Being Honest When Selling

[JonL]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/58ft-Cruiser-Stern-Narrowboat-/221007649428?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3375151a94

 

There have been a number of discussions on this forum about being honest in adverts and asking for realistic money. Of course the advice about also getting a survey is repeated virtually daily.

 

I saw this advert today on ebay. I’ve not seen this approach before where someone copies in a whole survey into a listing and indicates that the price reflects the problems found in the survey.

 

This boat is fairly local to me as in a beautiful location, so I have more than just a passing interest

What are people’s views on this approach?

I’ve never read a survey report before it seems very scary to me. Is the price right at £22k

[Guest]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/58ft-Cruiser-Stern-Narrowboat-/221007649428?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3375151a94

 

There have been a number of discussions on this forum about being honest in adverts and asking for realistic money. Of course the advice about also getting a survey is repeated virtually daily.

 

I saw this advert today on ebay. I’ve not seen this approach before where someone copies in a whole survey into a listing and indicates that the price reflects the problems found in the survey.

 

This boat is fairly local to me as in a beautiful location, so I have more than just a passing interest

What are people’s views on this approach?

I’ve never read a survey report before it seems very scary to me. Is the price right at £22k

 

It's an interesting approach - note though the survey is over a year old (Feb 2011) and the boat therefore may have even more issues than referred to.

[alan_fincher]

It is possible putting a full survey into the public domain may contravene the contract that was made with the surveyor ?

[Athy]

That survey is very fishy, as it is claimed that it took place in October 2012. Is the bloke a surveyor or a clairvoyant?

Assuming that it's a typo, and in answer to AF's question, I would doubt it: if the vendor paid for this survey, it's his to do what he pleases with.

[Guest]

That survey is very fishy, as it is claimed that it took place in October 2012. Is the bloke a surveyor or a clairvoyant?

Assuming that it's a typo, and in answer to AF's question, I would doubt it: if the vendor paid for this survey, it's his to do what he pleases with.

 

MMmm the plot thickens....

 

"Below is a survey on the boat that was conducted on 7 February 2011 the works required are reflected in the price of the boat."

 

"I inspected the above craft whilst supported out of water on raised transverse wooden

sleepers in the dry dock at Hallingbury on Monday 6 October 2012"

[KirraMisha]

MMmm the plot thickens....

 

"Below is a survey on the boat that was conducted on 7 February 2011 the works required are reflected in the price of the boat."

 

"I inspected the above craft whilst supported out of water on raised transverse wooden

sleepers in the dry dock at Hallingbury on Monday 6 October 2012"

To me that reads survey done in 2011.

Then at a later date it was possibly looked at in the dry dock in October of 2011 giving the seller the benefit of the doubt of a typo.

Get a hull survey anyway and all speculation becomes null and void.

[Athy]

Quite apart from his misplaced grammar: what was he doing being supported on transverse sleepers? It must have been difficult for him to get around the boat to inspect it.

In answer to the original question, it is a good approach, it gives you a balanced idea of condition, but you must not assume that this survey portrays the boat as she is now. Also, be aware that a surveyor will often paint a gloomy picture of a boat, accentuating her faults: this is done, I believe, to ensure that he is legally covered if problems subsequently arise.

[LEO]

Hi,

 

Interesting and a good idea - being a Chartered Surveyor myself, I have always included a list of problems/shortcomings with houses and a boat I sold.

 

I would not like to sell someone 'a lemon' and it's more pleasant to meet someone on a friendly basis when you see them around the town and it helps bring in 'return' sales when people move on or trade up or down.

 

Everybody is right to be wary but there are some people who like to trade in an honest way and the vendor of this boat may be one.

 

Leo.

[KevMc]

I may be cynical in my old age or my memory might be shot but I don't remember much snow last October

[LEO]

I may be cynical in my old age or my memory might be shot but I don't remember much snow last October

 

Hi,

 

Survey may have been carried out in February...

 

L

[Teadaemon]

I would be very dubious of this - you don't know which surveyor did the survey, so you've no way to assess their competence or experience. I'd be amazed if they didn't retain copyright to their survey, and equally amazed if they'd given permission for the seller to copy it verbatim into their eBay listing. When you pay for a survey, you generally only get one copy for your own use, it is not yours to republish or copy as you see fit. There's also the matter of a considerable discrepancy with the date the survey was carried out, and it may be (it wasn't clear from my first read through) that it's been done on two separate dates, with an internal survey first and an out of the water inspection at a later date (not a hanging offence, but equally not the way I or any surveyor I know would prefer to work).

 

Getting on to what's actually written, if you check to see how much of the boat the surveyor could see, note that most of the cabin and decks was covered with snow, and most of the hull hadn't been pressure washed, so there's a fair chance there might be more issues with the boat than are in the survey. I disagree with some of the recommendations (specifically, if all of the anodes are more than 50% wasted, then replace them all, not just the four that are almost gone entirely), and note that the conclusions do not fully address the issues mentioned in the report itself.

 

Is the boat worth £22,000?

 

A good question. Based on the survey report as written, I'd suggest that a home fitout of a not first-rate hull (frames should not be just tack-welded to the hull plating, as that leads to them breaking away, as has happened here) with a potentially dodgy engine, damp bilges, 2mm pits in 6mm hull sides (which is getting close to the point where I'd have to recommend overplating or replating), and a few other areas of concern, is probably not worth the money they want for it. There are better boats out there. Whilst they might cost more to buy, the total cost of purchase and repairs is likely to be lower.

 

If you're still really interested, I'd be happy to travel over from Norfolk and do a proper survey for you (I'm a graduate member of the IIMS and carry £2,000,000 of PI insurance), but personally I'd suggest that you might be better off saving your money and looking for a better boat.

[Mick_B]

MMmm the plot thickens....

 

"Below is a survey on the boat that was conducted on 7 February 2011 the works required are reflected in the price of the boat."

 

"I inspected the above craft whilst supported out of water on raised transverse wooden

sleepers in the dry dock at Hallingbury on Monday 6 October 2012"

7th Feb 2011 was in fact a Monday.

Oct 6th is a Monday in 2008 and 2014. Some typo!!!!!!

[alan_fincher]

It is possible putting a full survey into the public domain may contravene the contract that was made with the surveyor ?

 

Assuming that it's a typo, and in answer to AF's question, I would doubt it: if the vendor paid for this survey, it's his to do what he pleases with.

 

Well, I don't know if it has any legality, but the only survey I have ever paid for says it is "protected under International Copyright".

 

I would have thought I would need the author's permission to publish, and probably ought to credit him too ? I don't think we are told who the surveyor was here, are we, and we don't know what the terms of his contract was when he did the survey.

[Ace 01]

Strange, I've just read comments above mentioning snow but when I took a look at the link there isn't any snow ??? Guess he must have changed the pics

 

 

Ann

[Teadaemon]

Strange, I've just read comments above mentioning snow but when I took a look at the link there isn't any snow ??? Guess he must have changed the pics

 

 

Ann

 

The reference to snow comes from the survey report copied into the listing. I would assume that the seller has taken their own (hopefully more recent) pictures of the boat for the purposes of selling it on eBay. I do wonder if the original survey report had many (or indeed any) pictures, if it did then any reference to them has been deleted.

[Ace 01]

The reference to snow comes from the survey report copied into the listing. I would assume that the seller has taken their own (hopefully more recent) pictures of the boat for the purposes of selling it on eBay. I do wonder if the original survey report had many (or indeed any) pictures, if it did then any reference to them has been deleted.

 

Ah yes, that makes sense.

 

Ann