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From: Richard Goodwin (no email)
Date: Wed Feb 18 2004 - 16:56:51 EST
A couple of surveyor stories...
I've had some interesting experiences with marine
surveyors. I've used three of them so far -- all
highly recommended and in business for a long time.
I relate the first story here in spite of the fact
that, 30 years ago when it happened, I was obviously
not a very upstanding fellow in my business dealings,
but I want you to know what can happen.
This first time was when I was selling a 25' wooden
folkboat in Annapolis. I was recnetly married, broke,
desperate for money, and not in any mood to be
ethical.
The buyer made the mistake of telling me who he was
using for a surveyor. I called the surveyor and said
I was delighted to meet him because as soon as I sold
my boat I was going to buy a much bigger one and
wanted him to survey it, provided of course that this
boat sold ok with no problems.
He actually said to me that he would not jeopardize
the sale. He was as good as his word. The survey
found nothing wrong in spite of the fact that the
stuffing box was so corroded that it leaked water in
sufficient quantity to sink her overnight in the slip,
and in spite of the fact that the mast had been broken
and roughly repaired (by me) by shoving the two ends
onto a 3' galvanized pipe and bolting them to the
pipe, then covering the break with a thin piece of
aluminum sheet.
Somehow both the surveyor and the buyer managed to
miss these two things. The day after I deposited the
buyer's cash in my bank account, the buyer took the
battery home to charge it -- something I explicitly
told him not to do, neglecting only to say why he
shouldn't do that -- and next morning he called me all
in a lather because the boat was on the bottom of the
slip, which is when he discovered the break in the
mast, which was now at eye level from the dock. I
read him the riot act for letting "my" boat sink.
Hey, I was young and foolish. At least I'm not so
young now. :-)
The other two times I asked surveyors I hired to give
me the lowest possible valuation and list absolutely
everything they could find wrong with the boats. They
did so beyond my expectations, and enabled me to buy a
boat for half what the seller was originally asking.
So ... one lesson I learned as a buyer -- never ever
tell the seller who you are using for a surveyor.
And another lesson -- do your own survey, and bring
lots of knowledgeable friends to also survey her, and
write down anything you or they don't understand and
ask the professional surveyor about it.
I've had home inspectors do the same thing -- overlook
or minimize problems. One of them said to me: "There
are no problems, only opportunities. If I find so
many problems that sales fall through, how long do you
think I'd be in business?"
Good luck. And don't buy a boat from me. :-)
Dick
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