I'm surprised you stayed long enough to take pictures.
If we didn't, we wouldn't have these wonderful pictures.
But really, we hadn't seen the Sabre 38 and we were right there. We liked the Sabre 38 but not that particular boat.
Do you have your own broker that sent you to this boat? If so, fire them.
We did.
Just for clarification, you have to be careful with the idea of having your own broker, unless you pay them separately from the transaction and no one does. They just split the sellers commission with the listing broker, so still technically work for the seller. On the other hand, they will want to work for you again and you presumably control a piece of their local reputation, so they should have some loyalty to you.
The brokers seem to be more honest with each other than broker vs. buyer. If your broker calls theirs, they are likely to get a straighter answer, knowing that reputations spread fast in the broker circles. Not fail safe, just improving the odds.
I know there's a lot of disagreement with this but I see the buyer as the one who pays for everything. The buyer hands the down payment to the broker and that will be the broker's commission if the sale goes through. The buyer pays for all the inspections. And the buyer pays the seller if everything is cool. Without the buyer, no one gets paid.
I realize the seller believes he or she is paying the broker but in reality the seller never sees the commission pass through their hands. So in the strictest sense, the buyer is the one everyone should be trying to please. "The customer is always right" sort of thing.
If you haven't had this false advertising experience before, consider it a right of passage. Then, approach this differently going forward.
I think we all know this doesn't have to be the case but few brokers are doing anything to change the present status quo, and they are the ones who best can. One broker we dealt with may be doing just that though.
Knot 10, as in not 10% (they charge 7%), has a different philosophy than the other brokers we've talked to. The guy on Kent Island said the Knot 10 philosophy is to only take boats that are priced to move. "It costs us money to keep boats in our listing inventory." He said boats that aren't getting any looks, and the seller won't drop the price, eventually get dropped from their listing. They are getting 3% less, so that makes sense.
In theory I can see this working, though I'm not sure Knot 10 strictly adheres to that. To work they would have to be good at getting the seller to list at a price that will encourage buyers not only to come in and look at the boats but make an offer. And the boats would have to be in a condition that is in line with the price. The only boat we saw that we seriously considered making an offer was the one they had.
Of course the other side of the coin is to accurately represent the boat in its present condition.
CPYB CODE OF ETHICS
Article 6
The Broker in his advertising should be especially careful to present a true picture and should neither advertise without disclosing his name, nor permit his salesman to use individual names or telephone numbers, unless the salesman's connection with the Broker is obvious in the advertisement.
YBAA CODE OF ETHICS & BUSINESS PRACTICE
SECTION 1. RELATIONS WITH THE PUBLIC
1.6 The Broker in his/her advertising will be especially careful to present a true picture of the vessel and/or its condition and will not advertise without disclosing his/her name, nor permit his/her sales people to use the individual's name or telephone numbers, unless the sales person's connection with the Broker is obvious in the advertisement.
It's too bad that isn't strictly enforced. If it was, maybe they would sell more boats.
I am thinking there must have been a misprint in the price, was it $7,950.00 or $795.00? I know they could not possibly be asking $79,500.00 real US Dollars for that thing. I figure the reason the broker was not wanting you to talk to the owner was the fact that you might tell him that he must be smoking something illegal if he thinks anyone will pay that much for the boat that he let go to pot, (small pun intended).
Well, after we were back at the dock, the broker did mention the seller was pretty firm on the price so any dramatically lower offers shouldn't be made. I'm not sure but this may have been one of the boats that hadn't seen any interest in a year or more.