Maybe they are testing just how interested you are in the boat.

More seriously, that is ridiculous.

 

The good brokers I know are currently chasing their tail and if the seller is a difficult one that may not be the priority. The bad brokers do this crap all the time.

 

Boat sold and listing not removed? Had that happen to me more than once.

 

Price was reduced a month ago. They could at least say it's sold, like everyone else does.

 

yeah what he said, craigslist, facebook, brokers, seen boats listed for 5 years that were gone years ago. its the internet love it or hate it, nothing ever goes away, or is deleted.

 

I'd forget pursuing that boat for sure. Even if you did get thru thru to the broker and found it was still available, can you imagine working with a guy like that! I feel for the seller stuck in an exclusive listing contract. I would never sign one for longer than six months myself.
Good luck with your continued search.
Carpe Diem

 

I repeated the above process with 5 boats when shopping for my 400 in 2017. Only 2 of the 5 brokers ever called me back (or somewhere thereabouts). The icing on the cake for me was a voicemail I left with a broker listing a boat in the VERY SAME marina that the boat I ended up buying was in. I said "hey, I'll be in the area on Saturday looking at another 400 just down the docks and would love to take a look at yours. I can be available most of the afternoon. Please call me back". And that was a weeks notice +/-.

I don't know how you would go about finding a good broker. But my experience leads me to believe 60% or more are worthless

 

That's a low estimate.......

 

I feel lucky given the experiences posted in this thread. I work with a couple of guys in a Silver Seas office out of Sausalito that are great! I bought the boat thru them and listed it a year ago when we were ready to pull the trigger on a bigger boat and they had an offer and Sea Trial scheduled inside of two weeks. Deal fell out because the buyer was a real peach and we had a change of heart so we cancelled the listing. Our broker though continues to call me when boats in our wheel house come up locally and he even spends time showing me boats that he knows I won't bite on just to help me continue to narrow the field. He knows that someday the right boat will pop and he will will have his pay day. Every brokerage has a deal or a salesman that goes sideways and we all know that negative experience gets more widely distributed than the positive ones but if anyone needs some help selling or buying a boat out West I'll gladly offer a referral.
Carpe Diem

 

IMHO I think some of the broker problems are brought on by the buyers/sellers themself. Not a boat broker but too many times I've done way to much work and never been paid for it. Need to find a broker you can work with and then work with them. Loyalty means a lot, too many seem to forget that and just run from salesperson to salesperson thinking they are going to get the best deal around by doing that. Just my two cents worth.

 

“It’s 98% of the boat brokers that make the other 2% look bad”

 

I have a good story, I am basically retired and work as a part time broker for a very reputable company. I treat all calls and emails with utmost urgency. Many years ago, before I was a broker, We were looking for a 500 Sundancer. There was one listed in Ft Lauderdale, so I called and got voicemail, left a message and then sent an email. No response, a week later I called and emailed we would be in south Florida the following week and are still interested. No response. We went to Ft Lauderdale that week and called again, told him we were in Ft Lauderdale and want to look. No response. I wish we could have found the seller to let him know. That boat was on Yachtworld for another year with the price being lowered 2 or 3 times. There really are some lousy brokers, but not all. When selling a boat, interview, because you really are hiring a salesperson for you.

 

I have a similar story about a boat that was in Hilton Head - I had called and we were there on vacation. What else did I have to do - I looked up the boat using the USCG site and contacted the owner and told him that his broker was AWOL. Suddenly I got a call from the broker ripping my ass, I shared that with the owner as well, hopefully he ditched the broker soon after. I never saw the boat so I bought the one I have now soon after

 

It amazes me that with all the communication tools we have today, that communication can be so lousy.

 

Communications only work if the other party participates, otherwise it's just broadcasting.

 

Nothing ventured nothing gained. I personally would make sure I opened the conversation with it’s not your intention to go around the listing contract but rather focus on the lack of service from the broker.
When my boat fell out of contract last year, two weeks later I got a note in the mail from the buyer asking me to sell to him cutting out the broker. I told him to pound sand. I found out later that the guy did this three times!
CD

 

Funny timing... Today I received a follow up call from a broker that has a Carver 564 my wife and I looked at last year when we were marketing our boat and looking to move up. He was just reaching out to see where we were in our boat quest. We had I nice conversation and I told him what we were now looking for and that the 564 was no longer on our wish list. This guy has called me a few times just to let me know the boat is still available and the owner is motivated to move it. It just struck me as funny as this thread is filled mostly with stories of lethargic brokers and sales men happy to sit on a listing. The thing keeping this boat from selling is actually an unrealistic owner that bought a boat with issues and doesn't seem to want to fix them but still wants market for it.
CD

 

That's why I started my post with "blackballing" an owner. Sure some owners are a piece of work. I had one broker tell me that the boat failed survey due to moisture and the seller was unrealistic so it wasn't worth taking a look. At least he told me.

 

I’m not defending all brokers...but after selling my last two cruisers on my own I’m about done selling on my own. After all the tire kickers, financing issue with buyers, checking with my wife, and my favorite—cash buyer—which really means a low baller—I’ve about had it with selling on my own. I don’t know how brokers do it. I’d lose my patience in a day with all the BS. Full disclosure—I know all of us of this forum are “pro” sellers and buyers. Where does that leave the rest of the 99.9% buying/selling public?

 

Not me! I’m a crappy buyer (great for the seller!). So you’re asking 360? Okay, 361! Don’t make me offer 370! Literally, I’m not good at this. At least I’m aware of it...

 

It is funny that the “cash buyer” has become so perverted from its original intent. People borrowing from there current home equity line, people borrowing from their stock portfolios, etc. all want to act like they’re doing the seller a favor.

A cash buyer has green dollars in his hand, and nothing less.

 

It is funny that the “cash buyer” has become so perverted from its original intent. People borrowing from there current home equity line, people borrowing from their stock portfolios, etc. all want to act like they’re doing the seller a favor.

A cash buyer has green dollars in his hand, and nothing less.

Mike in real estate I always find it funny when a buyer says thats. The sellers always ends up with cash one way or another. Well unless they are willing to trade. No mater what the seller always ends up with cash

 

Maybe the better way to say it is "no financing contingency."

 

Good point, but maybe it is just me a boat is a toy. If you need a financing contingency maybe you should not be buying it? Who is going to do the appraisal to validate the purchase price? Now sea trials and inspection are a different matter. But hey after the real estate crash back in 2008 and what is going on now day, not sure if anybody is doing real appraisals even in real estate anymore.

 

As I said earlier in this thread, I was a car dealer for many years. A "cash" buyer was not a good thing. Most people dont realize banks paid us for loans and it was also easier to sell service contracts and other products that we made commission on.

 

I tend to agree that most boats are toys and toys or anything that depreciates for that matter ought to be purchased with cash but I don't consider our boat as just a toy, it's become very important part of our life over the past few years. I would have thought really seriously about not buying a $350,000 boat and financing a large chunk of it if I still had a mortgage and other large liabilities but having none, financing made pretty good sense for us especially when writing off the interest was beneficial. Now that we have no mortgage and Trump's Tax plan doubled the personal exemptions, itemization on our taxes became a wash. With the current low rates to finance and when buying a 15 year+ old boat, and depreciation being less of an issue I'd rather finance for 3.5%/year than pay 40% in taxes taking from the retirement well and losing out on the growth potential of the assets.
Just one point of view.
CD

 

Dealing with a couple of brokers now - one boat is in fla - the broker is great - responds right away with full answers - another boat (same model and year) up here and it took me sending a message, after a WEEK of trying, that said "are you showing your listings or not? can i get on this boat in the next two days?" to FINALY get a response......as far as "cash buyer" is concerned, BOTH brokers asked me if I was (I am) and they were happy that was the case - likewise, my experience in the fla condo market has been some properties are ONLY offered on a cash basis.....the process of getting the condo assoc approved by the mortgage company can take a LONG time too - so "cash offers" definately are seen as positives by many sellers

 

I've sold my previous 8 boats on my own, no broker and sold to private individuals, no brokers on their end either. Sure you get the occasional tire kicker but I'm usually heading to the boat anyway and don't mind a 5 minute drive if they request. With this current boat I've spent about a total of 30 minutes of a sea trial/ride to 2 interested parties. Fingers crossed that I have an official offer tomorrow evening with a losing date next week. I don't think that's too bad.

As far as buying, hard to buy directly from the owner as most are listed with a broker. It's challenging to get exposure without listing with a broker, unless you use Bob @Anglers Edge Marine who charges a flat fee to advertise your boat on all the sites.

 

“Cash buyer” for a boat. Lol! The seller always winds up with cash in the end.

 

When I was buying my dinghy a few weeks ago. We have one local dealer In Toledo and the rest are hours away. I called all 3 salesman listed on their website Twice And one was the owner. I emailed them...nothing.

I Ended up buying it out of California...who had it shipped to my house from the factory warehouse in NC within 2 days of my order, with daily updates on its progress...

 

I can understand not returning the phone call right away. People are busy these days and I don't like to call before/after certain times. But a quick response to the emails would be nice. That you can do at 11:00 pm.

 

The round leading up to buying our boat back in this past December was our first boat buying experience, and it was both for an older boat within a very specific range, initially a ~2000-ish SDA 260 or Chapparal 260 Signature, then updated to an SDA 270 wide-beam - so relatively speaking, not huge $ but $20-$30K range.

Meanwhile, I've bought and sold over 100 vehicles and a handful of properties, and thought I'd seen it all, but non-responsiveness hit an all time high dealing with boat brokers - it was off-season, pre-COVID insanity, and I was calling and emailing anywhere in the Eastern side of the US, ready to travel with cash in hand.

Even when traveling to a specific 'boat heavy' area for a weekend - very few responses.

It did work out in the end, and was very happy with Justin at http://www.bblkn.com (NC - Lake Norman area).
They're not huge, but certainly had some serious $$ in their inventory, but he went above and beyond for what wound up being a somewhat difficult sale and set of circumstances (chasing down a trailer, coordinating fixes pre and post-sale, etc.) on a relatively small $ sale.

The rest of the stories as well as a generally poor experience with (most) others, means when it eventually comes time to upgrade, I expect I'll be sticking with him unless I stumble across a local direct from owner deal, something fairly unlikely as I'm not in a 'boat central' area. I guess all I'm saying here is it's worth finding one or two that don't suck, even if sometimes it may mean waiting longer for 'the right boat' to come up.

 

I have inquired on at least 6 boats in the last 2 weeks, with no response. I know that when a boat sells, the listing agency leaves it on to generate more sales traffic.

 

Yes on the last sentence. Even pre-COVID, when I was able to get someone on the phone, they at times didn't even know the boat in question - could have been sold a long time ago...if they even had it.

Apparently since the shut-in/outbreak, anyone/everyone ever considering buying a boat - now is. My broker said he can't even find boats to sell. With that in mind, I'd target your initial contacts as much as possible to e.g. - 'Have $ in hand or ready to go, here's what I'm looking for, and where I'm willing to go on $ range' or for a specific boat of interest, 'ready to come sea trial and inspect with cash in hand' as may be appropriate for a better chance of some reply in an already-questionable area of getting responses from the 'typical' broker, etc.

 

Related to the subject only different issue... I was wanting go look at a 50 foot OA Pilot house boat this weekend in the Los Angeles area which is a 6.5 hour car ride for us. I hate driving almost as much as my wife hates riding in a car so its a stretch for us to do this. I had my broker call the selling broker to arrange a viewing. The selling broker got back to him the next day but this weekend wont work for him cause he will be out of town. Here's the kicker. The selling broker's office is 2 hours from the marina where the boat is and he does not have a contact in that area to show the boat! No wonder the boat has been sitting on the market for months. The numbers are good and it is well equipped with updated everything. What owner in his right mind would engage the services of a broker that is 2 hours from the boat with no proxy to help in that town? I got to thinking that even if the boat was THE ONE, what a royal hassle it would be making the transaction happen.
We are passing on this one and will continue to wait until a local boat pops on the market. I won't let buying a boat bring chaos into my life.
Carpe Diem