Selling a boat Or not it seems....

[Gwylan]

I have decided that my age and general deterioration in stamina means it is time to bow out gracefully.

So we put the boat on the market - the agent entertained a variety of tyre kickers and tourists.
The classic was the couple even older than the vendor who struggled getting on board and declined to take on the companionway.

Their parting shot was that the boat was bigger than they expected.
Do people go to visit boats on spec without doing some research?
Sort of know the answer from our own recent research.

Anyway, then we had a keen buyer but he moved at snail's pace. Got to the point where I felt it was time after 3 months of patiently dealing with him to apply some pressure.
Seems finally that having beaten down the price he could not even manage that!
He was really disappointed that I was not prepared to help him out even further.

Now we are approaching a critical date and a couple come along make a loony offer that in the circumstances we accepted.
This was on the basis that there was no further movement on the price.
Then the process runs into treacle.
We have a day sailing, he gets seasick and neither of them seem to know too much about what operating a boat involves.

We get to the survey and they completely lose their nerve at the things that may need to be done in the future that the surveyor pointed out to them.
Seems that they didn't understand that owning a boat is really buying a licence to spend money and ever will be.

Makes buying and selling houses seems easy and straightforward.

Is this a typical experience?
What are your horror stories?

So now here we are coming around to the idea that we are going off to have another summer sailing and we will see what the future brings.

 

[Babylon]

Sorry to hear your selling woes. Bear in mind that its been a rubbish winter (not just weather but the political and economic climate as well), so might be worth re-assessing once Spring is here?

Also depends on what your boat is and where it is for sale...

 

[Quandary]

Sorry to hear you are packing it in, you seemed in a lot better shape than me when we met on the canal.
I am now on my third 'definitely the last' boat so have been through the selling up experience twice already, my experience matches yours, 'serious' buyers making silly offers and taking the huff when you will not give in to them. daft excuses for pulling out, 'she is too fast' 'if the cushions were a different colour' as if they did not see these things when they inspected. I am convinced there are folk whose hobby is pretending to buy boats, probably more than there are serious buyers. The guys in here who tell buyers to only offer silly prices are part of the problem, convincing folk that you will take half the asking price if they muck you about for long enough.

The good news, you have still got her, it is not to late to change your mind and go sailing.

 

[RupertW]

I gave away my last boat after a year or two of trying to sell it. To make it more saleable I tidied it up a lot including rewiring and new panels, headlining and even a brand new inboard engine as lack of use had finally made the old faithful die. I picked a youngish couple who justness fancied a bit of boat owning after a few hot weather charters.

It was either that or yet another year of marina fees. Plenty of boats do sell well though.

 

[Gwylan]

Well, Quandary we persevere. If someone turns up that will be great.

Do not urgently need the money but having made the decision to stop it is hard to start all-over again.

One surveyor made some good points,
so a month on the hard is planned. Boot stripe, which is tape, will be replaced by paint. Serious stuff like that.

Then my plan is to base myself in Calais and head for Morbihan for the Summer.
May well see what having a boat in France on 31 Dec means. May have to buy to buy flares.

 

[Babylon]

... May have to buy to buy flares.

That'll be one way of attracting attention to your boat...

 

[langstonelayabout]

Smiling whilst reading this. Last year we viewed two boats. Both 30’.

One we declined and I called them 2 days later to confirm we wouldn’t be making an offer. I was told off over the phone by the vendor’s wife.

The other was at the top end of the Price band for that design. The vendor was selling through an agent but the vendor showed us around the boat. Nice boat, and I offered at £3k and £2k less than his asking price only to be declined and the agent to talk me that the vendor wasn’t in need of the money and he’ll wait for a higher offer. He’s about to go back on the market for this season having just paid for berthing and wintering at Port Solent. I’m sure that this cost him more than £2k. Meantime another one has come to the market at £8k less...

Where I’m going on this is that if you’re selling, please be prepared to sell, being receptive to offers.

 

[Simon__]

Where I’m going on this is that if you’re selling, please be prepared to sell, being receptive to offers.

I’m not convinced all boats listed are actually for sale. I hope I don’t offend anyone here but I this this is a classic example in my opinion.

Vancouver 34 for sale in United Kingdom for £77,500

I think this may be been on the market for around 2 years, looks fair condition but not immaculate, similar, better turned out, model marketed for over £20k less, and an immaculate 36 sold through JR for a very similar price. Is this boat for sale or is it “I’ve put it on the market but it’s just not selling, so we may as well keep on using it” for sale?

 

[Spyro]

It's a problem that is not going to get any better. Too many boats for sale and not enough buyers. marina fees and boating in general just getting more and more expensive and for some including myself find it hard to justify the costs. The market will dictate the price of used boats and sadly the price older boats of the 30 -32 foot range are now going the same way as the 26-28 footers went a few years ago, through the floor. I was in a similar position and was selling my boat for around a year. I gradually reduced the price every few months until it sold . There were a few boats around that were of similar spec and price when I started selling . Some of them are still for sale and at the same price. I sold mine at the end of last summer and had fully intended to purchase another yacht so much so I offered on one but the owner wouldn't budge on the price.
Having spent the winter contemplating what I have spent on boat ownership over 17 years it was quite a sobering thought, I was never one for itemising every penny spent but I reckon around £65k-70K wouldn't be far off. With retirement approaching in a year or two I just didn't want to spend at least £4k a year on boat ownership so after much deliberation with my wife we have decided to buy a motorhome (duck for cover). Yes they cost money too but it's something she will enjoy more than she enjoyed boating and I won't be spending £3.5K every year on marina fees, we can keep it at the side of the house.
I know I'll miss boating and pottering around on the boat come the summer but boat ownership can be stressful too, I've realised that now that I don't have one and actually feel quite good about not having one right now.

 

[Yachting Expert]

I have decided that my age and general deterioration in stamina means it is time to bow out gracefully.

So we put the boat on the market - the agent entertained a variety of tyre kickers and tourists.
The classic was the couple even older than the vendor who struggled getting on board and declined to take on the companionway.

Their parting shot was that the boat was bigger than they expected.
Do people go to visit boats on spec without doing some research?
Sort of know the answer from our own recent research.

Anyway, then we had a keen buyer but he moved at snail's pace. Got to the point where I felt it was time after 3 months of patiently dealing with him to apply some pressure.
Seems finally that having beaten down the price he could not even manage that!
He was really disappointed that I was not prepared to help him out even further.

Now we are approaching a critical date and a couple come along make a loony offer that in the circumstances we accepted.
This was on the basis that there was no further movement on the price.
Then the process runs into treacle.
We have a day sailing, he gets seasick and neither of them seem to know too much about what operating a boat involves.

We get to the survey and they completely lose their nerve at the things that may need to be done in the future that the surveyor pointed out to them.
Seems that they didn't understand that owning a boat is really buying a licence to spend money and ever will be.

Makes buying and selling houses seems easy and straightforward.

Is this a typical experience?
What are your horror stories?

So now here we are coming around to the idea that we are going off to have another summer sailing and we will see what the future brings.

Hi, sorry to hear of your woes in selling your vessel, after 17 years of surveying all manner of craft I am still surprised on a regular basis about how little research some buyers make when choosing a vessel

 

[lw395]

.....
Having spent the winter contemplating what I have spent on boat ownership over 17 years it was quite a sobering thought, I was never one for itemising every penny spent but I reckon around £65k-70K wouldn't be far off. With retirement approaching in a year or two I just didn't want to spend at least £4k a year on boat ownership......

The way I look at it, I spend a few £k a year on boats and as little as reasonably possible on cars.
A lot of people who earn less than me are spending more on cars than I spend on cars, boats and motorbikes all in.

A good friend of ours put it another way.
'We spent our spending money on boats, without the boat we'd have had different holidays and new carpets more often."
I've seen a lot of people spaff a lot of hard-earned cash on keeping their house up to the latest fashion.

For some of us, buying a boat was the motivation to leave the comfort zone and earn more money.
Don't believe that £65k would be sat in your bank account if you'd not owned a boat.

 

[Momac]

I know I'll miss boating and pottering around on the boat come the summer but boat ownership can be stressful too, I've realised that now that I don't have one and actually feel quite good about not having one right now.

For me boating has been an antidote to the pressures of work and has given me the motivation to keep working rather than retire early. \fortunately the chief officer loves boating too . Without her I would probably have stuck with my first small boat.

Costs for boating certainly have increased more than inflation . People say that's not much in the scheme of things but extra on moorings, insurance , electricity and soon a big fuel increase all add up.

I hope you enjoy the pottering about on the motorhome.
If not you could always revert to boating.