Fort Lauderdale broker reccomendations?

Hi Gang! My wife and I have begun our trawler search. Should I try to work with a buyer broker if we are in the max budget of 200k? Or just keep scouring YW over and over? thanks for any and all input!

Greetings,
Welcome aboard. Try Tucker Fallon (Yachtbrokerguy on this site or Home) for your buyer's broker. Right in Ft. Lauderdale and a straight shooter.

Thanks! I will hit him up. We ar going to need some handholding but are serious buyers. We need to see some boats in person. Pictures only do so much!

Tucker is great for sure, though I think he concentrates on boats in higher price ranges. Also try Joe Hamilton at Advantage Yacht in Stuart, he covers all of Sout Florida and specializes in lower priced boats. We used him both to sell our old boat and to purchase our new one in your price range. I can't recommend him highly enough.

Give Mark Egan a call. He's in West Palm Beach at HMY Yachts, Harbor Point Marina , but he's been very helpful to me. I'll PM you his contact info.

I second Tucker at Bradford Marine. Bradford Marine Sales, Shipyard, Docks

But I should also mention Judy Waldman at: JW Yachts - Trawler and Yacht sales and brokerage in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

I used Curtis Stokes as my buyers broker...definitely on the buyers side..and he does know boats. He's also in Ft Lauderdale.

I will second Joe Hamilton at Advantage Yacht, he was recommended by a friend that used him to buy and sell when he moved up, and he sold my boat within 90 days for the price I wanted. My experience with him as a buyers agent is second hand but he was outstanding as a selling agent.

Judy Waldman is a very nice lady and I'm sure would do a good job, and I see Tucker posting everywhere but I do believe as previous poster said he specializes in higher end vessels.

If you "need hand holding", please consider a knowledgable broker.

The broker that sold us our Californian was Barry Berger, Berger Yacht Sales in Ft. Lauderdale.

Super nice, honest and did a great job. Might give him a call too.

Be as careful with the broker as u will choosing the boat. Meet with all of them and see which one u feel is best fit for you!

Happy Hunting!

G+

Greetings,
We have used Mr. Tucker for one purchase and it certainly was NOT a "high end" vessel. Mr. frg's recommendation of meeting with all or a goodly number is excellent advice. One would be most comfortable finding both a broker AND a boat that fits.

Thanks for all the great reccomendations and advise everyone! I have sent out a few broker emails and will start my "survey" of brokers. I scour YW and trawlerforum for boats regularly. Are there anyother online places I should be looking?

We looked at YW, boat trader, Craigslist, and yes, even eBay. Get a notebook and write down every boat that looks interesting so u can build up a list of prospects.

Get in habit of checking listings everyday. Compare to your ongoing list of prospect boats.

I hope you already have your other most important list created or started: this is your MUST HAVE, IMPORTANT TO HAVE, and LIKE TO HAVE list. Each of you should make your own list and then merge them into one agreed upon by both. I can't tell you how important this was for us. It makes all the difference once u hit the ground and begin looking.

Greetings,
Mr. G. Good advice from Mr. frg and I would also add a "REALLY DON'T WANT" section to your list BUT, that being said, remain flexible. ANY boat you eventually buy will be a compromise-guaranteed! You will probably have to eliminate an IMPORTANT TO HAVE for a MUST HAVE and vice versa.
When we finally purchased the vessel we're on now, MY compromise was a twin engined stabilized (on my REALLY DON'T WANT LIST) boat that by the Admiral and I are very happy with because it ticked more MUST HAVE boxes than any other boat. Gotta love a walk-in ER.
Search on my friend....

Thanks again for all the great advise! My head is spinning out of control. The lists are helping quite a bit.

Another thing I found useful....set up your personal boat shopper on yachtworld...once the criteria is set, you'll get an e-mail every week with boats that match it. Certainly gave me a LOT of choices, and from there I created a short list...after that it was flying, driving, whatever to start looking at boats.

Any updates for us?

I know a pretty experienced broker