| Interesting question, "What's the best way to sell a boat?" I'm
glad I'm not trying to sell my boat right now.
Some of the questions you have to answer for yourself are-
Do you want to hold out for top dollar? It's a buyer's market now.
Unless you have a unique boat and a buyer looking for that particular
unique boat, you may own the boat for a long time.
If you're looking to get a larger boat, is it worth your while to
trade up? You won't get top dollar, at least as bad a deal as
when you trade a car, but you will own only one boat. If you live
in a state with a sales tax, the tax is usually computed on the
purchase price, minus the value of the trade-in.
If you haven't already committed to buying a new boat and might
be considering selling-outright or trading, try running an ad in
a boating magazine or a Want-Ad type of publication. See what type
of response you get.
How did you come to buy the boat you have now? Is that the same
way to sell it?
How much will you have to pay to store your boat while you try to
sell it?
I have sold two used sailboats in the last couple of years. One,
a 16 foot Compac, I sold outright. The value of the boat was low
enough, around $4000, I was willing to sit on it a while. And I
did. Advertising in the Want-Advertiser in Massachusetts cost nothing,
yielded nothing. Small Boat Journal, cost something for every month
the ad runs, yielded me nothing. Offshore magazine cost something
one time, the ad runs till you pull it-if you're vigilant and keep renewing
the ad. The boat eventually sold to a man from N.Y. state, for
about what I wanted. Storage for the boat cost me nothing. It
was on a trailer in my yard.
The second boat I traded. This one wasn't a lot more valuable $10,000,
but was a special-interest type of boat. A Freedom 21. People
don't buy any Garry Hoyt designed Freedom as an alternative to just
any sloop. A person who owns a Freedom went looking to buy one. I
wasn't willing to wait to find that person. Storage on this would
have cost me something every month. It was on a cradle at a marina.
I never tried to sell a boat using broker. When I went looking to buy
a boat I talked to lots of brokers. But I didn't buy a brokerage boat.
I haven't sold a boat through this notes file, but know of people
who have bought boats here, and sold boats here.
You asked a very vague question. Some boats sell better than others.
Some brands of boats sell better than other brands. Catalinas are
usually like Volkswagens when it comes time to buy or sell. Lots
available-and lots of buyers. The best way to sell *your* boat is
going to depend on where you are. What condition the boat is in. The
condition of the boat market in your locale. How quickly you want
to/must move it.
Good luck on selling. Let us know how you fare.
djc
yielded nothing.
Offshore cost something
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| I sold by Freedom 32 last October which sometimes still surprises
me when I think about the used boat market.
I tried selling it in 1985, advertized in Sail Mag, Soundings, and
some of those used boat listing services. I also had it listed
at the yacht brokerage at the Bend Boat Basin in Portsmouth RI.
I think I got one call, but Freedoms were still pretty new back then.
This time I put an ad in our Freedom 32 newsletter and a friend
and fellow F32 owner told one of his friends, a Freedom 25 and Freedom
30 owner, that mine was for sale. Since he had recently been married
and the new wife wanted larger accomodations, they had started to
look at the 32s. Fortunately I had kept my boat in immaculate
condition. I had also upgraded it for single handed sailing and
had installed new heavy duty batteries and alternator. It was in
top shape compare to the other 32s on the market at the same time
and I knew it.
Pricing was easy. I looked at what other people were asking, compared
it to what I had paid for the boat less about 10% depreciation per
year and got a figure that was in the same ballpark as all the others.
I looked at my loan balance and the appraisal that had been done
the previous year and figured out the bottom line. When we finally
got to the negotiations I refused to go below by bottom line and
came out with a very good price. I also had no idea that I'd really
sell the boat and since I wasn't all that anxious to sell in the
first place he didn't quibble about my counter offer.
One thing I learned from the buyer was that it doesn't pay to try
to hide things. I happen to be overly open and honest about stuff
and showed him various repairs and the surveys that had been done.
He had had other f32 owners lie to him about problems and backed
out of a deal with one of those people in order to buy my boat.
If you have any other questions, Richard, come on up and we can
talk!
Pam Rickard
P.S. They say the 2 happiest days in a sailor's life are the day
she buys a boat and the day she sells it and I can now say that
that is the truth!
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I hung a sign on mine one day because the kids didn't want to go
the following week!! I had a '76 MacGreagor Venture that we sailed
in Salem harbor and about. When th person called that week I almost
told him that it was a joke but wisely sugested about $500 dollers
over what other MacGreagors were being offered at, & three weeks
later I was with out a boat!!! To this day I still consider myself
as one of the lucky ones. I dont recomend that type of sales tactic
for everyone but, anything that works........ Now what was
that note number for the For Sale....... 8^)
`Charlie'
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| I just finished selling my boat and can share my experiences. I hung
For Sale signs on my Cape Dory 22 starting last August when she was on
her mooring. I put up a picture and information on the marina's
bulletin board (this is a small marina in Casco Bay, Maine). I put ads
in the local "want advertiser", as well as the Portland paper the week
of the Fall boatshow. And I put a note in Sailing Notes. The
newspaper ad yielded one lead who I took for a short sail. He loved
the boat, but bought a CD22 from the local CD dealer because they had one
with an inboard diesel (mine is O/B). The other ads yielded just one
other phone call, who never came to look at the boat.
For $35 I ran an ad with picture in Offshore using their guarantee to
keep running it until the boat sells. Their leadtime for classifieds
is such that this didn't start until November. No calls from this,
except the multiple listing brokers trying to get me to list with them
for $100-240. For another $35 I also ran a 3 month ad in Soundings in
April-June this year. Only one call from this, and by then I'd already
sold her.
A week after placing the ad in Soundings this spring a local fellow who
had seen my ad on the marina bulletin board called to say he'd like to
buy my boat. He had stopped by while we were putting the cover on her
last fall and I'd handed him a Listing sheet I'd made out. He looked
her over again, made me an offer (20% below what I wanted), I countered
5% higher, and he agreed.
The local CD dealer had two other CD22's, but I was confident mine
would sell well against them because mine looked pretty good. I kept
the teak up and waxed and waxed the hull and cleaned the interior. A
clean boat will sell before a dirty one, and in today's market that
means my boat sold and the ones at the dealer are still stitting there.
Even though most of my ads yielded nothing, I'd still place ads in
all the places I used. Try every conceivable place. I opted not to
use the multi-listing brokers, too expensive and I think I remember
some negative things about them in Practical Sailor. You might want to
check this out yourself. There are only a few buyers out there for any
given boat, so you have to first let them know your boat is available
and then make your boat as attractive to them as possible.
Another option I was going to pursue if all else failed was to trade
her in on my next boat. I had several opportunities to do this over
the winter as I was looking at bigger boats. The big disadvantage here
is that you have less room to bargain with a seller if you're asking
him to accept your boat for trade in.
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