How not to sell your boat!

[Chill]

Been looking for a 40` flybridge with stairs not a ladder to the fb, took a 3 hour drive to the west country to look at one today. Arrived at boat with broker and was introduced to the owner, broker suggested we went aboard alone to have a look. The boat has been for sale since before xmas with no offers made, We started at the bow and had only been aboard for 5 mins when the owner turned up with one of his mates for coffee, swmbo wasnt able to look round the galley or look in the fridge. He then wanted to chit chat and tell us where had been on the boat etc, all we wanted to do was have a good look around on our own, try our how comfortable the lounge seating was but with his mate there so we couldnt do this. Then when I asked if we could look up on the fb he couldnt be bothered to take the covers off for us. On top of this the boat still had all their gear on board as you opened cupboards things fell out. Guess it will still be for sale after next xmas as was informed by broker no offers as he wants the asking price!

Chill

 

[jimg]

I guess it depends if the asking price is reasonable?

I have to say I have always left my gear on board when selling, but make sure it is tidy when I leave it.

 

[pheran]

I guess it depends if the asking price is reasonable?

I have to say I have always left my gear on board when selling, but make sure it is tidy when I leave it.

Must say I much prefer the arrangements in Holland and elsewhere in Europe. You deliver the boat to the broker with all personal effects and anything else that is not included in the sale removed. So what the buyer sees, is what the buyer gets, no arguments, no complicated long inventories and less opportunity for any disputes. Easier to do the pre-sales clean and much nicer anyway - I don't really want to go raking around other peoples possessions.

 

[PaulGooch]

Some people haven't a clue, i'd have let them know just what i thought. If we were selling, i'd also leave our gear onboard, as we'd no doubt use the boat until it was sold. But, nothing would fall out of cupboards, because nothing falls out of our cupboards I'd be happy to show you around the boat, equally happy to leave you to look around on your own if you wanted. If after that you wanted to go for a quick spin, why not. If i was advertising it, i'd want to sell it, anything to encourage prospective buyers could only be a good thing.

 

[PaulGooch]

Must say I much prefer the arrangements in Holland and elsewhere in Europe. You deliver the boat to the broker with all personal effects and anything else that is not included in the sale removed. So what the buyer sees, is what the buyer gets, no arguments, no complicated long inventories and less opportunity for any disputes. Easier to do the pre-sales clean and much nicer anyway - I don't really want to go raking around other peoples possessions.

Doesn't work very well if your boat takes 6 months to sell though. That's 6 months with no boat and no money to buy the next.

 

[pheran]

Doesn't work very well if your boat takes 6 months to sell though. That's 6 months with no boat and no money to buy the next.

Agreed. They operate that system as well, where the boat is viewed by appointment, at a place away from the brokers sales harbour. However, talking to my tame broker when we were selling one of ours, he admitted that these arrangements are significantly less successful, both in securing viewings and ultimate sales. It seems that these days, people want to buy boats the way they go supermarket shopping. Just turn up and see everything that is on offer!

 

[PaulGooch]

Agreed. They operate that system as well, where the boat is viewed by appointment, at a place away from the brokers sales harbour. However, talking to my tame broker when we were selling one of ours, he admitted that these arrangements are significantly less successful, both in securing viewings and ultimate sales. It seems that these days, people want to buy boats the way they go supermarket shopping. Just turn up and see everything that is on offer!

Suppose you could compromise and take everything off that wasn't included in the sale and just take a big bag of stuff if you wanted to take the boat out for a day.

 

[Chill]

Agreed. They operate that system as well, where the boat is viewed by appointment, at a place away from the brokers sales harbour. However, talking to my tame broker when we were selling one of ours, he admitted that these arrangements are significantly less successful, both in securing viewings and ultimate sales. It seems that these days, people want to buy boats the way they go supermarket shopping. Just turn up and see everything that is on offer!

We cleared all our gear off when we sold ours, Looked so much better and alot bigger inside. We left it with the broker and it sold within 4 weeks.

Chill

 

[Canopy Locked]

De-clutter.... when I sold my last boat earlier this year, I was a little surprised at how much stuff I took out .. lockers seemed a lot bigger without stuff crammed in!

 

[Bassplayer]

This all brings back memories of earlier this year when I went to Gibraltar to look at a boat. Loads of their stuff laying around, and "oh, we can't go out as the port engine stop solenoid is broken". Then when I emailed the owner (his father showed me around) from the hotel and suggested that I was very interested but subject to a full survey, he went ballistic, saying that the previous years insurance survey hadn't shown any problems; so if that was what I wanted he would sell it to someone else!! Waste of £400 for flight and hotel etc.
As an aside, one of the insurance survey reccomendations was to service the life raft. When I asked if that had been done, he said "oh, it's in the front cabin (42' boat!) - we didn't have that done as we have never used it, so it's ok" Couldn't reply to that!
This being a polite forum I wont say what I would like to call him.....

 

[fireball]

De-clutter - exactly ...
We presented out boat in the same manner that we would wish to see one we wanted to purchase - clean, tidy and WYSIWYG ... as it happened, we purchased one that wasn't decluttered and was not very clean (to put it mildly!) - but that (and other things) had an effect on price ...

 

[lovezoo]

As an aside, one of the insurance survey reccomendations was to service the life raft. When I asked if that had been done, he said "oh, it's in the front cabin (42' boat!) - we didn't have that done as we have never used it, so it's ok" Couldn't reply to that!

Presumably on the same basis the fire extinguishers had never been serviced either.

 

[ari]

Been looking for a 40` flybridge with stairs not a ladder to the fb, took a 3 hour drive to the west country to look at one today. Arrived at boat with broker and was introduced to the owner, broker suggested we went aboard alone to have a look. The boat has been for sale since before xmas with no offers made, We started at the bow and had only been aboard for 5 mins when the owner turned up with one of his mates for coffee, swmbo wasnt able to look round the galley or look in the fridge. He then wanted to chit chat and tell us where had been on the boat etc, all we wanted to do was have a good look around on our own, try our how comfortable the lounge seating was but with his mate there so we couldnt do this. Then when I asked if we could look up on the fb he couldnt be bothered to take the covers off for us. On top of this the boat still had all their gear on board as you opened cupboards things fell out. Guess it will still be for sale after next xmas as was informed by broker no offers as he wants the asking price!

Chill

I'm curious, how (why) did they stop you from looking around the galley and sitting on the saloon seating?

I agree it's not ideal in some respects having the owner aboard but at least you get to find out a bit about him and how he's looked after it, and I don't really see how it stops you from looking at things like the galley...

Do agree it's a bit bonkers not being able to see the flybridge, but if I'd made a six hour round trip to see it I might have pointed that out to the vendor and insisted and done it myself.

As to no offers, sure the broker can say that, but it doesn't stop you making one. Worst the guy can do is say no.

So not ideal situation I agree, but hardly a complete disaster (a complete disaster is when you turn up and the bloke's gone off in the thing for the weekend leaving you staring at the empty pontoon! )

 

[lydiamight]

When I sold my Nimbus 35 I took everything off except the nimbus crockery and cutlery. Gave it a really good clean inside, including inside all of the lockers and the bilges and left a couple of discreet airfresheners down below. Sold to the first couple that came to see it because the buyers wife said that it was the first boat that they had seen which did not smell of damp/mold or diesel.

Contrast that with some of the boats that I saw for sale----one had the dirty dishes still in the sink---they must have been cold because they had grown a "fur coat". Lockers contained rotting food and the obligatory "blown" tins of canned food, even had the dirty bedlinen on the bunks, colour was grey with mold, obviously matched the rest of the decor.

How anybody expexts to sell a boat in that condition is beyond me.

 

[westernman]

May be the situation is a little like mine. My boat is for sale. Because my partner wants to sell it. However, I don't. So you will actually have a hard time finding where it is advertised (not in any of the normal places) and the price is ridiculous and no - I won't take any offers. And the lockers are of course all full - with my kit.

Oh - we did have a couple of offers at the full price - but from people with Nigerian phone numbers who were not interested in seeing the boat!