Selling our boat... deposits required

[timb]

the broker I bought my boat from used an outside company .it was 475 including fees for a documented boat .it didn't seem like a bad deal to me .but the paper work hasn't come back yet. and It did have a loan on it. she got it done quick 5 business days including mailing time and title search. I think two days was waiting on the coast guard .

Tim

 

[Airstream345]

We used a marine title company as well who looked for liens and other "issues" and handled all of the USGC documentation and state registrations for us. Easy and about the same price point as Tim.

 

[Seevee]

We used a marine title company as well who looked for liens and other "issues" and handled all of the USGC documentation and state registrations for us. Easy and about the same price point as Tim.

Seems extremely high, as you can do it yourself. And the CS is VERY user friendly and will help you thru it, answer phone calls and emails.

 

[Seevee]

Always done my own paperwork unless purchasing new or used from a dealer; regarding boats, cars, trucks, motorcycles... sill do.

For land, house and businesses I feel it is only prudent to go through licensed legal channels.

I do my own paperwork too, but most always do a title search for liens. Real estate is on the county records. Personal property is at the state's web site and will most likely be a UCC filing, documented boats are with the coast guard. All fairly easy. There is an argument to hire a pro if one is uncomfortable with it, but much over a hundred or so gets pretty steep. You do not need an attorney for any purchase.

Real estate is the easiest, you only need a title company to do a title binder... takes a few hours and cheap (less that $50). Buy the insurance, if you want.

 

[Delta Dog]

I agree, don't dismiss Craigslist. I have sold several boats there. You may have to weed through some of the tire kickers, but in the long run, you are getting a lot of free exposure. We bought our last boat in Florida, so a broker came in real handy to help us through the mountains of paperwork required by that state. We looked at several boats on CL here in CA, but they just weren't what we were looking for, not that the seller was a bad person...

 

[Seevee]

I agree, don't dismiss Craigslist. I have sold several boats there. You may have to weed through some of the tire kickers, but in the long run, you are getting a lot of free exposure. We bought our last boat in Florida, so a broker came in real handy to help us through the mountains of paperwork required by that state. We looked at several boats on CL here in CA, but they just weren't what we were looking for, not that the seller was a bad person...

Delta,

"mountains of paperwork"? What does California require? Most states only require two things.... a new title and registration (and only registration if documenter), and if you wan't the clerk will fill it out for you. In FL takes about 15 minutes unless you have a stupid clerk.

 

[denverd0n]

And, I'm of the thought that I want to SELL...

Amazing to me how many people do NOT seem to be of that thought; who do NOT seem to really want to sell.

If you want to sell, then you try to make it easy for the buyer, and your own convenience comes second. Lots of folks seem to think that everything should be as convenient as possible for themselves, and the buyer will just have to deal with it. This is a very good attitude to take if you do NOT really want to sell your boat! (Or you don't really want to get the best price for it.)

 

[BandB]

Amazing to me how many people do NOT seem to be of that thought; who do NOT seem to really want to sell.

If you want to sell, then you try to make it easy for the buyer, and your own convenience comes second. Lots of folks seem to think that everything should be as convenient as possible for themselves, and the buyer will just have to deal with it. This is a very good attitude to take if you do NOT really want to sell your boat! (Or you don't really want to get the best price for it.)

And to present the third side. There are some of us who want items sold but do not want to do the selling ourselves. We have zero desire to be salespeople. In our businesses we have salespersons but we don't do the selling. In our personal lives we are not going to get involved in selling. We don't like it. Don't want any part of it.

To add to that lack of desire to be a salesperson, we also don't intend to be home where the boat is the majority of time so we'd be most inconvenient and unable to do the job.

It's no different than when we moved from NC to FL. We called a realtor we knew and listed our house in NC with her. She sold it immediately. Could we have done the same and made more money? No idea. But as we were in FL and as we have no desire to be in real estate, we gladly paid her for her services. We never met the buyers.

For us to try to sell items ourselves would be counterproductive. We wouldn't give it the time or attention, wouldn't be available, and definitely wouldn't enjoy it.

So how do we do it. We engage the best realtors or best brokers possible. We research, we build relationships. We then manage the person selling if necessary, keeping in touch, requiring regular updates, and, if they were to fail to perform, we'd make a change.

 

[CaptRonn]

So how do we do it. We engage the best realtors or best brokers possible. We research, we build relationships. We then manage the person selling if necessary, keeping in touch, requiring regular updates, and, if they were to fail to perform, we'd make a change.

Boat Brokers and Realtors are a dime a dozen, and the vast majority are idiots. There are the rare exceptions, but they are very rare.

 

[Art]

Amazing to me how many people do NOT seem to be of that thought; who do NOT seem to really want to sell.

If you want to sell, then you try to make it easy for the buyer, and your own convenience comes second. Lots of folks seem to think that everything should be as convenient as possible for themselves, and the buyer will just have to deal with it. This is a very good attitude to take if you do NOT really want to sell your boat! (Or you don't really want to get the best price for it.)

IMO - Correct!!

 

[Art]

And to present the third side. There are some of us who want items sold but do not want to do the selling ourselves. We have zero desire to be salespeople. In our businesses we have salespersons but we don't do the selling. In our personal lives we are not going to get involved in selling. We don't like it. Don't want any part of it.

To add to that lack of desire to be a salesperson, we also don't intend to be home where the boat is the majority of time so we'd be most inconvenient and unable to do the job.

It's no different than when we moved from NC to FL. We called a realtor we knew and listed our house in NC with her. She sold it immediately. Could we have done the same and made more money? No idea. But as we were in FL and as we have no desire to be in real estate, we gladly paid her for her services. We never met the buyers.

For us to try to sell items ourselves would be counterproductive. We wouldn't give it the time or attention, wouldn't be available, and definitely wouldn't enjoy it.

So how do we do it. We engage the best realtors or best brokers possible. We research, we build relationships. We then manage the person selling if necessary, keeping in touch, requiring regular updates, and, if they were to fail to perform, we'd make a change.

Some enjoy getting "hands dirty"... others don't. Management of others getting their "hands dirty" is usually more lucrative as well as a cleaner, less hassle way to live that affords more time for additional management by those so inclined. Getting "hands dirty", in some instances, can be rewarding due to creative leanings; i.e., cooking, baking, furniture building, sports car polishing... etc. Getting "dirty hands" can also become a big pia when it is necessary to do so on continual, non-stop basis.

I like to mix the two ways of life up. Meaning... love to manage, love to create. And, love to live!!!

 

[BandB]

Some enjoy getting "hands dirty"... others don't. Management of others getting their "hands dirty" is usually more lucrative as well as a cleaner, less hassle way to live that affords more time for additional management by those so inclined.

In this case, it's not such a general thing as I don't enjoy sales. Therefore, I admire those really good at it. I don't have the patience and wouldn't enjoy dealing with the tire kickers along the way to the real buyers. Too much frustration.

 

[Art]

In this case, it's not such a general thing as I don't enjoy sales. Therefore, I admire those really good at it. I don't have the patience and wouldn't enjoy dealing with the tire kickers along the way to the real buyers. Too much frustration.

I appreciate good honest sellers too; who sell a good product fair and square with no lying nor smoke screen wrapped up into the "sale". There's one sales person who sold a bill of multiple-questionable goods and is still doing so. Yup - him!

 

[Seevee]

<<<Originally Posted by BandB View Post
So how do we do it. We engage the best realtors or best brokers possible. We research, we build relationships. We then manage the person selling if necessary, keeping in touch, requiring regular updates, and, if they were to fail to perform, we'd make a change.>>>

Boat Brokers and Realtors are a dime a dozen, and the vast majority are idiots. There are the rare exceptions, but they are very rare.

CaptRonn, I could come close to agreeing with that, but there are some good ones that can be an asset. When I was heavily doing real estate I did find a few really sharp realtors that made me a lot of money. However the majority of my deals was buyer and seller without a realtor.

BandB,
I'm sure you have "some" selling skills, we all need them. It's a part of life. And you need the knowledge of selling if you're going to be successful managing sales people, if they are employees or brokers.

I too, would not be a salesperson, but I've done it. When I had my businesses I spend a lot of time selling and traveling to the customer. It taught me a lot about how to deal with my sales people.

However, I LOVE negotiating and coming up with creative deals. That's fun, and use it a LOT when buying stuff.n

 

[BandB]

BandB,
I'm sure you have "some" selling skills, we all need them. It's a part of life. And you need the knowledge of selling if you're going to be successful managing sales people, if they are employees or brokers.

Just because I have the skill, doesn't mean I have any desire to use it. I can do lots of things I don't choose to do. Dealing with potential boat buyers is not on my list of pleasurable activities. While the majority are fine, it's that minority of time wasters who have no intent.

Then perhaps the one most annoying to me is similar to an acquaintance of mine. A very nice man, good honest businessman. But he seems to enjoy boat shopping more than boating. In the last three years, he has made offers on at least 25 boats. He has had offers accepted on 5 or 6 and all those have gone to survey and sea trials and he has backed out of all of them. A couple for significant issues the seller wouldn't address, but most for minor issues easily addressed. He gets cold feet at the altar.

 

[Seevee]

Just because I have the skill, doesn't mean I have any desire to use it. I can do lots of things I don't choose to do. Dealing with potential boat buyers is not on my list of pleasurable activities. While the majority are fine, it's that minority of time wasters who have no intent.

Then perhaps the one most annoying to me is similar to an acquaintance of mine. A very nice man, good honest businessman. But he seems to enjoy boat shopping more than boating. In the last three years, he has made offers on at least 25 boats. He has had offers accepted on 5 or 6 and all those have gone to survey and sea trials and he has backed out of all of them. A couple for significant issues the seller wouldn't address, but most for minor issues easily addressed. He gets cold feet at the altar.

BandB,

I can appreciate that.... that kind of buyer would be a PITA. Fortunately there's not a lot like him.

And I can understand why you don't want to do your own selling, but getting a good broker is still a bit of a crap shoot, especially if you don't do business with him on a regular basis.

I do both, but prefer to do it myself. But, I've gotten screwed more often that not with brokers.

Had a house up in Chicago area that I wanted sold. I tried to check out the realtor, but failed. I priced the house right and the market was medium, leaning toward a sellers market. After a year and a bunch of excuses and problems, I fired her, and got it sold in the next few months. Same with a boat that took a year to sell, when similar ones were selling for more from the same company.

I'll hire a broker if the time or distance doesn't work for me and about half of the time, I'm sorry I did.

 

[BandB]

And I can understand why you don't want to do your own selling, but getting a good broker is still a bit of a crap shoot, especially if you don't do business with him on a regular basis.

With that philosophy, it is a crap shoot. But it doesn't have to be. You look for good referrals. You interview them. You verify references. You go through all the process you would if hiring them or engaging them as a consultant. Good hiring skills or contracting skills and going through a good process will take the crap shoot part out of it. Then once you find one, remain loyal to them.

 

[Seevee]

With that philosophy, it is a crap shoot. But it doesn't have to be. You look for good referrals. You interview them. You verify references. You go through all the process you would if hiring them or engaging them as a consultant. Good hiring skills or contracting skills and going through a good process will take the crap shoot part out of it. Then once you find one, remain loyal to them.

BandB

I've done that, even to the point of searching the MLS to prove to me what they have sold. And in one case it worked very well. But very time consuming because I find that most brokers haven't sold much and then you repeat the process again and again until one is found.

However, often time, by the time I go thru all of the "qualifying" I can almost get the job done myself. I can hire a photographer and get a posting out on something to sell in a few hours. With a broker it takes days... and then there's a contract to sign, and getting the references to call back, etc. etc. and still a crap shoot.

 

[smitty477]

BandB

I've done that, even to the point of searching the MLS to prove to me what they have sold. And in one case it worked very well. But very time consuming because I find that most brokers haven't sold much and then you repeat the process again and again until one is found.

However, often time, by the time I go thru all of the "qualifying" I can almost get the job done myself. I can hire a photographer and get a posting out on something to sell in a few hours. With a broker it takes days... and then there's a contract to sign, and getting the references to call back, etc. etc. and still a crap shoot.

I have had similar results to SeeVee - that and the fact that I do not buy substantial boats often enough or even in the same area of the country to maintain a reasonable relationship. While I have listed with some more well known brokers at times I have had better 'luck' (results) selling on my own even though it was some amount of work - and I happen to be an expert on the boat I own at the time (lol).

 

[BandB]

One additional source for help in finding out the reputation and nature of brokers. Yacht managers and management companies. Typically a captain who owns one and has been in the area for years, has dealt with dozens of brokers and has very good insight into their integrity and their work ethic. Their exposure to brokers is many times that of any of us who don't have industry involvement.

Dockmasters observe a lot too. They know how frequently brokers bring potential customers to boats and those they never see.