Brokers fee's

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Paul&Ness

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Hi, New to the forum so a quick introduction and initial question. Have spent years at sea on HM Grey Funnel Lines, sailed dinghies since a young lad and a few years diving, don't mind what I'm doing as long as it's on, under or near the water.

I am just buying my first MB and looking at all aspects of what's involved.

The choice of boats alone is mind numbing, narrowing it down to a shortlist of possibles has taken weeks. Possibly looking at a private sale for one particular boat so my question is 'how much would brokers fee's be, are they based on a percentage of the sale price?

Paul
 
4,5, 6,8 % just depends on the broker and what the deal is. The larger companies tend to stick at 8% which isn't often negotiable. I tend to like and trust smaller companies that you can build a relationship with.

There is loads of stuff on here about brokers, a lot is very negative so just make your own mind up.
 
Paul&Ness said:
Hi, New to the forum so a quick introduction and initial question. Have spent years at sea on HM Grey Funnel Lines, sailed dinghies since a young lad and a few years diving, don't mind what I'm doing as long as it's on, under or near the water.

I am just buying my first MB and looking at all aspects of what's involved.

The choice of boats alone is mind numbing, narrowing it down to a shortlist of possibles has taken weeks. Possibly looking at a private sale for one particular boat so my question is 'how much would brokers fee's be, are they based on a percentage of the sale price?

Paul
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Just be aware that boat buying isnt as straightforward as regards your rights and varies with quite from whom you buy (broker,dealer,private), so just be aware of the differences.
 
As very general rule, the hull of modern mass produced glass fibre motorboat is fairly unlikely to be a source of hidden trouble.
It will be everything else that will be waiting to turn and bite you. Major hidden expence is normally the reserve of engines and drive systems. Usually the result of poor servicing and neglect.When a boat service on two engines could be into a couple of thousand,you can understand why.
There will be sellers out there waiting to unload troublesome money pits on some unsuspecting tyro.
Buy right and you will never regret it. Especially when you come to sell.
Difficult to think about now but at some point you are to want to sell up or move up.
Pay over the top and you will feel it when its time to sell.
Patience is King .
For every 20 boats you look at 9 will be "optimistically" priced by chancers seeing if the market price will come anywhere near what they owe on the finance.
You will walk away from 9 more muttering about driving 100 miles to see it and wondering if the smell will go away .

Two will be nice clean boats loved by their owners and at a sensible negotiable price.
Finding those boats is the art of boat buying .
Unless you are very sure of your capabilities get a survey.... on a larger boat you may also want an engine survey.
The seller may even vet you to see if he wants to let you buy his boat.:)
Caveat etc etc Good luck.
 
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Paul&Ness said:
Hi, New to the forum so a quick introduction and initial question. Have spent years at sea on HM Grey Funnel Lines, sailed dinghies since a young lad and a few years diving, don't mind what I'm doing as long as it's on, under or near the water.

I am just buying my first MB and looking at all aspects of what's involved.

The choice of boats alone is mind numbing, narrowing it down to a shortlist of possibles has taken weeks. Possibly looking at a private sale for one particular boat so my question is 'how much would brokers fee's be, are they based on a percentage of the sale price?

Paul
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If you are buying a boat you are not involved in the paying of a brokers fees, other than the seller pays them out of your purchase monies.

You mention buying privately, so I wonder if you are wondering how much the seller is saving by not using a broker, which might be an amount you could negotiate off the price??

I would suggest that you wouldn't go far wrong in basing your decision on a brokers fee of about 6%+VAT, but you will not know whether a seller has taken this into account in their asking price, or what they might accept. I'd suggest offering what you think the boat is worth to you, and see what happens.
 
Hi Paul & Ness, and welcome to the forum.
In addition to the advice above I would offer the thought that the majority of new boat owers retain their first boat for only one or two seasons. Not because they made a 'wrong choice', but because it is almost impossible to ascertain how you will feel about any boat until you and yours have lived with it for a while and find how it fits with both what you originally expected, and what you have subsequently learned in that first season or two. So dont be surprised if it happens to you, just learn from it, and change with a smile, have a much better idea of 'what next'. Above all enjoy the excitement and fun of the whole process.:encouragement:
Good luck.
 
Are you looking at a trailer boat or something permanently in the water? I'm guessing you've investigated berthing costs and availability? I think OldGit touched on lift-out and survey costs - you the buyer has to pay these, but normally the boat will only be lifted out for a survey once the parties have agreed on a purchase price. Trailer boating of course skirts round this issue.

Enjoy the hunt, and remember, be prepared to walk away.
 
A slight thread drift perhaps but I intend to sell my Antares 30(1 careful owner!) this autumn after I've sailed her to Scotland. Am I better off having her in or out of the water? I was going to have her out as, of course, it's much cheaper. Also does it matter where in the country a boat sells from? Is Inverness going to be much harder than the Solent?
 
wonky said:
A slight thread drift perhaps but I intend to sell my Antares 30(1 careful owner!) this autumn after I've sailed her to Scotland. Am I better off having her in or out of the water? I was going to have her out as, of course, it's much cheaper. Also does it matter where in the country a boat sells from? Is Inverness going to be much harder than the Solent?
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There are arguments for and against in or out of the water. The key thing is that it must be easily accessible for viewing. Out of the water is probably more common partly because boats are often for sale out of season and some sellers move them to locations where they are on display with other boats. As regards to location, that is pretty obvious. The boat is better located close to the biggest potential market and would guess the Solent market is a tad bigger than Inverness. On the other hand a lower price in the remote location may tempt buyers and avoid the cost to you of moving the boat.
 
I have bought boats both in and out of the water. My preference is in the water, but I am not sure if there is any right or wrong answer. You are looking for the 1 person who wants to buy your boat. Apologies for stating the obvious.
 
If you are buying a second hand boat, then the searching can be a bit of a challenge. You will need some willpower and resolve, and a waterproof layer to protect you from the nonsense that you will be told.

I say this from recent experience. I'm not sure if my experience is typical, but it's recent and has put me off purchasing.

I have viewed 10 boats in the last 2 months. I have travelled approx 2,500 miles to do so. Sometimes I have been lucky and viewed two in one trip.

The vast majority have been purposefully misrepresented. Verbal descriptions which have been inaccurate (e.g. words such as 'immaculate, like-new, unused' aren't always used in the same way by everyone), 'current' photographs which were years before, promised service history and paperwork that doesn't exist, entirely random estimates of remediation work that anyone who has owned a boat and paid bills in the past would know is untruthful. Reminds me of the experiences I had buying cars as a young driver.

I have lots of examples of odd stuff one may experience when boat-buying, but the latest is perhaps the funniest. A broker at the Sandbanks Boat Show this last weekend reckoned that I could lift, store, cut and polish, antifoul, sand decks, and have all the canopies laundered, and relaunch a 45 foot motorboat for 'no more than £1500': 'couple of days at the most'. And the boat had blue hull sides that were pale and chalky, foot long growth underneath, had lain largely unused for the last 2 years, and cockpit teak that you could feel the grain through your boat shoes.

Sadly, I've now had enough. Money's useful for lots of things and when presented with an opportunity to buy another property that I fancied on Monday, I decided to put the money there instead. So, no boats now for a while.

Sorry to put the dampers on your thread, but my experience is that you must have patience, as mentioned earlier, and be willing to drive a long way before you find anything interesting.

But it doesn't end there.

When you do find something that may just about do the job, there's the negotiating about the price experience. Whatever you do, don't try telling a boat owner that you aren't willing the pay the price of a boat that he/she has had up for sale for two years. Because the owner and the broker will tell you that you are unrealistic and out of touch.

So, there we are. It isn't always as easy as you'd think to spend your money sensibly on a second hand boat.

But perhaps I've just been unlucky, and too careful with my money.

Cheers

Garold
 
Thanks for all you comment. We've spent a few months looking at different boats and now have one that ticks all the boxes and just happens be moored a few hundred yards from my office so even better. So far have expressed interest and hope to be making an offer in the next few weeks.
 
Paul&Ness said:
Thanks for all you comment. We've spent a few months looking at different boats and now have one that ticks all the boxes and just happens be moored a few hundred yards from my office so even better. So far have expressed interest and hope to be making an offer in the next few weeks.
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If it is a good one, it will be gone in 2 weeks, do it now
 
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