So how busy can a boat broker really be?

mrsrobinson said:
So if I hear you correctly I should volunteer my budget, let them know I have secured funds and I am ready to buy today? I thought the first rule of negotiating is to give as little information as you can while getting as much back as you can? Why would I offer my budget?

Me: "I have $150k to spend"

Broker: "heck, we would have taken $130K but lets take his $150K"
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I have to completely agree with you mrsrobinson

I also am one who whole heartily endorses having a survey, performed. I found a 2002 for lets say for $110,000.00 which had after market manifolds installed which were shot. This was discovered in the survey.

The owner was willing to replace the aftermarket manifolds with another set of aftermarket manifolds. Which I did not want to have done, so we haggled and reached an agreement. I agreed to pay $114,000.00 and we have the aftermarket manifolds replaced with the original Mercruisers.

At first look it may seem as if I am losing on this deal, but the Mercruiser parts are for each engine $2,970.00 approximately, with a flat period of labor for 7.4 hours. The labor for both engines actually worked out to just under 14 hours @$115.00 per hour

:thumbsup:
 
Pseudomind said:
I also am one who whole heartily endorses having a survey, performed. I found a 2002 for lets say for $110,000.00 which had after market manifolds installed which were shot. This was discovered in the survey.
Click to expand...

After seeing how third party manifolds perform, I would have had the jugs bore scoped to ensure there was no damage. Those manifolds and elbows are worse than junk because they'll take the engine with them to failure-land.

Best regards,
Frank
 
Pseudomind said:
I have to completely agree with you mrsrobinson

I also am one who whole heartily endorses having a survey, performed. I found a 2002 for lets say for $110,000.00 which had after market manifolds installed which were shot. This was discovered in the survey.

The owner was willing to replace the aftermarket manifolds with another set of aftermarket manifolds. Which I did not want to have done, so we haggled and reached an agreement. I agreed to pay $114,000.00 and we have the aftermarket manifolds replaced with the original Mercruisers.

At first look it may seem as if I am losing on this deal, but the Mercruiser parts are for each engine $2,970.00 approximately, with a flat period of labor for 7.4 hours. The labor for both engines actually worked out to just under 14 hours @$115.00 per hour

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

"I have to completely agree with you mrsrobinson"

Thanks, looks like I have at least one friend on this post ;-)
 
festivus44 said:
.....I called a particularly high strung broker in New Jersey to inquire about a boat he had for sale. My first question after identifying the boat I was inquiring about was “what is the depth of the swim platform”

He barked back, “that is the stupidest question that I have ever heard!”

He went on to tell me that I could not be a serious buyer with such a stupid question, I didn’t know what I was talking about, and I was wasting his time as he “sells 9 out of 10 boats that he shows”.

.....
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Go ahead....call on this one....ask a few questions and record the call.....then put it up on youtube.....:smt043

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/list...ker&&hosturl=redlinemarine&&ywo=redlinemarine&
 
Redline is not a broker so he doesn't really count. He's a wholesaler, you basically only call guys like that if you want to buy something in their inventory. They are not the type to help you find a boat or answer Q's as to what is the right boat for you.
 
CSR_Admin said:
A broker will make about $3,750 on a $150K sale. Thats assuming there are no survey adjustments the brokers have to kick in for.

If that boat is 500 miles away, and the listing broker is 100 miles away from that boat, do you expect him to go take a few more pics for you? Sometimes sellers sign up for your services and they are in far away places. We get listings from places like Smith Mountain Lake where there are no brokers, we never even see some of those boats. The sellers just use us because of our market knowledge and marketing.

Also, I have a hard time believing that inquiries on boats from sites like Yachtworld are not getting responses. Brokers pat a crapload of money to be on those sites and take those leads seriously. There are hundreds of other sites out there that take listings from Yachtworld, or offer free ads or whatever. If you inquire on boats from these sites you will likeley not get a response as the ad is no longer valid. For example, a bucnh of boats we once had are on seeboat.com. There is nothing I can do about it. They copied the listings and alll of those boats have since sold but are still listed as active on seeboat.
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Well believe it. I have been shopping for my first ever boat over the summer (I'm 50) and responded via email to 2 different yachtworld ads asking for more information such as number of engine hours if it was omitted or the gelcoat or interior condition and never got a reply. After not getting a reply to an email on the boat I was most interested in on yachtworld, I called the broker and left a voicemail telling them I was a cash buyer and wanted a return call to answer some basic questions about the boat. That call is still unreturned over a month later. Maybe the fact that I was looking at boats in the $20K-$25k range made me not worth their time, but then why run the ad? Heck, even if the boat had already sold aren't I worth at least a courtesy call or email?

Another broker story: I called a broker in a costal city about an hour away a couple of weeks ago wantingto look at a particular boat they had on boattrader. We got there early Saturday morning and it had been pouring down raining all the way over. I don't know if it was because of the rain or the economy but the entire hour we were there I saw no other customers. So we walk to the warehouse and look at the boat I'd called about and the broker count not have been more disinterested if he tried. I knew more about the boat than he did. He could not use the excuse that I didn't look like a serious buyer because I was driving a one week old brand new car still with paper dealer tags (thank you cash for clunkers!) and my wife and I were nicely dressed. Better than he was anyway. His non-caring attitude and total ignorance about the boat was baffling.

I ended up dealing with a great salesperson at a local MarineMax who found me a nice used Sea Ray well under my stated budget but which fit my needs. This guy called me at least once a week for almost two months and was never pushy or abrupt with me once.
 
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When we went to get our first SR185 at MM they treated us like we had purchased a million $ boat! We took delivery on Sat and they had our names on the big billboard, took pictures of the family under the billboard and boat, took us out to go over everything on the boat and let everyone drive, hooked up the trailer to the van and sent us off with a full tank of gas and a spotless new SR185...and they handed us our pciture framed in a nice frame! They have been very helpfull after the purchase as well.
 
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