Boat sales! North or South?

[seafox67]

With Covid over the last few years effecting my financial situation, I may have to take the decision to down size from my 31ft sail boat next year so this season might be my last!

As a seller, are there better locations to sell your boat between the west coast of Scotland or south east England?

My feeling is the value of the boat would be the same however, I have only sold one other boat in the past so would be grateful to hear from anyone with more experience selling boats.

 

[Canopy Locked]

It would be my opinion that if someone is looking for and interested in your type of boat, they would not be deterred by location. Have sold a number of boats from the North Moray Coast, 1st bought locally, sold to Nth Ireland, 2nd bought Clyde sold to essex, 3rd bought Dover sold to Cornwall, 4th Bought Hartlepool sold to Chichester, 5th Bought Glasgow, sold locally.

Condition, equipment and history with a price commensurate with those 3 factors are probably more important.

 

[Tranona]

Depends to an extent on the type and price of boat. bigger more expensive boats might attract buyers from other part of the country as moving it is a lower proportion of the total cost of acquisition. Budget £3-4k minimum for moving a boat around the UK (just done it!)

At the moment good well priced boats at almost all levels are selling quickly and no sign this will change in the near future as the fundamental reasons for this are unlikely to change. So enjoy your last year, prepare the boat well for sale and list it.

 

[dunedin]

If finances are a serious concern, sadly it may be safer to sell sooner whilst the prices are high rather than risk waiting a year.
Undoubtedly prices are unusually high at present, and boats selling fast.
Various opinions as to how fast these prices might soften - from the very quickly, as people rediscover overseas holidays this summer and the downsides of boat maintenance, to the view that they will remain more flat for a while. But there is a at least a significant risk you may get materially less for it if wait 12 months.
On the other side sale proceeds sitting in a bank account will lose value as inflation shoots up. So depends on what the money might be needed for.
Or just go sailing and leave the agonising till need to.

PS. As Tranona says, location very much affected by boat type and value. People will travel for a rare and valuable boat, less so for an old project boat

 

[seafox67]

Thanks for the replies... From your responses, I might be better focussing more on preparing the boat for sale instead of finishing this season at a potential better location for selling it. It's a bilge keel so I thought it might be more tempting for the mud berths on the south east coast.

Thankfully, I have a few more ideas to keep the boat as selling would be my last worse case option!

 

[oldgit]

In my recent experience in the boat is any good it will be gone in the south/ south east before it hits the brokers listings. Boats do seem to take longer to sell the further away they are from the south.
One motor boat we went to look at on the Thames never even made it to the listings, sold in day. Broker kindly allowed me to look over the boat I missed.
Two other boats did manage to actually see were at the far ends of the country.