I`m gonna be a yacht broker

[jonic]

No - but they do sometimes suggest slightly better placements of some items - in order to show off the room ... (or hide something else!)

I agree. That's what I do.

Here's Nick's palatial bedroom being advertised before I was involved.

and here it is after I made some suggestions and re-photographed it.

Moody Nick and his wife chose the bedding and it worked a treat. It's an excellent aft cabin and now we are showing it to its best advantage.

There are some more pics of MoodyNicks very special Moody 44 here

I don't charge anything like 8%. I think I need a re-think

 

[jonic]

I can do better myself to be honest!

It does take me a couple of hour at the right time of day though

Well you've had enough bl@@Dy practice

I noted you left the creasing in the seats in the bottom one.....tsk tsk

 

[snooks]

I noted you left the creasing in the seats in the bottom one.....tsk tsk

It's the problem when I've set up a shot, and the writer come through, kicks the tripod, sits down in front of the camera and starts making notes, then tell me to get a move on because they have worked up a thirst and it's getting dark!!!

I like what you did with those two photos up there, first one direct flash no natural light, second one natural light, different angle.

If you ever give up brokerage you could go and work on the high street,where you see the rabbit in the headlights shot, then the soft focus soft light transformation

 

[jonic]

then tell me to get a move on because they have worked up a thirst

Was it Dick Durham

 

[jonic]

I like what you did with those two photos up there, first one direct flash no natural light, second one natural light, different angle.

First one's not mine

 

[boguing]

Love it when people come in criticising the pro's. They can never actually spel profffessionel.

The best residential house photographer I used would carry a lighter and an old newspaper.

The telly was heaved out of shot, cushions plumped, house tidied wherever a good shot could be got.

He'd then roll up a sheet of newspaper and light it for the fireplace shots.

Great bloke and as a result he was the only one I'd use.

Must say that YM have been a bit shabby in this regard over the years. Cheap quilts all rucked up in new boat tests.

My ex taught me how to fluffle them of a morning.

 

[Chris_Robb]

Sorry, I'll have to take issue with this one.

Since when was it a brokers job to tidy your boat up?

I don't see estate agents coming around with the hoover and feather duster before they take the images, so why should a broker?

It's your property, if you want to sell it, you tidy your boat up and leave it as a potential purchaser would like to find it.

Sorry if that seemed like a rant I just remembered all the yachts we saw which the owners couldn't be bothered to tidy or remove their kit from before putting the yacht up for sale.

You'll notice I saw that as lazy owners, not lazy brokers. If the boat is untidy it means she hasn't been looked after, if she hasn't been looked after who knows what will go wrong next?

Yes the broker should inform the owner they might want to help themselves by leaving the boat clean and tidy, and also say they will improve their chances of selling if they remove all their personal possessions as it's easier for a buyer to see the boat as theirs.

But would I expect a broker to tidy up the boat and clear out my gear?

No way!

I read it differently, especially as I was also at the receiving end of this treatment from W&S. I invited the broker to come to the boat to put forward how he would sell it and discuss his fees. He arrived with a client - who happened to be a business partner of his - and proceeded to take photos of the interior. We had just got into port from a 3 week holiday and the boat was not tidy or decluttered. So there perhaps is a different interpretation to this.

As he was having private conversations with the client on the fordeck which I overheard through a hatch, I reminded him that he should be working for me, not his mate, and that in view of his divided loyalties I would use a different broker. Next think I knew the boat was on his web site WITHOUT my instruction. I told him to desist, but weeks later the boat was still on his site.

Following this bad experience I used a boat selling website and wrote my own brochure, and had lots of inquiries. The guy who bought it 2 weeks later plus others had been confused by the brokers who still said they were selling the boat. He tried to claim commission on the sale.

However, I have met good ones too - Foxes for one.....

 

[Resolution]

My ex taught me how to fluffle them of a morning.

Lakesailor
Can we have a picture of a morning fluffle please?

 

[lustyd]

Love it when people come in criticising the pro's. They can never actually spel profffessionel.

I wasn't criticising professionals, I was criticising the others - that same post I pointed out that Snooks had posed the boat to make it look better. This was to highlight the other end of the scale like leaving bin bags in shot while trying to sell a boat.

Or rusty paint tins in a locker?

Or, and this is my favourite, sufficient water to provide a reflection. They may have thought it looked "arty" but I think it looks like a sinking ship.

 

[chinita]

I wasn't criticising professionals, I was criticising the others - that same post I pointed out that Snooks had posed the boat to make it look better. This was to highlight the other end of the scale like leaving bin bags in shot while trying to sell a boat.

Or rusty paint tins in a locker?

Or, and this is my favourite, sufficient water to provide a reflection. They may have thought it looked "arty" but I think it looks like a sinking ship.

I agree with all you say.

However, it is Boatshed who are the brokers in this case. I have long felt that Boatshed present an honest and candid impression of their brokerage vessels through their photographs and are happy to show warts and all.

What annoys me is misrepresentation. I once did a 600 mile round trip to view an 'immaculate boat'. It was disgusting. When I returned to the office to complain the broker was not there of course.

 

[lustyd]

I agree with all you say.

However, it is Boatshed who are the brokers in this case. I have long felt that Boatshed present an honest and candid impression of their brokerage vessels through their photographs and are happy to show warts and all.

What annoys me is misrepresentation. I once did a 600 mile round trip to view an 'immaculate boat'. It was disgusting. When I returned to the office to complain the broker was not there of course.

Agreed, from a buyer perspective this is great as I discount a lot of boats. From a seller perspective, and this is what you pay your fees for, surely this is a bad thing?

 

[Blue5]

The agents fees are usually agreed before he has seen the boat and it is no different to selling a house.

With digital cameras it is easy to take fifty or sixty shots of the boat to give a possible buyer as much information as possible and if you are a serious seller the **** is taken off and the boat is presented ready for a new owner to sail away. I would not expect an agent to do any other work that advertise the boat, show potential buyers around and do the paperwork, certainly not clean the boat. While looking for boats if there is just one library picture of a "sistership" in the ad I usually dismiss it pretty quickly.

We have also been house hunting and walking into a place with dirty dishes on the worktops and dirty linen on the bedroom floor leaves me feeling sorry for the agent trying his best to secure a sale and questioning if they are serious sellers.

 

[johnchampion]

I can perhaps answer that as a Boatshed broker. One of the precepts of the way I present a boat is of "being fair to the boat". If a boat is a complete shed, obviously poorly maintained and with heaps of rubbish lying around I am doing no one any favours in trying to make it look like the Royal yacht.

I'm not saying a boat like that can't be sold - it can. What I am saying is that to misrepresent what a travelling prospective purchaser is likely to see is a waste of time for buyer, seller and broker and can only end in tears.

If a boat is presented poorly and the viewer knows that before they travel across the country to find out there is still a fair chance they may buy it because they know what to expect. If on the other hand you go to view a boat, have just spent four hours in traffic in the car, and from forty paces away can see you have wasted your time what good is that to anyone?

As a general rule, (but not always), expensive, newer boats as depicted earlier in this thread are easy to picture to advantage as they are clean and tidy and smart in the first place, and, if not, as Jonic showed, can be easily made so. In contrast with that are the other pictures of a clearly older, perhaps less loved boat which is what the interested party will see when they visit. Re-arranging the water and using a wide angle lens won't make the bilge look any better - if it's full of water now I'll guarantee it will still be when someone comes to view!

Frankly it's not really up to the broker to pump the bilges and empty the rubbish every time they show someone a boat even though I may do that when needed.

It's one thing to inform an owner of the best way to present a boat for sale, it's an entirely different one to get them to actually do it. Pigs ears and silk purses come to mind and it doesn't matter how many brokers are lined up in a row if the owner doesn't do something about the pigs ear then that's what it will remain and that is what dictates what value the market places on it. Alternatively if the seller works with the broker then they have a much better chance of achieving a decent price in a shorter period of time.

No one has to use a broker but many people of course choose to do so for their own reasons and it seems to make sense to me that if you are going to use a broker it may do you some good to heed the advice they give and many do just that in order to maximise their sale.

 

[jwilson]

I know this is akin to masonic secrecy but what is the sensible % to sell a boat at this time.

After watching this thread for some time, I feel it is time to put in my 4% - my commission rate for sole brokerage at www.yachtsnet.co.uk

A broker should normally do some minor tidying and take good quality photos, that show all parts of the boat as clearly as possible. The one exception is for "projects", where a "warts and all" approach is better.

A few years ago we sold the two boats seen at http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/1.jpg and http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/2.jpg quite quickly. We prefer not to take on such boats, but they are definitely saleable.

The sort of boats we do prefer are like this one currently for sale - http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/boats/b57811/b57811.htm - the page shows the sort of photos that can be taken in an hour or two, including a talk with the owner and a fairly good look around the boat.

As the HR was taken on a sunny day I thought you might like to see some taken on a truly vile weather day - http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/archives/moody-54/moody-54.htm - again about an hour and a half to two hours to take photos.

Both these boats were in full commission, and some tidying did get done.

 

[Heckler]

You're right of course, but a good broker who wants to earn their money (and it's a heck of a lot of money at 10%!!) should put more effort in that taking a photo and posting adverts. At the very least they should make the owner do it prior to taking pics but do you REALLY think brokers are so busy they couldn't remove random ropes or fenders from a cabin before a shot? Or is it below them to give the bilge pump a couple of pulls to make the boat look less like it's sinking? No offence to brokers but the one in my marina spends a good deal of time sitting.

I went to see a 381 in Brixham 3 years ago, drove from North Wales. It was scruffy and beat up but the best was when SWMBO lifted a floorboard, there was about 6 inches of water in there, the boards were nearly floating. The idle tw@ts hadnt even bothered to check the simplest things!
we didnt buy!
Stu

 

[lustyd]

Thanks for your comment, I thought I was going mad expecting something for the fees

 

[doug748]

After watching this thread for some time, I feel it is time to put in my 4% - my commission rate for sole brokerage at www.yachtsnet.co.uk

Great rate. If I had a boat to flog I would come to you, on the strength of your excellent website alone - one of my favourites.

I had spotted the Rassy and, when my pools come up, it is on my shortlist..

 

[sailorgirl]

I went to see a 381 in Brixham 3 years ago, drove from North Wales. It was scruffy and beat up but the best was when SWMBO lifted a floorboard, there was about 6 inches of water in there, the boards were nearly floating. The idle tw@ts hadnt even bothered to check the simplest things!
we didnt buy!
Stu

One winter a few years ago we were looking for something not too big and perhaps a little older needing some tlc, to race for a season or two. Our budget wasn't huge and it was never spent as I rapidly went off the idea after our first few viewings. I recall a pretty quarter tonner ashore up the Hamble where the dirty washing up was still in the sink from the previous season complete with a green fur coat and the rest of the boat looking like the crew had just popped out. Elsewhere another boat again ashore where the heads had been used at some time in the dim and distant past but not pumped out.
I don't blame the brokers so much as the lazy owners who simply had their boats hauled out and walked away.

Much later we did buy a little Gallion, old and scruffy but well maintained and acceptably tidy down below despite having spent the better part of 30 years in the Middle East heat. Most of the varnish was peeling off the bulkheads but everything was stowed away, the sails neatly folded, the galley clean. And the "broker" who was a previous owner wanted nothing for his introduction service than the occasional sail!

 

[Blueboatman]

Re JWilson.
Yachtsnet is my favourite brokerage and info site. a real source .

When I bought again 3 years ago much of my winter homework, both initial and final homing in, was done on your site , it just happened that Yachtsnet didn't have the model that I sought when it came time to actually buy.

4% sounds very good, when coupled with such clarity of info, description and tireless photos, so your services are noted and tucked away in my head.

 

[blueglass]

Selling a boat abroad when you are based somewhere with no physical presence by any major international brokerage is difficult. I was quoted a non negotiable 10% +vat by one of the major internationals, but listen to this;
all photographs had to be provided by me,
all sales detaiils written by me - no rep would visit the boat.
all viewings would be arranged and accompanied made by me.
all sea trials etc would be arranged by me
in other words at the asking price they stood to make £16,200 for putting me on a website and handling the finances. very easy money and easy to see why brokers get such a bad press. When I pointed out that I would be doing a major part of their work for them it was met with take it or leave it response. I thought I had no choice but to accept the terms or relocate the boat (by a thousand miles or so) to their nearest actual agency, so reluctantly went with it.
At the same time I also registered the boat with a local outfit, Pinnacle yachts of Gouvia marina Corfu who undertook ALL of the above tasks and much more, for a commision fee of much less.
I was so pleased that it was Pinnacle who actually sold the boat.