New member here and I'll make an intro post shortly....but I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone, especially the gurus, who contributed to this post.
Hubby and I own a home overlooking the Everett Marina and, after a couple of years working out of state, are ready to move back to the area and buy a boat...a dream we had when we initially purchased the house.
We were just in town last week looking for office space, and at boats. We met, briefly, several brokers in the area, while peeking at boat listings, etc. We could have easily ended up with this shady broker as we were primarily looking in the Anacortes / Bellingham area, due to where we were staying, while in town. This post has now alerted me to the fact that there are at LEAST 3 brokers I should be wary of.....and has taught me how to present our first offer. Considering the size of boat we're considering, our downpayment would have been quite a bit larger....
Anyhoo, very happy to see the OP get his/her money back! I wish them well on their continued search...it's thrilling and terrifying all at once!