negotiating 101

[thedude]

Buying a boat. How low can you go?

I wanna hear from all you champion negotiators.

1. what did you buy (boats, just boats)? and when?
2. what were they asking?
3. what did you pay?

[k1vsk]

1. we buy boats, cars, food, pencils, grass seed, bottled water, ...
2. it depends
3. the fair market value

Sarcasm aside, it all depends on how realistic the seller is, how aggressively the seller's price is and how much you want what the seller has. There is no simple answer - there are literally hundreds of books on marketing and purchasing strategy.

[redcobra]

Found a tired neglected boat on the market for $50k.
A year later I bought it for $20K.
Put $50k in it.
It's now worth about $60k and it's not for sale.

[sailstoo]

Suggest you read "Getting to Yes", a short book, backed by tons of research, on effective negitiating. Probably pick up a used copy on Amazon for a couple bucks. Well worth the time to read and has much broader application than boat buying.

[montenido]

I did the same thing as Red Cobra - found a boat for $20,000, bought it for $14,000, and shoveled in LOTS MORE!!! and still counting. My wife asked me the other day what we could get for the boat and I told her $20,000 . Maybe, maybe not.

Anyway, lowball the heck out of them. That will begin the negotiating process (don't you want to haggle?).

Good luck, you are in a strong buyers market.

Bill

[scottyt]

i am of the school that says offer what its worth to you and leave it at that. if the boat is on the market for say 20k and its worth 10k to you with the money you will have to put in it then offer 10k, and if they say no walk away.

i see it this way, you have a price you think you will pay and be happy then pay it and you will be happy