Boat supply drying up. Higher prices ahead?

Wouldn't the said broker want an easy sale over a boat that will sit on the market longer at a higher price that was fudged by a dishonest broker inflating the price? I personally would want all my customers realistic on their price in order to sell more boats, hence making more money.

The difference in comission on 130,000 to 150,000 is not enough for me to say I sold a boat for more money than it really did. I would rather sell 2 130K boats over 1 150K boat.
 
I have a buddy who bought a brand new (he ordered it from the factory) Chaparral in 2008. He paid about $79,500 for the boat. He just sold it for $61,000. 2 years, his boat depreciated 23%. By comparison, we bought our 240 in 2004 for 46,000 and traded it in 2008 for $39,000 (MM sold it within two weeks for 40ish, but I will stick with 39 for comparison) or about 15% depreciation over almost 4 years. I don't know if that's a blood bath, but it is a little disconcerting. Of course we are comparing a Sea Ray to a Chaparral...
 
A lot depends on your definition of "decent" and "midsize." Also, you are limiting your search criteria so you will have limited choice. The point is that these are boats that legitimate brokers with inventory have to compete against for buyers.

http://yachtauctions.com/

http://certifiedsales.com/

http://cooperss.com/

http://harrisonmarine.com/

http://yachtauctions.com/listing.php?vessel=4568
http://yachtauctions.com/listing.php?vessel=4651
http://yachtauctions.com/listing.php?vessel=4522
http://yachtauctions.com/listing.php?vessel=4708
http://yachtauctions.com/listing.php?vessel=4685
http://yachtauctions.com/listing.php?vessel=4327
 
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Thanks for the links! If I am a new Sea Ray buyer looking for a 35-40' boat, the dealer inventor has slim pickings, so I'm pretty much backed into a special order, eliminating my price leverage on an inventory boat and thereby having to settle for a smaller boat at a higher price. Now, being a new boat buyer, if I look at what is available in a 2007-2009 boat in the brokerage inventory, I find slim pickings and may have to now compete with other new boat buyers defecting from the show room. Looking at all the listed auction and repo listing, does not provide any selection in a '07-09 35'-40' Sea Ray sport cruiser. So, now when I do come across that boat I'm more likely buy it at a higher price.
 
JV II said:
Looking at all the listed auction and repo listing, does not provide any selection in a '07-09 35'-40' Sea Ray sport cruiser. So, now when I do come across that boat I'm more likely buy it at a higher price.
Click to expand...

Just because they haven't been repo'd...... Yet. Really chances are the only way they bought them was because they had excellent credit to back up the purchase along with the income or paid cash. With those years that really was the only way to buy a boat!
 
keokie said:
I still see it as a blood bath. I found a boat for a buddy of mine. After a bit of negotiation, he owned it for 24K. It is a clean '99 Formula 31 PC with big blocks and all options. There were other comparable boats from Sea Ray and Formula he was looking at in that same price category. It's amazing.
Click to expand...

Is that common? To me that would put your boat worth about $30-35k if you were to sell, and mine at about $15-20k?
 
This is an interesting discussion... I have a thought... Last year when I purchased my repo 340 DA from Key Bank, Marine Max stock was about $1 per share... Today MM (HZO) is over $11 per share. Maybe there is a relationship with used boat supplies and prices... Also, I don't see the over abundance of great deals on boats that are popular (midsized Sea Rays). I am sure there are some great deals still out there, but I agree the prices seem to have stabilized for the some models... In looking over Ron's links, I don't see anything that jumped out, like l saw last year. So demand is catching up with supply. I don't know if I am the only one, but I don't care for the pod drives on the new boats, and I miss the traditional aft cabins which are not being built by Sea Ray... I suppose Meridians cover the demand for folks that want the traditional AC. Just not sure I would be welcome at this site if I bought a Meridian...
 
This is an interesting thread and for the fun of it I went to http://nadaguides.com to see how my boat is currently valued. YIKES !!!

With all of the short sales and repos and banks only lending in NADA values, I don't see a recovery in the used boat market any time soon.
 
I see some screaming deals here in Southern California on boats with diesels 35-45', mid 80's to late 90's. Condition is another issue with some of these repo vessels as most of the ones I viewed were in pretty sad shape to say the least. After dealing with many deceptive brokers, I finally found my current boat after 8 months of constant searching.
 
Granted my story is for smaller boats... but my local Crownline dealer has just ordered 125.... yes i said 125... of the 18-21 foot crownline starter boats.

Now dont forget we are in an inland lake that is huge tourist spot and the average boat size probably is 24-26 foot.
 
When I bought my 320 last October the NADA retail was $142K. When I checked it last week after this thread was started the retail value was $141K. Some might dispute NADA values but it's what banks use and like the real estate market, they, not the buyers and sellers, are calling the shots. When I had my house on the market last Spring I got an appraisal to detemine the loan value which for all practical purposes was the market value. By my observations, the boat market has a lot of similarities to the housing market.
 
320Bob said:
the boat market has a lot of similarities to the housing market.
Click to expand...

Yep IMHO until all the Foreclosures and Repos are gone the prices are just going to keep going down.
 
Sean257, I don't know how common it is for boats to sell this cheap, but I've seen numerous similar deals... without really looking.... Like a 2000 380 loaded dancer (but with gassers) that went for 44K. I think the problem is that boats listed at reasonable prices aren't selling very well, so some serious sellers such as the ones that don't owe, (or the banks) are willing to take a big loss to get something.
 
keokie said:
Sean257, I don't know how common it is for boats to sell this cheap, but I've seen numerous similar deals... without really looking.... Like a 2000 380 loaded dancer (but with gassers) that went for 44K. I think the problem is that boats listed at reasonable prices aren't selling very well, so some serious sellers such as the ones that don't owe, (or the banks) are willing to take a big loss to get something.
Click to expand...

Care to share where you found these?
 
The Formula was simply found on Yachtworld. It was listed for 37K and being in Phoenix. The boat turned out to be outside of dallas on blocks. We did some investigating on its history and got good information about its location, then made the offer. The lister went back and forth from "That's way too low, they said no" to being non-responsive for about 6 weeks. Then we found out who held the title, and let them know we had submitted an offer to the lister. They had never been aware of the offer. We re-submitted the 24K offer and my buddy owned it.

The 380 had been for sale on a number of sites around the southwest for awhile for something around 70K. Bank repo'd it sent it to the auction and away it went. I had friends that know boats well who viewed. They said it was very sharp.
 
Boat prices have been permanently impaired. That's a fact, get used to it. You live in fantasyland if you believe otherwise
 
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