Boat Owner Financing?

[turfguy]

I was just wondering if you guys that have recently been actively looking at boats have found that owners are willing to finance all or any of the negotiated price? I know if a broker is involved this becomes much more difficult if not impossible, cause they have their own financing routes.
You would think if a owner really wanted to sell a boat he would be more willing to do some financing in this very tight credit enviroment.

Also are any boat loans from original financiers assumable, like many mortgages??

Thanks for all the thoughts and info.

turf

[sailingdog]

Most boat owners don't want the hassle of self-financing a boat for someone they don't know. If they do finance the sale of their boat, and the buyer defaults, they don't have the boat or the money...and have the further headache of trying to collect from a deadbeat that may not even be in the country. I can't see most sellers willing to risk that.

Besides, if the buyer can't come up with his own financing, he's probably a pretty bad risk for the owner to finance, don't you think??

[hellosailor]

Odds are in this economy, the seller wants the money. Not a twenty-year long worry about liens and what the buyer may do to the boat.

Of course if you're buying a $10,000 boat and you can put up security until your CD comes due....different markets.

[xort]

sounds like a bad idea to me

[ghostwriter247]

I have found some amenable actually. I checked through a broker for a thirty thousand dollar boat and the broker said the owner would ok with a 50% down payment. Another owner wanted a 20% downpayment. Its a buyers market and they can only say no. of course im pretty sure they want quick payoff though, year or two at best. Some sellers need the money but more importantly they need the income to stay afloat.

Josh

[ghostwriter247]

Forgot to mention I have a 100% yes rate, 2 times i asked and 2 times i got yes's

[turfguy]

Besides, if the buyer can't come up with his own financing, he's probably a pretty bad risk for the owner to finance, don't you think??[/B][/QUOTE]


Dog--in this current credit freeze I do not think that is always true. If people with 700 credit cant get an auto loan, it certainly is a tight squeeze. Also its a proven fact that boat and RV loans historically have been loans that have low default rates.

As one of the other posters said, I would agree that a 20 yr loan might be a bit much for most sellers but a few yrs till a boat could be refinanced would seem to make sense if you want to sell in this market.

[Sailormann]

First - if you can't afford to pay cash for it - you can't afford the boat. I know that there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who buy on credit but that's pretty well over now folks.

I have found some amenable actually. I checked through a broker for a thirty thousand dollar boat and the broker said the owner would ok with a 50% down payment. Another owner wanted a 20% downpayment. Its a buyers market and they can only say no.

This tells me that the first guy is willing to take 50% less than asking and if you actually do come across with anything over that he's thinking it's gravy. Go back and tell him that you'll give him the 50% cash right now.

But back to my original point. Buy what you can afford. It's going to be a long time before your boat is worth anywhere near what you paid for it.

Good Luck