How much would you offer for....

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trialframe

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I've been looking at used Ellings. I called a Dutch broker enquiring about a really nice E4 priced at 495000 euros & he instantly told me that he would expect this to sell for about 450000 euros. There are lots of used examples on the market.
Question is - what would you offer to try & remain serious realistic & not loose credibility?
 
Depends what the others are up for.
Is it an executive or a base model - big difference in new price (like 50%).

If it's lovely, and €450k is your budget and below others on the market then I'd go with that.
If at €450k it's expensive and no nicer think about dropping the offer.

European brokers, especially the Dutch, work on the basis of giving you the best or last price if you ask and often there is not much wriggle room.

Ellington are a bit niche and the brokers who deal with them regularly know the market well
 
Agree with all the above, my view would be that you candidly tell the broker that you have a high end budget of - affix your best price here - (I think 350k £ would be a great price for a 2013 e4 with air con and wing engine).

Worse that can happen is that broker tells you that you are looking at the wrong boat, there are a few on the market so really your best position is to give your best price to more than one broker and make them do the work.

I don't think that your credibility will be their main concern if they qualify you as a customer with funds and I would be surprised if a door is shut in your face.

Lovely boats and very keen to here if this progresses :)
 
I'd assess the value of the actual boat incl. all equiment and gear, age, engines, previous use, service history etc., then make a comparison to the market (both other Ellings and different makes). If still interesting I'd travel to view the thing, knowing that the seller will consider bids.

Only after viewing and talking to the seller about terms and conditions would I give him my offer. And then of course initially a bit below my ultimate threshold.

Just my 2..:encouragement:
 
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Buyers probably need to demonstrate that they are an active buyer and go to the trouble of actually having a look at the boat in question ?
Private sellers and especially brokers must get really sick and tired with voices on the phone asking "Whats the lowest price" .
 
oldgit said:
Buyers probably need to demonstrate that they are an active buyer and go to the trouble of actually having a look at the boat in question ?
Private sellers and especially brokers must get really sick and tired with voices on the phone asking "Whats the lowest price" .
Click to expand...
Response to the 'What's your lowest price" question is " the boat is openly advertised for £??? - are you making an offer of that sum, in which case i shall be pleased to accept it ? ".

This "whats you lowest..." approach really annoys me. You have considered a price to ask for the boat, it is down to a would be buyer to counter with an offer.

My own method when hunting was to suggest the value you think the boat is worth, and see if that draws the seller / broker out, as you are not making an offer, just a simple statement, but this is considerably different to the "whats your lowest price" question, and this leaves the response up to the seller, especially if you have taken time to condition your suggested value with a fair assessment.
 
superheat6k said:
Response to the 'What's your lowest price" question is " the boat is openly advertised for £??? - are you making an offer of that sum, in which case i shall be pleased to accept it ? ".

This "whats you lowest..." approach really annoys me. You have considered a price to ask for the boat, it is down to a would be buyer to counter with an offer.

My own method when hunting was to suggest the value you think the boat is worth, and see if that draws the seller / broker out, as you are not making an offer, just a simple statement, but this is considerably different to the "whats your lowest price" question, and this leaves the response up to the seller, especially if you have taken time to condition your suggested value with a fair assessment.
Click to expand...

+1
 
I know of someone who went to view a large old tub with an asking price of €1m.

"Give you €300k" he muttered and, next day the craft was his, cash paid.
 
Thanks for all your replies. I wasn't going to go down the 'what's your lowest price' route. Superheat6k's approach seems the best approach. The one mentioned by MartynG is already under offer btw.
 
trialframe said:
Thanks for all your replies. I wasn't going to go down the 'what's your lowest price' route. Superheat6k's approach seems the best approach. The one mentioned by MartynG is already under offer btw.
Click to expand...
OK I wasn't buying a £0.5M super yacht, but I did create a spreadsheet and listed out all the likely tasks the various boats would need.

Remove rose tinted specs or any notion that you pay more because 'Boats are like that'.

So start with working out the Best ever price is A1 condition for the boats age. This takes a fair amount of market research to establish, but in essence is the ceiling any boat will ever achieve in its best ever condition. This is the starting price.

Then take a long slow look at the candidate boat and list out / write down all the tasks that need doing to get it to that illusory A1 condition.

Then put two prices to these tasks - professionally done and doing it by most effective means (e.g. but not necessarily, DIY). Put these into two columns.

Allow a reasonable chunk for the aspects you don't know about.

Then list out the sensible inventory the boat should have to go to sea, and tick off the items included, or put a price down for the items missing, or out of date (fire extinguishers, flares, etc). This proves a further price to allow in the calculation.

So from the A1 price deduct the two columns of costs separately to give you the value range, then factor in the time factor to achieve, not necessarily A1, but decent usable condition. Now you are getting close to the actual value you would present as a fair assessment.

The sellers may not like it, but they will ignore it at their peril.

Of the four Corvettes I saw -

1 Vendor was not interested in my assessment (then !), but anyway the boat was actually at the point where the time factor for the work required ruled it out as a possibility anyway It was up for £60 k and recently sold for £27k, (a fair bit above my valuation so I wish the buyer well with it).

2 Vendor had inadvertently mis represented the boat which raised alarms. However, I was still up for a purchase, but again he wanted ~ £60k, my median valuation was £38k, which was below his expectations. I have kept in contact and sad to say it did sell for £35k BUT on survey one of the engines blew up, which cost the vendor £15 k to fix. So he got after fees about £15k for the boat.

3 The vendor was not at all interested in my valuation and was seemingly affronted by my approach. The boat is still for sale asking > £60k and with IMHO dodgy VAT status. I reckon from the seagull lunches left in the knackered tonneau this boat had not been viewed for 6 months and likely not used for 3 years. I reckon it will sell when the vendor has his reality check, and realises it is only worth around £35k.

4 My Boadicea. I reckon I found the best of the bunch, and I feel the price I paid was the correct one. I am not sitting here smugly thinking I had one over on the vendor, instead I have paid a fair price and got a fair boat for it, including the work I have put in the past 8 months.

But as we all progress towards our boating end date we must all beware of Old Man Syndrome, but then we can't take it with us to the next place, and the kids would only waste it ! All the boats I saw were suffering OMS.
 
Thanks for your very interesting and analytical approach to buying. I'll run through a similar scenario & substitute my requirements.
Really glad you ended up with what you wanted & at the right price.
 
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