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yachtworld prices

8K views 31 replies 21 participants last post by  sailingdog 
#1 ·
If a boat is listed at 82,000.00 what is a reasonable starting point for offers. Disregard obvious things like age, a "great deal" etc.. well don''t even consider that if it made it to the internet without being sold.... but what initial basis should bids be made? I thought it was easy but research doesn''t help with pricing! Its not that easy, and looking at 10 boats I can''t have a survey done for each.
kwhat do you think?
Paul
 
#2 ·
A couple points here, first of all there is no real rule of thumb here. Some people, like myself, research the market for their boat very carefully and then list the boat at a price that is at the high end of a fair price for their boat in the marketplace. The actual sales price and almost all of the bonafide first offers were within 5% of that price.

Other owners float a price that is 15% to 25% higher than they are willing to take. The sales price on the boat that I bought was over 20% below the original asking price. Again getting a price difference that large is related to knowing the market for that model.

As to the survey business, if you are not capable of doing your own ''first walkthrough'' of a boat, or the boat is too far away, you can often get a surveyor to do a first walkthough for you. This is not a survey but the surveyor''s quick opinion. You will be buying a few hours of thier time and so is usually around $100 or so dollars. I would think that you could narrow your choices down to 2 or three boats, and then have surveyor(s) do the first walkthrough for you.

Regards
Jeff
 
#3 ·
Just a note here, the fact that the boat is listed on Yachtworld does not mean it wouldn''t sell on its own. Many brokers place listings on YW as part of their normal process. The posting goes up when the For Sale sign goes on.

We found our boat on a YW search the week it hit the market.

Good luck with your search.
 
#4 ·
I found my boat on Yachtworld.com. I looked at many from that sight and my broker was great. Not only did we come to a price that I thought was more than fair, they treated me like gold. I looked for 2 years and I think that Yachtworld and Boattrader.com are by FAR the 2 best, Sailnets site comes in a distant third.

Granted not all brokers I spoke with impressed me. Some just never even call you back.

Good luck.
 
#5 ·
If you are dealing with a dealer or broker on a used boat the markup you can expect to be is 20 - 25% as thats was the first thing I was taught about selling powerboats and I imagine Sticks are no different. Cars usually are maked up a minimun 10% and boats new or used a min 20%. the best way to offer low is to find a boat that someone has had a long time. One broker told me a 1984 34" IRWIN was listed at 42,900 reduced to 29''900 and he told me in about 3 minutes to make an offer for 18000 and he thought the seller would take it. I wasn''t really looking but if the broker told me to offer 18 on a 40 thousand boat I imagine I could have offered 15 and got an interest.

Research the seller and find his motivation for selling. Not everyone wants top dollor like most brokers would have you believe.

my first boat was a 25 footer that was listed at $6500 and after a few lowballs, a few letters to the seller and a lot of praying and 3 months I got the boat,good outboard, sails, trl, and all electrinics for $1500.... I paid $950 for a dingy and motor as they are always hot.

Best luck,
Troy
 
#6 ·
Like Troy says, research the seller if you can. Some people "need" to sell their boat,
others are willing to hold out years for a magic price point. They also expect to "get their money back" from nice-to-have (for them) upgrades. You may not value those the
same way. Jeff''s advice very good too. Research,research, research, research.

Another point, some people start looking for
a certain model...when many models can actually fit their needs. Keep an eye on the
market/value curve of older boats. Markup is not relevant till the boat sells.
 
#9 ·
I agree, 20% is high, never heard this as any standard. In fact in the real estate space anything more than 10% less is considered low balling. Frankly I think the same thing of boats. Difference in boats is that sometimes you will run into a fool that just wants out.

Not saying you shouldnt put a low offer in, but be prepared to piss off the owner and be able to walk away from the boat.
 
G
#10 ·
While 20% is pretty high for the difference between a first offer and a sales price. The real key is to know the market and to collect data over a period of time. Sometimes asking prices are very close to fair and other times they are unrealistic. The key is to know which and to be able to support that position.

Keep records of listings. On one boat I tried to buy, I sent along 6 or 7 listings of sisterships that had sold over a two year period showing what the more typical asking prices were on that model. I used the listings to justify my nearly 20% lower offer. We had actually loosely come to terms on price but when I actually started to go through the boat carefully I found a bunch of serious problems that I had not expected and which the seller was not willing to address.

Jeff
 
#12 ·
This all depends on the boat. Some boats are in demand like some of the ocean cruising boats (Caliber LRC). Custom builder boats sell at a higher price then that of a mass produced model. Some boats sell very fast and an offer of 20% less then the asking price will surely make you miss the boat. I did this last year with a used Caliber 40 I wanted to purchase. The offer was refused and before I could make another offer two days later it was sold. I'm still sad about this. I need a boat and need to cruise!!!!
 
#15 · (Edited)
I think they already bought a boat... The last post in the thread is almost 8 years old...

 
#25 ·
That is quite a spread RD.
The 84% is not much of a surprise.
Any back story about the 54 and 72 deals.
 
#14 ·
The asking price may bear no relationship to the value of the boat. It may be the money the owner has put into the boat or what he owes, neither are good indications of its current market value.

Do your research, try and get access to soldboat.com this lists the actual selling price of boats. In my case this was not a lot of help as there was a huge variation on the older boats I was looking at. But if you are looking at a 5 year old bene coming out of charter it would be a really good figure to work with.
 
#17 ·
All this is good info. Bottom line—lots of people can't afford to keep their boats in this economy—can't berth them, can't maintain them. Prices have sunk because there are few serious buyers. If you've got money, you can almost name your price. If you're seller has to sell, you might be able to get the boat at 60% of asking price. Tough for the seller but good for you.
 
#18 ·
All this is good info. Bottom line-lots of people can't afford to keep their boats in this economy-can't berth them, can't maintain them. Prices have sunk because there are few serious buyers. If you've got money, you can almost name your price. If you're seller has to sell, you might be able to get the boat at 60% of asking price. Tough for the seller but good for you.
I basically agree with the above. Faced with a choice between house, car, and boat, most people sell the boat, and a lot of people are faced with that choice these days. We keep hearing people say that things aren't that bad, that boats are selling, it'll get better, etc, but it always seems to be someone who has a horse in the race.
 
#19 ·
It helps having a buyers broker, who can provide you with sold boat data (price offered, price sold, time on market, specs etc.) of the model you are looking at. I found that most boats sell between 10-20% off their initial price. Some sell even lower, possibly due to problems arising during survey.
 
#20 ·
How much does a buyer's broker charge? I assume that he is paid by the buyer, correct? I am kind of in the process of selling one and buying another.

Bill
 
#22 ·
The buyer’s broker will do a deal with the seller’s broker. On average it is a 60/40 split, depending on the boat, I have seen it as low as 80/20 remember the sellers broker has done all the hard work!!!! and will be in the hole for the months or years of advertising. Pricing the boat is usually after appraisals and long discussions between the broker and seller. You won’t find to many 50k boats advertised for 80K by a brokerage, the broker will try to get the seller to be realistic. A boat that is overpriced will just sit there using up valuable advertising budget. If you are a serious buyer find a boat fall in love and it is priced right snap it up, good well priced boats don’t last long.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Having looked at a few boats on yacht world and after going through at least one busted deal here's my noob advice. My feeling is there is no rule of thumb as to price. Some sellers expect close to their asking, while others are willing to go WAYYYY down. As a point of reference, currently I have an accepted offer on a boat which ended up at 73% of the listing. I still have the sea trial and survey to go though. I have been told you should do the sea trial first because that way if you find something you don't like you don't have to pay for the survey.

If you are going to make a long trip to see a boat, ask a lot of questions over email or phone before doing so. Phone is better. Half the time brokers are really slow with email. One good question I have found is "Are there any obvious problems with this boat that I am going to immediately see once I get there". You would be surprised the stuff they will tell you. Also ask how firm the price is. I had at least one broker tell me "It's firm".

Sometimes the pictures of boats are way old and a boat looks completely different once you see it. If you were looking for this boat in the marina and walked right past here I would bet a fair amount of cash you wouldn't find her.

1977 Wylie Racing Sloop Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

The paint has been stripped off her and she looks 20 years older than in these pictures. If you ask me it's kind of stupid for a broker to do this because it's only going to piss off the buyer for wasting his/her time. In any case ask how current the pictures are.

Ask about anything that would be a show stopper for you like standing headroom, birth size etc. Even if the pictures are current, pictures tend to make a boat look better than it really is. First off they are often taken by someone trying to sell a boat. Secondly the nature of the medium just tends to hide stuff. Finally I would defiantly see the boat myself before going and having a survey done. There is nothing like standing in a boat yourself.
 
#24 ·
I love how the ad says the manual bilge pumps are "electronics".
Additional Specs, Equipment and Information:

Specs
Builder: Wylie Boat Yard
Designer: Wylie

Dimensions
LOA: 40'
Beam: 11'9"
LWL: 33'
Maximum Draft: 7'3"
Displacement: 13000
Ballast: 6000

Engines
Engine Brand: Yanmar
Egine(s) HP: 30
Engine Model: 3YM30
Cruising Speed: 8

Tanks
Fuel Tanks: not installed

Accomodations
Icebox

Electronics
Manuel Pump: 1 Whale 25 gpm hand pump in forepeak; 1-10 gpm in cockpit


Misc. Equipment
-2 boat hooks -Full custom fitted marine vinyl boat cover -1998 13.5 Avon Rollaway dingy -15hp Evinrude outboard SS -2 Aluminum Spinnaker poles -1 Carbon Fiber Dip Pole -1 Reaching Strut -8 Snatch Blocks -20+ Assorted Snap Shackles

Disclaimer
The Company offers the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct his agents, or his surveyors, to investigate such details as the buyer desires validated. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice.
Sometimes the pictures of boats are way old and a boat looks completely different once you see it. If you were looking for this boat in the marina and walked right past here I would bet a fair amount of cash you wouldn't find her.

1977 Wylie Racing Sloop Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

The paint has been stripped off her and she looks 20 years older than in these pictures. If you ask me it's kind of stupid for a broker to do this because it's only going to piss off the buyer for wasting his/her time. In any case ask how current the pictures are.

Ask about anything that would be a show stopper for you like standing headroom, birth size etc. Even if the pictures are current, pictures tend to make a boat look better than it really is. First off they are often taken by someone trying to sell a boat. Secondly the nature of the medium just tends to hide stuff. Finally I would defiantly see the boat myself before going and having a survey done. There is nothing like standing in a boat yourself.
 
#26 ·
If someone really wants to sell a boat, one should also research as described so far by many here. The price needs to be attractive to the serious buyer. Serious buyers are looking for the right boat at the right price. If a boat hits the market at the right price she will get interest. This happens right away in most cases, because the serious buyers are looking and have such great access and Yachtworld, ebay and Craig's List are being watched by said buyer.

The boat that goes on the market at the wrong (read too high) price will sit...Serious buyers have done the research and will know what the price should be.

I don't think there is a magic percent or game that one should play. Find the right boat for the right person(s) at the right price. It take time and research and relationships.

Thanks to all for the learned points of view!

Greg
 
#30 ·
Another issue that can be encountered is the high listing price resulting from the owner owing too much on the boat loan. A number of years ago I made a market offer on a boat that was listed for more. The selling broker told me I was at the right price, but the owners needed more to pay the loan. I walked and bought a sistership for 20% less.

The other consideration when making offers is that as long as the boat doesn't sell, the slip fees and maintenance continue. Knowing when the big bills are coming due can help the buyer in the negotiations.
 
This post has been deleted
#32 ·
Bracewell boat works is awasome! **** builds and sells amazing custom yachts to fit your style and personality. If your looking to buy a new boat, this is the place to get one!
Hey dumb ass, why are you spamming a sailing forum with a powerboat builder??? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: 11 posts, with basically the same content.
 
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