[mikehoyt]

My Two Cents Worth ...

While I understand that the hovering owner is an impediment to a thorough check of a boat and while I agree that the owner will over value his property .... I also feel that there are some bonuses to buying directly from the owner.

First of all we get to meet the previous owner. This should tell you a lot about the boat. A good boat with a sloppy or careless owner quickly becomes a bad boat. The owner''s personality also extends to the boat and its systems. Of course a very competent survey should discover most of this.

Second a broker is very quick to discount a price and sell a boat. Generally the selling price for a boat is the selling price and an owner will eventually realize the proper price. It should even out with the buyer getting a boat for 10% less when cutting out the middleman. After all the owner selling privately has to compete with the brokers selling the same models...

Thirdly most owners will tell you more about a boat and its history than a broker can know. I have yet to meet a boat owner who does not love his/her boat like a child and wish for the new owner to "adopt" the boat and take proper care of it.

I guess from my point of view it depends on the dollar value of the boat. If it is under 10,000 and over 15 years old then there are unlikely to be liens or other strings attached and the transaction is reasonably simple. I suppose if it was $150,000 boat then I would be more careful. When I bought my first boat (23 feet) the bank informed me that the value of boats over 15 years old is zero in terms of loan collateral. From this perspective it stands to reason that there are also no outstanding liens on such boats??? And for such small amounts of money it may not be worth all the bother.

I have always bought privately and have not yet been burned (probably will be someday). I feel that speaking directly to the owner tells me a lot more about the boat than most brokers even know about that partuicular vessel. So while there are pitfalls to avoid there can also be some benefits.

Mike

PS. A friend was negotiating with an owner for a private sale of a Pearson. The owner started playing games and the deal fell thru. This "meet the owner" experience was not good but I believe from stories I have heard that the boat had about the same personality as this owner ... so it was not all bad that the deal fell thru.