Used boat prices....
Anyone that's ever sold a used boat has been there. We've all had the experience of having poured tons of money into a boat, and after draining our bank accounts into it, had the feeling that 'it has to be worth at least $xxx', or had a broker tell us 'let's list it at $xxx and see if someone might bite'.
In my own experiences of having bought, owned, and sold 13 boats over 45 years, that kind of wishful thinking rarely pays off. But, occasionally you hear a story of someone that got lucky, and someone came along and paid over market for a boat - and it perpetuates the myth and hopes that it might happen again. Sometimes I think those stories are the kind of urban legends that might have little basis in reality.
In 2010, when I was shopping for our last boat, I thought for sure I would buy used, to get better value for the money. I looked at a boat that was 4 years old, and listed for $399k. I thought that was over-priced, and offered $325k.
The broker was annoyed, and indignantly came back and said 'the sellers won't consider a penny less than $350k'. I passed, and ended up buying a new boat.
Fast forward 6 years. That same boat is still on the market (though I notice they've been through 3 brokers since then). It's now listed at $299k, and they'll be lucky to get $250k.
In addition to the $75k they're in the hole from my offer 6 years ago compared to what they'll probably get now, they also spent maybe $100k over 6 years in dockage, insurance, maintenance, etc. So, they'll probably end up $175k in the hole compared to a cash offer they had 6 years ago.
Another boat I looked at in 2005. It was also listed for $399k. I didn't even make an offer on that one, because the broker told me the seller was 'pretty firm at that price'. Again I passed, and bought a new boat.
Fast forward to 2013. 8 years later, the same broker calls me, and tells me the owner will take $150k for the boat. $250,000 less than they had it listed for for 7 years (I occasionally checked the listing, and the asking price hadn't changed for 7 years).
I know the pain of having poured far more money into a boat than it's worth (actually, almost every boat seems to fall into that category). The funny thing about the market for anything is, that unless it's very unusual circumstances, the value of something is set by what buyers are willing to pay for it, not what a seller has in it or think's it's worth.
Unless someone isn't really interested in selling (unless it's to a sucker that is willing to pay over-market), advertising something for an unrealistically high price doesn't seem to accomplish anything except chase off legitimate buyers, who might otherwise buy the boat but go off and buy something else (as I've done multiple times).
Sometimes, the first offer you get is the best offer. Sometimes, it's the only offer. Buyers decide what something will sell for, not sellers.
