Used sailboat prices

[stroudw]

OK, the economy is in the tank. With the price of gas going up the way it did this past season we've seen the price of used power boats sink (pun intended). With the stock market crash and the mess in the credit market I'm guess there will be a number of power boat makers out of business this by the end of the year. I guess I wouldn't invest too much in a sailboat manufactures either. My question is, what's happening to the sale prices for used sailboats? I've followed the asking price for my boat, a Pearosn 36-2, on Yacht World and it seems to be holding steady. Are selling prices holding steady too, or are sellers finding it necessary to accept offers well below asking price to make the deal?

[WouldaShoulda]

Good economy or bad, it depends on the financial condition of the seller more than anything else.

The adage is not "buy high sell low" yet people do it all the time!!

[tommays]

When i bought my current boat this spring there were only 2 in the Long Island area and none of the current money mess


The owner had more money than you could shake a stick at BUT the boat had been in the driveway 3 years and with the termites eating the tiller it had pretty limited curb appeal


I got it for 1000 under the asking price and we were both happy because he had and empty driveway and i did not have to start driving 100 to 400 miles to look at beat up boats

Having looked at yachtworld all summer a LOT of the same boats are still sitting and my price is still looking good

[vadimgo]

The thing is,
sailboats, and used sailboats in particular, are not a fast turning commodity. And even more to the point, the decision to buy or sell a boat is almost never rational financial decision. Add to it the difficulties to transport a sailboat even small distance compared to the price of storage and/or the price of the boat itself and... I believe for somebody going trough hard time the idea to sell the boat is not the first to occur. Plus, it is not easy to sell a boat fast regarless the price.
I would say, the price of the used boats is more connected to the sales of the new boats, where the owner does not need/want the old anymore and storage/moorings are in limited supply. It looks to me, there would be more used boats for sale in good economic conditions. Whether your individual chance for a great find/deal is bigger, that would correlate more to the amount of time you could spend looking, I think.

[camaraderie]

stroud...I've reduced my price 3 times...my broker says prices are down significantly from a year or two ago on the bluewater boats he deals in. Not sure how smaller production boats are holding up. There are some very desireable boats that had short production runs and if in good condition, they are still very much in demand...but I think most bot have been affected.
This does NOT mean you can negotiate big price reductions...it means your final price will be lower than a year ago. If the asking price has already been lowered to match the market the price ain't coming down that much. The place where big discounts should be available is where the owner has had the same price for a year or more and it is out of touch with the market.

[Boasun]

Have seen some price reductions here in the south land. But mostly due to Hurricane damage.
Have yet to notice any real reductions on the other boats.

[TackBoston]

From what we have seen, it depends heavily on the age of the boat. Used sailboats have been selling well, though it is mostly the older ones. Young used sailboats have to compete with the strong discounts that manufacturers are offering on new boats. So if you have a 4 year old boat, you have to be willing to lower the price. An older boat should do well, however, as some are searching for a less-expensive boat rather than buying new. Generally, you should be prepared for offers to come in at 10% below asking.

[Bene505]

Check for Repo sailboats. Part of my 6 month search included searching Yachtworld for keywords related to that. Use the advance search and put words like these into the Keyword field: bank, repo, repossessed, repossession. (I used to do mis-spelling variations, if memory serves, but now YW corrects my intentional mis-spellings. My theory is that better deals may be found when you're one of the few people finding the misspelled listings. )

I think you have to use one keyword at a time. I don't remember if there's a way to OR them.

I just tested out some keywords:
- Using "bank", I got 148 sailboats
- Using "repo", I got 10 sailboats
- Using "repossessed", I got 1 sailboat
- Using "repossession", I got 2 sailboats

Try other keywords too:
- Using "motivated", I got 334 sailboats
- Using "bankruptcy", I got 1 sailboat (and a different one for "bankrupt")
- Using "forced", I got 55 sailboats

Hope that helps.

[MtnMike]

I've been looking at several used boats lately. The boats that I'm looking at are in the $100,000 to $150,000 range. They don't seem to be coming down in that range. However, one of the brokers that I'm dealing with email the other day and said that because of the stockmarket, one of the owners may be willing to negotiate on his boat. Now how far down he'd come is hard to tell. Cash in hand might go a long way.

[stroudw]

Thanks for the replies.

I bought my boat about three years ago, a 36 Pearson, so I'm not in the market at this time, except that the Admiral has been getting very nervouse about the stock market and has started to talk about selling the boat. I have no plans to sell, but then I'm only the Captain.

It is nice to know, or at least dilude myself into thinking, that I might get almost as much as I paid for it if I do have to sell. But perish the thought. We've had a great season on the Chesapeake with two more weekend outings planned before we haul out for the winter.

Whenever the Admiral starts talking about selling I take her out for a weekend on the water with one of her best friends and her best friend's husband. She's smiling from ear to ear when we get back in on Sunday night.