Interpretaion of asking price

[aluijten]

I'm considering the to buy another used boat in the 50.000 pound range. My question is what (on average) would be the difference between the asking price and the opening bid from the buyer? I have noticed that many asking prices come from a nice round figure with an 10% on top of it.
Any ideas?

Arno

 

[john_morris_uk]

The difference seems to be

How much the seller wants to sell.
How realistic he/she is prepared to be about the value of their pride and joy.
How much he/she's loaded the price in the first place.
How many things you find faulty in the survey/before.

My experience is that there is no fixed amount of discount/negotiation off the price. However there is a lot of overpriced ill-prepared rubbish on the market.

There are occasionally bargains to be found, but you need to keep looking and eventually you will find what you want/need.

Perhaps better to draw up a list of must haves/desirable/nice but not needed feautures and then compare to what is on offer for the money? By the time you've seen a few, you can spot what is a good price and what is not.

Brokers will hate me for this, but they are often open to reducing their fees if it ensures a sale goes through. Business is business...

 

[npf1]

If it's for sale privately, the difference between asking and selling price could be massive. In my case, I paid about 30% of what the owner orginally asked for. Not because I got an amazing bargain (in fact I'm beginning to wonder if I paid too much!!!) but because he was delusional and took the view that it was worth everything he had every spent on it! IMO reputable brokers will only take boats on their books if the prospect of earning a commission is realistic, which means convincing the owner to be realistic.

 

[jamesjermain]

I presume you are looking at second hand boats.

There is usually room for negotiation in any asking price but a lot depends on what is being asked for what. A clear idea of the market for a particular model will help you make a judgement. Check asking prices for a number of different boats in various conditions and with various amounts of equipment.

Never go firm on a price until you have had the survey done. The surveyor may suggest an offer price or at least say whether he thinks the asking price is reaosnable or not.

I would start at least 15 per cent below the asking price. If the owner recons his boat is in good condition, well presented and equipped, priced right, and he has other serious interest, he will tell you to get lost. You then try offering a bit more.

 

[npf1]

forgot to mention that a good surveyor and a FULL survey are likely to save you far more than they cost.

 

[Sans Bateau]

Last year I sold a boat. She was in lovely condition, well kitted out and as clean as a whistle.

Someone was try to 'nick it' off me, cheeky offers but going up a little all the time. Someone came along, a serious buyer made a sensible offer. He is now the owner of the boat. The dissapointed 'buyer' phoned the broker every day to see if the deal was still going through, it turns out he would have paid the price it sold for!

Moral of this story, if you like the boat, its a good deal with a good survey, dont try and be cleaver and miss being able to buy the boat you want, if its a nice boat others will be looking at her to.

 

[Joe_Cole]

[ QUOTE ]

Moral of this story, if you like the boat, its a good deal with a good survey, dont try and be cleaver and miss being able to buy the boat you want, if its a nice boat others will be looking at her to.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hear! Hear!

This question keeps coming up but, in my view, the answer is always the same. You pay what it is worth to you. If you work on the basis of "I'll offer 10% less" you may end up paying more than it is worth, or you may end up missing a boat that you would have liked.

 

[Birdseye]

the secret is to go through your back copies of the mags and see how long he has been advertising. even if the advert is altered a bit, the phone number usually wont be.

if all that really matters to you is the "saving" then try making silly offers on several boats along the "whoever accepts first will win basis". more likely it wont just be price, but even then you can do the bacon slicer bit - low offer based on months for sale, then a survey for a bit more discount, then a last minute haggle when he wants his money.

you'll never win a negotiation unless you are prepared to walk away and show you are.

 

[Joe_Cole]

[ QUOTE ]
the secret is to go through your back copies of the mags and see how long he has been advertising. even if the advert is altered a bit, the phone number usually wont be.

if all that really matters to you is the "saving" then try making silly offers on several boats along the "whoever accepts first will win basis". more likely it wont just be price, but even then you can do the bacon slicer bit - low offer based on months for sale, then a survey for a bit more discount, then a last minute haggle when he wants his money.

you'll never win a negotiation unless you are prepared to walk away and show you are.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like a recipe for buying a boat that nobody else wants at the best price! However, if the boat is a good one, at a fair price, it will sell before you have the opportunity to play these games. If you want it then go for it and be prepared to pay a fair price.

 

[aluijten]

Thanks all for the reply's.

On itself I'm not trying to sqeeze out everything and waste everyone's time with offers being more or less an insult to the seller, but I also do not believe any seller will start off with a bottom price. As buying boats is not my day-to-day business I would like to get some feeling on what to expect. Obviously I'll cross check the asking price with other offers, but if it's in line with other offerings (which it almost always is, even throughout Europe), then that doesn't help me much. It only tells me the asking price is in line with other boats. Telling me that I should offer a price that the boat is worth to me is not helping me, as a boat is worth me a value similar to what a comparable boat would cost. A survey is always a sound advise, but to my opinion more an action after the fist offer as a integral part of the offer.

Arno

 

[john_morris_uk]

Don't get the idea that evryone selling their boat is unrealistic about its value. I perhaps over-egged my case because we saw a lot of over priced boats when we were in the market last year.

Notwithstanding all that, some brokers and sellers are very reasonable about what they have on their books. However because boats are not like frozen peas or some other supermarket item, our experience was that you had to watch the market and see a few before things fell into place. Hence my suggestion that there is no 'fixed' or 'normal' reduction allowable on the asking price.

Comparing the asking prices of boats is not always helpful. Where the boat is seems to have an influence on the price. Boats on the South Coast of UK being among the most expensive in the world!

 

[Peppermint]

Re: It\'s just a deal.

The rules are that no rules apply. Except don't discuss price in anything but the abstract pre-survey.

Be prepared to loose. Be determined to only win on acceptable terms. Be patient.

Know how much you want to spend and decide what you'd consider the bargin of a lifetime. Be in a position to do the deal quickly. Some finance companies will issue proof of pre approved loans. Brokers and sellers can get sick of dreamers and time wasters and grasp at the real prospect.

Info is king. Learn were your target fits into the market. Check the adds and brokerage web sites. How long has it been on the market, is it a popular design, are there any well known problems. Ask around to try and discover why it's for sale.

Don't get seduced by bolt on equipment. Unless the boats newish the kit can be more trouble than you need.

Don't show particular interest in one boat. Even when bidding don't seem overly keen. If you go to one of the big sales sites like Hamble Point convince the broker that you like a couple of targets but it's all very price dependant. If you take the family they should be trained to look more disinterested than you do.

Read the terms of the deal. Most people don't and some get expensive surprises.

My current boat was immaculate. On brokerage at a little over £31k. My first bid was £20k and I bought it for £24.7k. It cuts the other way too. I let my wooden day boat go for £1200(33%) under list as I was faced with a heavy winter of scraping and painting or a big yard bill.