Abusive Broker Jeroen Korthuis Astra Mare Yachtbrokers

[Nicholas123]

Hi All, Has anyone else had problems with Jeroen Korthuis

Astra Mare Yachtbrokers holland

I emailed an offer on a boat which I thought was fair. He replied that it was too low and told me what was an acceptable offer that he would take to the owner (what the...) I insisted he take mine as is. At that point he got abusive. He even looked up my web site saying how his eyes bled looking at how bad it was. He also told me he represents the seller. So as a buyer you can expect he will say and do whatever it takes to look after the owner. Buyer beware of this guy eh?
Brokers in general are something you scrape of your shoe but
Surely the yacht market in Europe is not as bad as that.

Is anyone else getting this reaction from brokers?

I experienced a similar thing in this country not so very far away.I thought the broker did the seller a disservice but then he was'nt paying the berth rental that the seller was paying & was'nt taking half the risks.He could afford to hold out for a higher price & therefore a higher commission?

 

[Frankie-H]

He's a Dutchman and a yacht broker what do you expect?
They are all just Scottish estate agents with their generosity and charm removed.

Business is not that good and there are plenty of boats for sale.

+1
Add any sort of humour and flexibility to the list

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

My wife is 100% Irish and I love her for her nice tits. I don't mind if she tells the odd fib.

Cheers, Brian.

Bloody 'ell Brian.... i've just spilt coffee all over my keyboard!

 

[jonic]

I experienced a similar thing in this country not so very far away.I thought the broker did the seller a disservice but then he was'nt paying the berth rental that the seller was paying & was'nt taking half the risks.He could afford to hold out for a higher price & therefore a higher commission?

Look I'm a broker and I can assure you it doesn't work like that at all.

Brokers are not just getting a commission for finding a buyer.

They are receiving a fee for producing the inventories probably over several visits, taking the photographs, buying and placing the advertising, telephoning and emailing people every day, driving to viewings, then organising the survey, contracts, legal transfer and finance. All that is unpaid until the sale completes and it takes hours and hours as the overhead merrily runs up on a daily basis. The broker wants to recoup those costs and time costs as soon as possible.

It would be the easiest thing in the world and far far better for his cashflow to sell the boats off quickly and cheaply, but that would be a total disservice to his clients. You really are very wrong.

The difference to the broker in his fee would be small, but the capital difference to his client would be very painful.

£100k boat on 5% fee.

Accept an £80k offer and the broker is only losing £1k but his client is losing £20K!!

These threads are really about people trying it on, to get boats well under their market value, and then complaining when they can't force the issue.

 

[jonic]

Bloody 'ell Brian.... i've just spilt coffee all over my keyboard!

Glad it was just coffee

 

[Koeketiene]

My wife is 100% Irish and I love her for her nice tits. I don't mind if she tells the odd fib.

Cheers, Brian.

This post needs pictures

 

[jonic]

This post needs pictures

That would make it possibly the best thread drift ever.

 

[@#$% boats]

user name

Do you think that your general lack of regard for brokers might have reflected in your tone during negotiations? Do you get this a lot?

I don't know about anyone else, but when someone creates an ID on here with the express purpose of rubbishing someone else, I find it a little irksome. Especially when, as far as I can see, all that you have lost is the time it took to send a half-baked offer by email.

It may have escaped your notice that this account is several years old. Not created to rubbish anyone. I am amused to see how many people seek to justify the brokers attitude. What is wrong with you people.
A supposed profesional is abusing a potential buyer and you seek to find ways to justify it? I wont post the conversation on here but i can asure you i was polite and civil in all corespondance. till he started the abuse. I might point out the nutcase broker is still sending me abusive emails even though I have not emailed him in days.
I agree that there are allways two sides to a story and I am as curious as you to find out what possesed the man to act like he has.
If you re-read my origional post you will find I simply asked if anyone else had recieved this reaction. I was seeking information. Granted I said a nasty quote about brokers which whilst it is a generalisation I am sure many brokers do not deserve, I feel entitled to a small rant as the victim of a serious round of abuse I did not deserve.
My user name is meant a joke. Tell me truthfuly...is there any among you that has not at one time or another said bloody boats?

 

[SailorBill]

These threads are really about people trying it on, to get boats well under their market value, and then complaining when they can't force the issue.

On the other hand, if a boat has been for sale for two years (I know of two boats that have been) then I would argue that the seller's (and broker's) idea of the market value is unrealistic. An offer below the asking price will be more realistic and reflect the real market value (i.e. what someone is prepared to pay for it in an open market).

I am convinced that the two boats I referred to above are not seriously for sale and that the owners are just testing the market. AKA waiting for a mug to come along and pay over the odds.

 

[Robin]

On the other hand, if a boat has been for sale for two years (I know of two boats that have been) then I would argue that the seller's (and broker's) idea of the market value is unrealistic. An offer below the asking price will be more realistic and reflect the real market value (i.e. what someone is prepared to pay for it in an open market).

I am convinced that the two boats I referred to above are not seriously for sale and that the owners are just testing the market. AKA waiting for a mug to come along and pay over the odds.

There are some people who always have their boat for sale it seems at an opportunistic price, but they are fairly obvious to anyone researching the market after a while and easy enough to ignore.

Otherwise the owner and his broker can always discuss things and decide to reduce the price, or not as the owner wishes, because after all it is his boat and his choice.

When we sold the boat before last we had already bought it's successor and tried selling privately first off. We had several tyre kicking opportunists, despite that time it being more of a seller's market. One of these was muttering about old instruments (it had a fully interfaced set with repeaters below decks) way above what most similar boats would have and they were just three years old. Later on he admitted that he wasn't really interested because he had a very similar boat and just wanted to see the differences between his boat and our Westerly. We later put the boat with a broker who sold it in under 6 weeks to someone who had not even seen our own advertising because he only wanted to deal through a broker and didn't read private ads.

There were some people we would NOT have sold to at any price.

 

[xyachtdave]

It may have escaped your notice that this account is several years old. Not created to rubbish anyone. I am amused to see how many people seek to justify the brokers attitude. What is wrong with you people.
A supposed profesional is abusing a potential buyer and you seek to find ways to justify it? I wont post the conversation on here but i can asure you i was polite and civil in all corespondance. till he started the abuse. I might point out the nutcase broker is still sending me abusive emails even though I have not emailed him in days.
I agree that there are allways two sides to a story and I am as curious as you to find out what possesed the man to act like he has.
If you re-read my origional post you will find I simply asked if anyone else had recieved this reaction. I was seeking information. Granted I said a nasty quote about brokers which whilst it is a generalisation I am sure many brokers do not deserve, I feel entitled to a small rant as the victim of a serious round of abuse I did not deserve.
My user name is meant a joke. Tell me truthfuly...is there any among you that has not at one time or another said bloody boats?

Link to boat and amount of your offer please?

We can then have a look and make our own minds up regarding the reaction. You might be completely justified in a rant, maybe not...

Thanks.

 

[jonic]

Link to boat and amount of your offer please?

We can then have a look and make our own minds up regarding the reaction. You might be completely justified in a rant, maybe not...

Thanks.

+1

 

[jwilson]

+1

+ another

 

[pieter2]

six pages of replies dealing with one bad experience with a broker!!!
The TS is not giving us any information about the circumstances.
It does not seem fair to this broker does it?

I know Dutch are a little bit more straightforward then the English, but would it not be a good idea if one of you would give this Jeroen a call and ask him for more information?

 

[tomdmx]

Does it really matter? I mean ok you had a bad experience, didn't buy the boat etc, then simply move on...life is too short...

Though I must say I can't imagine why a broker would be sending abusive emails on an unrelated site/matter at the risk of legal exposure without any reason...or even with reason....

Regardless though, I think the certainties are:
- we've all had good and bad experiences with brokers (and surveyors for that matter )
- I don't think anyone intelligent enough will take a single instance and black mark the broker/person
- Irish tits are great (my missus is Polish though and I've no complaints either lol)

 

[Coaster]

To me the OP seems to be an altogether dodgier character than the broker. I wonder if I'm alone in this opinion?

 

[jonic]

To me the OP seems to be an altogether dodgier character than the broker. I wonder if I'm alone in this opinion?

Unless we get more detail you're not alone.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

I don't think that they do much to earn their comission. .

So if he tells a punter with a silly low offer to go away, he is wrong. But if he passes that same punters offer directly onto the seller for the seller to decide he isnt doing much for his money.

What do people expect a broker to do other than to advertise the boat? Serious question because I for one object strongly to brokers accompanying a viewing - I dont want someone hovering over my shoulder.

 

[Robin]

So if he tells a punter with a silly low offer to go away, he is wrong. But if he passes that same punters offer directly onto the seller for the seller to decide he isnt doing much for his money.

What do people expect a broker to do other than to advertise the boat? Serious question because I for one object strongly to brokers accompanying a viewing - I dont want someone hovering over my shoulder.

A good broker will leave you alone if you ask. We spent two hours on board our latest alone with the broker and the owners in the coffee shop, then we had a further two hours with everyone on a run out to sea.

Once we had decided to proceed, the broker did all the inter party liaison between us, the owners, our surveyor and the yard where the boat would be lifted for the out of water survey. After we had bought the broker arranged a specialist title transfer company for us who handled the Florida registration and the USCG Federal Documentation. In the meantime he also found us an insurance broker who would/could deal with us in the UK and the boat being in Florida, which despite promises beforehand Pantaenius could not do.

 

[Tranona]

So if he tells a punter with a silly low offer to go away, he is wrong. But if he passes that same punters offer directly onto the seller for the seller to decide he isnt doing much for his money.

What do people expect a broker to do other than to advertise the boat? Serious question because I for one object strongly to brokers accompanying a viewing - I dont want someone hovering over my shoulder.

A broker will (or should) do whatever is necessary to facilitate a sale on behalf of his client. He should know enough about how potential buyers behave to suss out whether he should crawl all over them or let them look at the boat without him there, although he has a duty to ensure that his client's property is respected.

Just like any commission sales activity, he can make a sale with no real effort or he can work his butt off trying to get recalcitrant buyers and sellers to agree to a deal.

I remember my M in L moaning because the estate agent found a buyer for her cottage the day after she instructed him. Felt he "ought to have worked for his cut" - never could persuade her that he had done his job perfectly - got a good buyer who paid the price she wanted and completed on time. What more can you ask for?

Guess Jonic can give you some insight into the everyday life of a broker, which I suggest is just a bit more than an advertiser!