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Subject: RE: [world-cruising] Buyer's Market
From: Rick H Kennerly (rick@XXX.XXX)
Date: Sun Apr 06 2003 - 07:15:38 EDT
Of course, everybody's thinking of the traditional way of buying a boat.
Here are some other ideas:
There are distressed people with boats they don't want and need to get rid
of and who don't have a clue how to begin everywhere--divorces, widows,
sickness, business going south. There are two thing you must do. One is
connect. The other is not fall in love with a particular boat.
1. place ads in local newspapers and sailing rags offering immediate cash
for the right 32-37 ft sailboat, diesel in good condition. Put signs up on
local bulletin boards.
2. have some water proof cards printed up asking the owner if they've
considered selling, make the offer "cash for the right boat", and walk the
docks sticking them to companionways or lifelines or hulls near the ladder.
Be sure you say "private individual" or "young family looking for the right
boat."
3. contact banks and boat mortgage firms letting them know that you have
cash for the right boat. Offer a private referral fee to an individual
(don't overlook the secretary or receptionist while you're waiting--they'll
usually know as much as the person behind the big desk and need the money
even more). Loan departments will know which owners are desperate and might
send some folks your way. The big commercial boat places have their own
brokerage arrangements, but smaller banks and credit unions are often at a
loss if they have a boat dumped on them. They'd rather steer somebody to
the owner than end up with a repo.
4. walk the yards and docks with a note pad or tape recorder noting the
names and hailing ports of boats you're interested in, particularly those
that look abandoned. If you don't know the yard, ask the yard help which
boats are yard queens. Then run the name on the computer at the USCG
documentation center to find the owner's address and send them a note.
http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/commercial/landings/cg_vessel2.html
Most states will give or sell you the state registration information for
non-documented boats.
5. Chat up people you see on boats in marinas or in working in yards.
They'll know that Bristol over there belongs to "Ol' George, poor old fella,
just can't keep her up any more." They might even make the introduction for
you. Hint: in almost every conversation "my wife and I are looking for a
boat for our family" goes over better than "I'm looking for a boat".
6. Owners often spill their guts to yard folks, and I've know brokers
who've paid travel lift operators for referrals of certain popular boats.
Offer travel lift or other yard workers a $1000 bounty if you buy a boat
they send your way. They'll know who's unhappy.
7. be bold, be patient, and be persistent. Leave every encounter open
ended with, "well, hang onto my card, just in case you change your mind or
if you hear of a boat I might be interested in." A few nights sleep, a bad
day on the stock market, a fight with the wife, who knows what will trigger
a sale?
8. If you hit on a boat that you discover is listed at a brokerage firm,
ask the owner to call you when the contract expires, maybe you'll still be
in the market. Although most brokers don't see it this way, that's not
exactly the same as making a deal for the boat behind the broker's back.
You're just saying to contact you when the contract expires, which is no
more underhanded than a broker not presenting all offers to a buyer, no
matter how low, because the broker wants to keep the commission up or he
"thinks" that the boat should sell for more, even if it's not moving.
9. Look in the cruising crossroads. I know of a cruise ready Westsail 32
that went for half of what it should have gone for because the boat was in
the Virgin Islands AND there was a divorce going on back in the states. The
pressure was on to sell it and somebody decided it was worth the plane trip
to close on the boat. Boats are harder to sell in the islands because
people think that they're so hard to go see. One way around that is to
combine boat hunting with a big boat luxury cruise. Several lines offer
week long San Juan to San Juan cruises that spend a day in all the popular
cruising ports. Instead of hitting trinket and T-shirt shops, hire a cab
and hit the yards and marinas on each island leaving your laminated card on
all the boats that interest you.
Rick NH2F
Westsail 32 Xapic
Cabo San Juan, Puerto Rico
www.mouseherder.com/xapic/sleep.html
www.westsail.org
Sail like a Kiwi
Anchor like a Canadian
Live like a Texan
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