To start with let me tell you that the boating market is still in high gear now with no let up in sight. Both buyers and sellers are abundant. Don't believe what you read in the paper; its only as good as you personally make it.
Week before last, two of my customers and I spent two days in South Florida surveying and sea trialing what we thought was to be their perfect trawler. Were we in for a shock.
The sea trial went fine but the survey exposed some significant issues with the boat; issues that would need many weeks and $$ to correct. We had no idea of these issues until the survey was complete. I suspect that the owner/seller knew of many of those issues but chose not to divulge them in hopes of making the sale.
My buyers were upset because they missed out on what they thought was the perfect boat, had been misled by the sellers and didn't want to buy a boat and have it sit in the yard for months. I felt that I had let them down by not picking up on the issues but that wasn't the case; the issues were not readily visible..
But as with everything that occurs there is always a silver lining.
We did avoid a bad boat after all so the survey served its purpose. We have located another boat and when speaking to the other broker, I gave him a list of the items we had found on the previous survey and wanted those items checked out on the "new" boat.
What eventually evolved was the development of what I have termed, a Purchase Prequalification Disclosure. My buyer and I played around with it for several days until we got it right. I just sent the other broker a copy of it today for completion for the boat we are considering.
What we have now is a formal written document that asks a seller about 30 questions regarding his boat's systems and equipment. We want to know up front if there are issues with the boat that might prohibit a purchase. We make it clear that issues with the boat do not necessarily mean we will not purchase the boat. We state clearly on the document that a surveyor will validate the answers when and if a survey does occur if we choose to pursue the boat.
It requires the seller to certify in writing that his answers are truthful to the best of his knowledge. If a seller refuses to complete or sign the document, its a RED FLAG , so we move on to the next boat.
I have reason to believe that this next seller that we are approaching about his boat, will think long and hard about giving misleading information in writing.
We'll use the information provided to determine whether we wish to take the purchase to the next step.
I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.
Mike
3/9/2008
7:00 AM
Well I used the new Purchase Prequalification Disclosure I prepared over the weekend and it did its job on the first pass.
My buyers and I had identified a boat in the Keys that had a possibility, it was hailed as being a #10. The listing broker completed the form and sent it back to me , even though I specifically said I wanted an owner's signature on it. I told him again, I wish for the owner to complete it and sign it.
He told me it was silly and unnecessary ; the shady workings typical of South Florida Yacht brokers, but finally relented. I told him that if he wanted to do business with me, he'd have his owner complete it; it was just that simple. It was finally done and guess what? The information was different; the owner's description of his boat was much more detailed to be exact. We finally have what we think is an honest description of the boat.
There are some red flags about the boat to be evaluated now but it appears that the simple disclosure form likely saved us about 24 hours driving time, the cost of several motel rooms, the cost of a survey and a dissatisfied buyer.
This new way of buying boats is going to probably piss off more brokers but what the hell, if it weeds out the liers, its worth the effort.
Mike
3/11/2008
2:34PM
More to come. It seems like more of you like this idea than not. I received an email earlier today from a gentleman that had his sailboat for sale; he wanted to know where to get a copy of my disclosure. He wanted to certify his boat so interested buyers knew he was truthful abut it. I told him he was at the right place and sent him back a copy.
I had many doubters on one of the boating websites to a point of getting nasty with me to attempt to do such a thing as require an owner to certify in writing that he was telling the truth about his boat. This thing has been a long time coming; I don't know how much time I spend with buyers attempting to interprete a listing ad.
My sellers are being asked to produce one as well as I am gong to use it as a positive marketing tool on their behalf to let buyers know, we don't play games here.
But the way I see it, if my small attempt to make the boat buying/selling business more user friendly, then its a good thing.
Mike
10/14/2008
Well it continues to get interesting. This past week I've had a couple in from France and have been assisting them in the selection and purchase of their "new" used Grand Banks. We found 3 nice boats in near Bristol condition.
Yesterday I spoke to the listing Broker of one of them; the broker is in SW Florida on Snead Island. The Broker refused to have his seller complete the disclosure because it was in affect he said, a pre-survey and he did not want any shortcomings of the boat identified before a "real"survey. How's that for a Broker looking out for his sellers best interest?
So my buyer has chosen not to pursue that Grand Banks but concentrate on one of the other ones.
Mike
