Try before you buy?

[Machpoint005]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

Was!

 

From now until about Jan 1st, I suspect boat sales collapse and people's minds turn to Xmas and buyers evaporate into the ether.

 

I think around Dec 15th is the right time to put in a lowball offer to a seller puzzled why their boat hasn't sold, with a good chance of it being accepted. It certainly works this way with houses in my experience.

 

It worked when we bought our boat, back in 2006.

 

 

[nealeST]

Very good. Now you can expect to sell it very promptly for twice what you paid 18 years ago….

[GuyDG]

Good Morning Whitesuit

Seeing your post have you seen this at Tingdene Reading Narrowboat Canal Craft Builders - Gladiator - Tingdene Marinas & Boat Sales (tingdeneboating.com)

[enigmatic]

The worst 'nonrefundable' terms I'm aware of are Alvecote's who told me they keep £300 'admin' fee to themselves when returning the rest, even if the surveyor tells you the boat is irredeemably awful. It occurred to me between this and the lift out fee, they were actually financially incentivised to keep crap boats that kept failing surveys around.

 

 

On 06/11/2023 at 14:06, Didne said:

Boatfinderbrokerage couldn’t even be bothered to send an agent to show me round the two boats last week … they relied on the marina staff doing that instead, who were very pleasant but by their own admission knew absolutely nothing about the boats in question … I voiced that I was unimpressed by this …  ‘oh, if you come for a second viewing I expect they’ll turn up …. then they’ll know you’re serious’ … “They think I’m not serious ? … I’ve had to arrange for someone to care for my mum … it’s taken me an hour and a half to drive here … it’ll take me as long to drive back … and I’m not serious ?” … The owner of the beautiful boat thought perhaps the only reason they didn’t bother was because they knew he was going to be there anyway to show me his boat … But what about the other boat I went to see ? … the owner of that one wasn’t there, but the broker still didn’t turn up …

I think it was Boatfinderbrokerage selling a boat I went to see at Tattenhall which to be fair was priced on the basis it needed a repaint job. Someone else was on board, but all the marina staff could tell me was exactly how long their waiting list for repaints was, how much it would cost, and that they suspected the odd peeling coating was to cover up poor quality finishing on the hull which might need further remedial work. I moved onto the next broker without looking inside (which worked out brilliantly because I saw my boat just before closing time at the end of the day).

 

This was actually more useful any information any actual broker provided. The only broker that made any attempt to actually actively sell a boat by talking about its good points and its history was Chris at David Mawby Ltd in Nottingham. Most of the rest just gave keys.

 

-

 

This thread on brokerages is not making me look forward to going and talking to them about selling. But one of the few advantages is somewhere to actually moor the boat when you're stuck on a river system not suited for continuous cruising for the winter...

Edited November 8, 2023 by enigmatic

[Private Fraser]

Norbury Wharf require a 1K deposit and if the buyer pulls out they keep 500 as admin fee and AFAIA the seller gets zilch.

[enigmatic]

1 minute ago, Private Fraser said:

Norbury Wharf require a 1K deposit and if the buyer pulls out they keep 500 as admin fee and AFAIA the seller gets zilch.

So that's how they manage relatively low brokerage rates!r

[Alan de Enfield]

13 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

This was actually more useful any information any actual broker provided. The only broker that made any attempt to actually actively sell a boat by talking about its good points and its history was Chris at David Mawby Ltd in Nottingham. Most of the rest just gave keys.

 

And David Shakespeare (who used to be at Nottinghman Castle Marina with David Mawby) not only kept the deposits he also kept the full payment for the boats sold and even sold the same boat twice - he ended up in court after having swindled some £500,000 from owners selling and buyers buying boats he had on brokerage.

 

Using a brokerage is no guarantee of selling or buying with safety.

 

A boat salesman was jailed for four years after netting £480,000 by cheating customers out of their vessels.

 

Jailed boat salesman cheated customers out of half a million pounds - Nottinghamshire Live (nottinghampost.com)

[enigmatic]

tbf, wasn't he a completely separate business? Though I do recognise the office in the picture...

 

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

tbf, wasn't he a completely separate business? Though I do recognise the office in the picture...

 

 

I think they were 'together' operating out of Castle Marina, but one of them focussed on Steel NBs and the other focussed on Cruisers. 

A falling out of sorts and Shakespeare moved to Meadow Lane on land which had access to the Trent and a pontoon, but mostly his boats were 'on the hard' in the yard.

 

There were in depth discussions here :

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2023 by Alan de Enfield

[Mike Tee]

Four years for fraud amounting to £480k - probably only did two in a 'soft' prison. Good job I wasn't handing out sentences, it would have been in double figures at least.

 

eta- plus a proper flogging every year on his birthday

Edited November 8, 2023 by Mike Tee

[Jon57]

3 hours ago, Mike Tee said:

Four years for fraud amounting to £480k - probably only did two in a 'soft' prison. Good job I wasn't handing out sentences, it would have been in double figures at least.

 

eta- plus a proper flogging every year on his birthday

Mud weights spring to mind 😡

[1st ade]

7 hours ago, GuyDG said:

Good Morning Whitesuit

Seeing your post have you seen this at Tingdene Reading Narrowboat Canal Craft Builders - Gladiator - Tingdene Marinas & Boat Sales (tingdeneboating.com)

@GuyDG As a first time poster, do you have any connection with the Seller? If so, please could you make that clear. Thanks.

[Didne]

 

 

I think it’s a bit early in my own narrowboat life for me to start handing out advice … but … if you’ll indulge me … mine would be if you’re thinking of putting your boat up on brokerages, first contact the broker as if you were a potential interested buyer to find out what the buying terms are, and ask yourself would you purchase a boat under such conditions ? … I’m sure the guy selling the beautiful boat I saw via boatfinder would’ve gone elsewhere if he’d known about the 10% non refundable deposit … as it is he’s stuck with them for six months unless he pays a hefty get-out fee …