[calden]

Going into buying a third (and bigger!!) boat over the last 6 years, I've got some thoughts on this thread.

1) Americans are known the world over as having an inability to negotiate. We HATE to haggle prices, are not that good at it, get offended easily around it all, and don't have cultural training in learning how to do it. Thus you often have situations where the buyer or seller is doing what they think is negotiation and the other party thinks they are just being personally offended. I've seen this a lot when I lived in Asia and watched American tourists in markets.

2) When I have sold my two boats I took pictures of everything that looked the least bit fixed or off in any way and described them in detail. I did not soft soap anything, often taking pains to specify what were minor possible issues. I want my buyer to know exactly what they are getting in part for their peace of mind in making an offer and in part so I won't get a call a month in the future with someone screaming at me "why didn't you tell me there were some blisters on the hull?"

3) Surveys are good. It's possible to specify a non-destructive survey with no destructive poking, cutting, banging. Using a phenolic hammer does not mark anything up, and only that or rapping with knuckles should be done.
It is possible to negotiate the cost of a survey between buyer and seller. It's USUALLY done by the buyer, but splitting the cost benefits both buyer and seller. As a buyer, if I do not buy a boat based on the survey then the seller has a very recent survey to show the next buyer. It also gives the seller information about the boat that he may not have had, and a chance to fix things that are dangerous or that may raise the value and benefit the seller price-wise. Of course I'm assuming the seller has nothing to hide and wants to play fair. A very good tool for negotiation plus or minus on both sides.

4) I totally agree with the suggestions that in the above case it was fruitless to negotiate with the older gent.

I'm right now waiting for a survey completion on an old friend's boat. I have no doubt of my friend's honesty and diligence in having kept his boat up, but this may point out some items he wasn't aware of and we'll both be happy to know that.

I also had a survey done on a boat I hadn't yet seen but was going to drive 300 miles to view. When I saw the boat I had a lot of good information already and it was really helpful. Primarily I saw that the owner had not made it ready to sell, and there were potential problems that might pop up unseen to either of us. I declined.

Carlos