Price Negotiations after Survey

robmcg

robmcg

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I am in the middle of trying to buy a boat and after survey it has been confirmed that it has osmosis with blisters over the whole of the undersides and the keel needs to be rebedded. There are several other minor gremlins that also need fixing. I have priced an osmosis treatment and having the keel rebedded and it is approximately £5500. Just wondering what proportion of these costs I should reasonably expect the current owner to absorb? Should I be looking for close to £5k off asking price or is a 60/40 split on costs in my favour more reasonable. Any advice willingly taken as we seem to be at a bit of an impass at the moment.
 
You should deduct the full cost of repairs from the agreed price, plus a bit more to cover any extra unforseen costs and loss of use/inconvenience while repairs are made.
There is no obligation for you to complete the sale in these circumstances and you are entitled to your deposit back.
The market is very slow at the moment and boats that need remedial work are not selling except at a giveawy price.
I would make a revised offer and be prepared to walk away if the seller won't budge. If you are intent on the boat he will come back to you in a few weeks!
 
So far the current owner has said he will only deduct £1000 off the price because in his opinion the boat was cheap anyway. However in looking at similar vessels I think my offer was about right and besides he accepted it anyway. He has said that if I can't meet his price he will take the boat off the market, get it fixed himself and 'sell it for a much higher price'. According to my interpretation of the contract, if he chooses to do this then he has defaulted and should return my deposit plus my expenses to bring the boat to survey, otherwise I have paid for a survey to tell him his own boat has osmosis so he can get it fixed and sell it to someone else.
 
£1000, he is having a laugh, your best bet would be walk away, i know you have paid for a survey but do you want to go sailing this year or be spending your time waiting for the hull to dry out. If you are dead set on the boat call his pluff.
 
I bought a Moody in the spring and the main survey issue was the state of the engine/exhaust/mountings. The boat had been advertised (by a solicitor!) as ready to go. I told the seller I'd pay the price if he had all the engine works done by a Volvo engineer - cost him £1450. Little niggles up to say 10% of the price are acceptable.

It would need to be a huge bargain or a very desirable rarity to buy the boat you're looking at.
 
My concern is that the vendor will refuse to negotiate thus stalling the deal so he can get out of it. If it is his intention to withdraw from the deal to get the work done and try to relist at a higher price, then this is covered under default section of my contract which entitles me to my deposit back and costs incurred. Has anyone else had difficulty renegotiating a price due to osmosis. I would say that osmosis does qualify as a pretty big material defect and my contract says he either has to fix it or make sufficient reduction in price to allow me to fix it.
 
Do you want the boat, or not? It all comes down to this!

If the osmosis scares you - walk away.
If you want the boat - live with it.
No boat has ever sunk due to osmosis.

It may very well be that you already drove a hard bargain initially - seller may be reluctant to bargain any more.
 
He is bluffing or severly deluded. If you think the price you offered without osmosis was about right then the seller is in cloud cuckoo land. You have to consider the value of the boat after you have bought it and shelled out another £3500 grand for the repairs. You are not going to recover this when you come to sell her - is she worth that to you?
What class of boat is it?
 
FWIW, I have been looking at boats recently, and the brokers said the common attitude to reducing price for osmosis was to go 50/50
 
Well that's not surprising. Never forget that the broker is acting on behalf of 3 parties, himself, the seller and the seller. I have just gone through a sometimes tedious process of buying another boat and have heard some good honest advice, and a lot of bullsh1t. Any broker that tells you it is normal to go 50/50 falls into the latter category!
 
Was it "priced in" even if not known and was your offer under that priced in asking price as well?

Edit: sorry this question is for plastic-dart
 
The asking price was about average for the boat age etc. No osmosis problems were even mentioned. He accepted my offer on the basis that the safety equipment wasn't up to much and the boat needed new standing and running rigging, all of which he accepted in taking my offer
 
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