Boat values in current economic situation

Thanks all for your responses.

I'm going to be very cautious before spending money and only consider boats that are both exactly what I'm looking for and where the sellers accept that values are well down. I reckon whatever I buy I could be stuck with for quite a time, so I want to get the right one and not invest more than she's worth!
 
I spoke to a broker in Turkey a couple of months ago and asked how the credit crunch was effecting the second hand boat prices.

At that time, he said not at all, as the problems were mainly in UK and did not really effect his market. He added that people are more likely to hang on to the boat and try and ride out the crunch making savings elsewhere (especially if it is already bought and paid for)

However that was two months ago, I will be back over in a couple of weeks and see if the prices have due to the recent global banking problems.
 
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If you've got an older boat it will have done most of it's depreciating already

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Tosh. Boats are always depreciating because they are manufactured products that are constantly deteriorating. Name me one component in a GRP yacht that is not a candidate for replacement or serious overhaul at 30 years.
 
Not tosh at all.

If, after 30 years, you have not replaced of upgraded anything your boat is worthless (or as good as). So it no longer has any value left to loose. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

When depreciation is represented on a curve, the largest depreciation occurs in the first five years. After that it flattens out. And if you keep up the maintenance, even better.

In 2000 we bought an 11 year old AWB (Etap 38i) for 50K - over the next 4 years we spent 19K on refit and upgrades. Sold in 2005 for 70K. Depreciation? Rate of inflation. And we sailed for 5 years for free.

Then bought an 21 year old MAB for 72K. Needs work. By this time next year, we will have spent just short of 30K on refit and upgrades. I will than have her revalued for insurance purposes. I'll let get back to you regarding depreciation - if any

/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
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In 2000 we bought an 11 year old AWB (Etap 38i) for 50K - over the next 4 years we spent 19K on refit and upgrades. Sold in 2005 for 70K. Depreciation? Rate of inflation. And we sailed for 5 years for free.

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A few points...

You sold to an Irish citizen I recall, so in one respect you got lucky by indirectly cashing in on the bubble economy of the Celtic tiger.

Your job probably allows you to spend substantial periods of leave time managing a £19k refit hence you are not factoring the value of your time.

Finally all yacht owners are guilty of grossly selective memories when it comes to the cost of boat maintenance and refits.

Only the Yanks are capable of correctly valuing second owner boats.
 
Well, with the value of Euro to the Pound, my boat is 22% more expensive in real terms to buy new now than when I bought mine in 2005. Assuming that a used boat is a roughly 'X' percentage of a new one, I think my boat is worth more now than 1 year ago. Thing is, I ain't selling.
Of course this is still hypothetical, and no doubt some people need to sell which may bring the price down in sporadic places, as always.
If you think you can get it cheaper, please try, and let us know how many per cent you got off the asking price, without recourse to the survey witch hunt.
 
Glad that you aren't selling at the moment, FullCircle. I don't think I can share your optimism about values for any of us who is selling.

I think 'Assuming that a used boat is a roughly 'X' percentage of a new one' is begging the question. Which is, using the same terminology as you, 'How much is X compared to a year ago?'.

And I don't think we should be too bothered about asking price and therefore 'percent off' the asking price. Some sellers may ask less, some may ask as much but take less. It's what the boats are actually changing hands for that matters.

Getting such different views is interesting. I still think I'm going to be faced with (a) fewer buyers than a while back who (b) want to pay me less! So any sellers dealing with me are going to face the same problem - less of me (!) and tighter with my money.

Thanks for response.

Julian
 
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In 2000 we bought an 11 year old AWB (Etap 38i) for 50K - over the next 4 years we spent 19K on refit and upgrades. Sold in 2005 for 70K. Depreciation? Rate of inflation. And we sailed for 5 years for free.

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I think if you worked it all out you still lost based on value of the £ over those 5 years. You effectively only recouped numbers, not real value.

It would also be true of many boats that spending that much on a boat would not be recouped on sale. Usually it is only when a boat has had a renovation job to bring it to normal market value from a depressed buy-in price. Care has to be exercised in that case that renovation is completed to standard that a surveyor would not pick up as DIY and less than professional.
Anyone can spend 19K or more easily on even a modest budget boat, with little hope of recovering on selling. You only have to look at second hand boats vs new - the inventory specs and related asking prices, let alone actual paid price.

Example of friend of mine - paid 110K for a 36ft boat new. Spent ~10K on add-ons such as plotter etc. 4 yrs later boat is on market at 75K, same pricing as others with less inventory. It is most likely that he will be offered well less than that !

It was said that a 30yr old boat if not money spent on it, will be worthless. Sorry that is not played out by market. 30yr old boats seem to hold value very steady, whether large or small amounts spent on them. Majority will sell for same price today as bought anything up to 10yrs previous.

Let's be honest - price is what someone will pay.
 
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I think if you worked it all out you still lost based on value of the £ over those 5 years. You effectively only recouped numbers, not real value.


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At least I recouped something.
The real value was the five years of sailing /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
If I had chartered for 5 years I would have paid more and sailed less.

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Care has to be exercised in that case that renovation is completed to standard that a surveyor would not pick up as DIY and less than professional.


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When I'm spending that kind of money, nothing but the best will do.
New engine, new sails, new electrics, new electronics and new Threadmaster.
No DIY - I've got 2 left hands.

Surveyor's actual words: the man's a fool if he lets this one go. If he doesn't buy her, I will.

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Example of friend of mine - paid 110K for a 36ft boat new. Spent ~10K on add-ons such as plotter etc. 4 yrs later boat is on market at 75K, same pricing as others with less inventory. It is most likely that he will be offered well less than that !

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That's a new boat - no matter how many toys you add to a new boat - it does bugger all for the resale value.
 
I can see reason in all forms of thinking in this post: especially the
"Finally all yacht owners are guilty of grossly selective memories when it comes to the cost of boat maintenance and refits" comment.
The one bit I don't get is that house prices "are said" to have dropped by 20-30%.
Has anyone tried selling a house lately, unless you are prepared to almost give it away a market doesn't exist. My parents house is being vested at present, three years ago it was valued at £273,000 and were selling like hotcakes. Three weeks ago they are were offered £78,000 as a settlement,,,, the position they are in is that the foreclosures hasn't kicked in to bring the market around to selling equivalent properties at this figure. It is going to make it very difficult to them to get a comparable house for the money they are looking at. Dad took advise from a friend who is a conveyancing solicitor, her advise was that he could get less by holding out. She is 99% expecting the market to fall much further in the next 12mths.
I deeply suspect it will be the same with boat values, in that the market will dictate a price that will be paid and it will be those that have to sell that will be hit hardest. Sorry about the gloom it's just my current experience:mad:
 
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