Another Bargain Boat.

[mikevye]

On a day to day basis I have to deal with customers who think thier van is worth brewsters whereas in reality its market value is considerably less. In buying and selling the process is simple, you buy and then you sell, easy! If however you can't sell something potentially it has no value whatsoever. An instance of this will be 4x4 vehicles in a years time when new road fund licence charges come in with four and fivefold increases, vehicles worth thousands now will have very little value.

[WJM]

"So if I offer you a fiver for your car, say, and no-body else shows interest, does that make your car worth a fiver?"

 

Yes, correct. - that is what it is worth at that moment. The fact that I might like to think it is worth more has no bearing. The value of a pound is what someone will give you for it, in Euros, Dollars, Gold.

 

A business may have a machine that is rendered totally obsolete by advances in technology. The machine may have a written down 'book value' of £000s but the fact that only a scrap man will take it away for £0s make it's true value close to zero, despite what the accounts say. Fleet Street newspaper presses are a good example. Officially 'worth' millions, but nobody wanted them so the scrap man took them away for a fraction of their supposed 'value'. What would you say their value was at the moment of disposal? The book value or the scrap value?

 

A value has to be actionable (ie; realisable), If it is not realisable then it is merely opinion, conjecture, and largely meaningless.

[PhilR]

I can understand the charisma of owning a historic narrowboat with the option to restore it to its former glory but run of the mill boats 30 years old must be ready for the scrap yard by virtue of the environment they are in and surely these type of prices must be ridiculous in the extreme. With falling prices a top spec sailaway would be less than the asking price for this hunk of junk.

 

My current *run of the mill* mid-range boat is 29 years old and all the steelwork is original and in good condition. The quality of the welding etc is probably much superior to most floating cottages of more recent construction. I have seen a few upper range boats half that age which have been overplated and still looking tired. I agree that the *asking* price of that wooden topped Springer is probably 3x the market value, BUT what exactly do you mean by *by virtue of the environment they are in* ?

[GRPCruiserman]

I saw a similar (but not a Springer, had a more swept bow) boat, in similar condition, perhaps about 45 foot (ish) narrow boat for sale of a similar age with a steel hull and wooden top for sale on the towpath near Anderton Lift a couple of weeks ago with a For Sale notice in it for £10000.

 

It had great charachter to me, was not a 'shiney' brigade boat which is a plus for me; and if I'd had the money then I may actually have been interested.

 

The boat highlighted above to me does seem to be for a lot of money but I think many valid points have been made above and when I have been looking for boats it always amazes me that there is stuff at silly prices everywhere to be seen, it's just a case of finding what you want at the price you want to pay.

 

Maybe it was put up for sale when prices we high a couple of years ago and the price hasn't been reduced to reflect the curent climate?

 

Maybe it's got a brand new everything fitted which could add up to that amount (engine, fittings, etc)?

 

Anyway, it's up to the individual; if someone thinks it's worth that then it will sell, if not, then it wont!!