Purchase contract

This is my first experience buying a boat with a survey!
When you purchasing a boat form a private party, when do you sign a purchase contract and give a deposit?
Before a sea trial or after? Or after the survey?
How do you make sure you can get your deposit back if you can't reach a agreement after the survey on issues with the boat?
From what I understand items found on the survey are negotiable?

Does anyone have a generic contract they would be willing to share?
Thanks!

Island, I've bought 3 boats from private owners. One was surveyed, the other 2 were not.


One that had no survey (20'er), I just took it for a sea trial, wrote him a check and left.


On the other two, one involved a selling broker, one was a private party. On the private party purchase I wrote up a contract after he and I agreed to the terms and I mailed it with a check for the deposit prior to the survey. The sale was conditional on a successful sea trial and survey.


I think the general rule of thumb is to make a written offer with a 10% deposit. The written offer should outline all of the terms and have plenty of escape clauses for you and also language that the deposit is to be returned of you back away from the purchase.

BoatUS used to have an affiliate who handled deposits for no broker purchases. They also had a standard contract form. As I recalled it was buried in the BoatUS website, so you will have to look, but it may not even exist anymore.


USCG documentation services that are located in all major ports- Annapolis, Miami, etc. can handle deposits for you as well.


David

See if Norm is still at Marine Documentation Services, Anacortes. They did the closing for us when we bought Hobo. They held the money from the offer, did the final distribution, settlement statement, re-documented Hobo and other legal stuff for ~$500 9 years ago. We split the cost with the sellers . No brokers were involved.

If you PM me your email address, I have a sample purchase & sale agreement that Norm gave us I'll send to you.

Marine Documentation Service, Inc.
Norman Havercroft , Sonya McNett
Mailing Address: 212 Commercial Avenue , Anacortes, WA 98221
Tel: (360) 299-3272 Fax: (360) 299-3273
Email: info@marinedocservice.com

Thanks for the ideas

You present a signed (by you) contract plus a deposit check when you make an offer. The seller either accepts and signs, or rejects.

The contract says who holds the deposit (typically one of the brokers, but it can be a 3rd party if you don't trust them or there is no broker). The contract also stipulates an amount of time you have to get the boat surveyed and to otherwise satisfy yourself that it's acceptable. Once you "accept" the boat, you are obligated to follow through and buy it. Until you accept the boat, you can walk away for any reason. Your acceptance would be where you would negotiate any issues.

At least that's how the various yacht broker association contracts read, and they are all pretty much the same. Or you can do your own thing.

Larry M said:

See if Norm is still at Marine Documentation Services, Anacortes. They did the closing for us when we bought Hobo. They held the money from the offer, did the final distribution, settlement statement, re-documented Hobo and other legal stuff for ~$500 9 years ago. We split the cost with the sellers . No brokers were involved.

If you PM me your email address, I have a sample purchase & sale agreement that Norm gave us I'll send to you.

Marine Documentation Service, Inc.
Norman Havercroft , Sonya McNett
Mailing Address: 212 Commercial Avenue , Anacortes, WA 98221
Tel: (360) 299-3272 Fax: (360) 299-3273
Email: info@marinedocservice.com

Click to expand...

We used Marine Documentation Services when we went signed the purchase agreement on a private sale. They held the deposit and also undertook all documentation ( including everything for import of the vessel to Canada) after the sale was finalized. The signed purchase agreement and deposit were arranged prior to sea trial and survey. We first came to agreement in purchase and then arranged the deposit particulars. I would recommend this outfit. The cost of this service is reasonable.


Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

Larry M said:

See if Norm is still at Marine Documentation Services, Anacortes. They did the closing for us when we bought Hobo. They held the money from the offer, did the final distribution, settlement statement, re-documented Hobo and other legal stuff for ~$500 9 years ago. We split the cost with the sellers . No brokers were involved.

If you PM me your email address, I have a sample purchase & sale agreement that Norm gave us I'll send to you.

Marine Documentation Service, Inc.
Norman Havercroft , Sonya McNett
Mailing Address: 212 Commercial Avenue , Anacortes, WA 98221
Tel: (360) 299-3272 Fax: (360) 299-3273
Email: info@marinedocservice.com

Click to expand...

I have used these folks twice myself during purchases. Great outfit, and great peace of mind knowing that the seller is not holding my hard earned deposit money.

To the OP, you generally make an offer to a private seller verbally. Once you agree you quantify the terms of your sale in writing, and both sign it. Then you provide that document, along with your deposit funds to the marine title company who sets up closing in accordance with the terms of your written agreement.

If I understand the original post, he is asking about purchase contracts and the purchase procedure. All the services referenced are for escrow service and documentation/registration service.

Escrow is part of the purchase contract, but only one part of many that are equally important - like all the things the OP is asking about.

And documentation/registration happens after you own the boat, so important, but much further down the road. I think what he needs is a sample purchase agreement. These are typically provided by the broker, but I'm assuming there is no broker involved in this deal.

Here is a link to a sample Florida Yacht Brokers Association contract. It's as good as any, at least as a starting point. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0ahUKEwj6ta7d5ZDNAhUJFj4KHcTsAjIQFgg-MAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yachtsalesflorida.com%2Fcontracts%2FPurch_Sale_%2520Agree.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHa-JnfUSWaLH0tsf3wVRF_A58f8Q&sig2=j2wauxo2O7uSi1zd398CbQ

Two parts to the question. First, as to contract and flow. The FL contract linked to is an excellent example. Order is offer contingent upon survey and sea trial, with deposit and acceptance followed by sea trial and survey. Then buyer can accept and proceed or negotiate further based on issues found or reject and walk away.

Part two of the question is the deposit. I would never turn the deposit over to an individual. That is where a documentation/title agency is essential. Upon acceptance of the offer, the deposit would go to them.

BandB said:

Two parts to the question. First, as to contract and flow. The FL contract linked to is an excellent example. Order is offer contingent upon survey and sea trial, with deposit and acceptance followed by sea trial and survey. Then buyer can accept and proceed or negotiate further based on issues found or reject and walk away.

Part two of the question is the deposit. I would never turn the deposit over to an individual. That is where a documentation/title agency is essential. Upon acceptance of the offer, the deposit would go to them.

Click to expand...

Very succinct and I would agree completely. In a private sale, I would want someone to be able to act as an escrow agent and the title agency would be able to do that.

I wouldn't have an issue with a private sale but I'm NOT turning a deposit check over to a seller. Doc service or other escrow arrangement. Too much potential for trouble.