[capnorv]

I agree with Boatman, my last 4 boats, in 20 years fit this same senario. Unfortunatly I always seem to sell after extensive repairs and cleaning, and still get nothing, but I have happy buyers. Boats are for the pleasure they bring, at least in my mind, not the money that can be made. Sad boats reflect sad owners, hope I'm never one of those.

[Bash]

I know a fellow who bought a big boat before he sold his little boat. He priced the little boat at $10,000, which was about $3,000 more than it was worth. So it has sat in its slip for more than a decade, costing the owner $2,500 per year to keep it there.

In other words, this fellow has, over time, spent more than $25,000 to keep from selling a boat for $3,000 less than he thinks it's worth.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Nice Analysis How you deal with it is another matter......

.........in a good market it's the first Boat owners who take care of things like that

[sctpc]

Originally Posted by Bash

I know a fellow who bought a big boat before he sold his little boat. He priced the little boat at $10,000, which was about $3,000 more than it was worth. So it has sat in its slip for more than a decade, costing the owner $2,500 per year to keep it there.

In other words, this fellow has, over time, spent more than $25,000 to keep from selling a boat for $3,000 less than he thinks it's worth.

Sounds like the guy I got my boat from he wanted 60k 4 years ago I offered 40k cash I bought 4 months ago 18500 but now I need to fix sails patch and re sow and the antifowl well thats just taken 5 days of sanding.

and he nealy dident sell as he was prepared to move it to his house rather then lose money that would have cost him even more and he was paying 12k a year to store it a the marina But im happy it mine now

[Johnathon123]

It's a worldwide phenomena unfortunately.

I think the other side of the coin is that brokers are feeding many owners ridiculous prices just to get the all important listing, it then takes them years to talk the owner down.

[JoeDiver]

When I was shopping, there were quite a few boats priced accordingly to their value, if not just above it, but the seller would consider offers. I paid 59% of the asking price for my boat.

Occasionally I would encounter a boat that was grossly overpriced. No idea why really...maybe the owner got into it when the market favored the seller, overpaid and is upside down....maybe they have no clue and just "think" their boat is worth that much...I don't know. I do know that those boats are still sitting there, for sale, while a buyer like me already bought a boat.

For example, there was a twin of my boat just a few slips down, priced at 2X the asking price of my boat. Why? No clue....both boats were comparable in age, condition and equipment, although now my boat is far above and beyond (due to all my work) than that other boat, which is still sitting....same price....looking worse every day.

Want to see something completely ridiculous? Take a look at this:

1984 Catalina 25

I emailed them and asked if the price was a misprint and were they serious? No reply.

[Bash]

I knew a fellow who put a $10,000 engine into a $3,000 boat, and was shocked to discover that the boat was still only worth $3,000 when he tried to sell it.

He donated it to the Boy Scouts so that he could at least claim a $13,000 donation.

[JoeDiver]

Originally Posted by Bash

I knew a fellow who put a $10,000 engine into a $3,000 boat, and was shocked to discover that the boat was still only worth $3,000 when he tried to sell it.

It's sad that some folks just don't understand value or a financial transaction. There was a guy once on the Jeep Forum, who posted about his new Rubicon 4 door, $36k Jeep that he got for $22k. Of course everyone wanted to know how he got the deal...come to find out, they gave him $14k for his trade and applied that to the price. He simply could not grasp the fact that the $14k was cash in his pocket he put down and paid full retail for his Jeep. He thought that since he only financed $22k, that's what he paid for the Jeep. Once this was pointed out and explained to him, dude never posted again. I guess he was pretty embarrassed.