Advice please - urgent

[MtB]

Same here, boat sold for £4k less than I offered while I was waiting for the seller to get back to me. Buyer paid deposit on the spot and didn't require a survey. Quick sale, a bird in the hand...

 

 

Yes exactly. Buyers of boats just don't seem to realise what a ball-ache it is to a seller when they start muttering about surveys, renegotiating the price if faults found, what terms under which they will get their deposit back etc etc.

 

Far easier to take a bit less cash from that nice bloke who has it with him in the car now and seems to really want the boat....

[Robbo]

If you want to sell, it does help if you have a recent survey for the buyer to look. I'm surprised it's not more common.

[MtB]

If you want to sell, it does help if you have a recent survey for the buyer to look. I'm surprised it's not more common.

 

 

Ah but my comments are especially true if it's a moody boat you're trying to shift, in which case a recent survey would be no help at all...

 

[Robbo]

 

 

Ah but my comments are especially true if it's a moody boat you're trying to shift, in which case a recent survey would be no help at all...

 

But if you were selling a moody looking boat then a clean survey or a survey with minor issues would help the sell. That's why I'm surprised it's not more common as it seems less hassle for the seller. Edited August 6, 2016 by Robbo

[MtB]

But if you were selling a moody looking boat then a clean survey or a survey with minor issues would help the sell. That's why I'm surprised it's not more common as it seems less hassle for the seller.

 

Yeahbutnobut a moody boat needs an unquestioning buyer, as a survey would throw up all the problems.

 

Or were you suggesting a 'drive by' style of survey where the surveyor just writes down whatever you tell him to put??

[boathunter]

 

 

Yes exactly. Buyers of boats just don't seem to realise what a ball-ache it is to a seller when they start muttering about surveys, renegotiating the price if faults found, what terms under which they will get their deposit back etc etc.

 

Far easier to take a bit less cash from that nice bloke who has it with him in the car now and seems to really want the boat....

Quite so. The next one I took a shine to I made it plain within a few minutes that I would be buying it unless it sank in the meantime. I bought it. Others were muttering about surveys, getting the money sorted etc, but I'd learned. The seller had had a hull survey a few months previously which absolutely did help me snap it up without too much worry.

[Robbo]

 

Yeahbutnobut a moody boat needs an unquestioning buyer, as a survey would throw up all the problems.

 

Or were you suggesting a 'drive by' style of survey where the surveyor just writes down whatever you tell him to put??

I was thinking more for the seller, if you've got a bit of a scruffy but sound boat getting a survey would aid a sale for the price you set.

 

In this case if the OP had a recent survey to view he would have been more confident. As it is the seller sold for 4K less where if he got a survey he would have got more the asking price (presuming it's a decent boat not needing work).

 

Of course if the boat needs work and the seller knows that, then your just waisting people's money and time. A decent broker should really insist a survey done before they market it, better for everyone around. Of course it's up to the buyer if they want to instruct a survey of their own, but they would be more confident in no serious issues.

[MtB]

I was thinking more for the seller, if you've got a bit of a scruffy but sound boat getting a survey would aid a sale for the price you set.

 

In this case if the OP had a recent survey to view he would have been more confident. As it is the seller sold for 4K less where if he got a survey he would have got more the asking price (presuming it's a decent boat not needing work).

 

Of course if the boat needs work and the seller knows that, then your just waisting people's money and time. A decent broker should really insist a survey done before they market it, better for everyone around. Of course it's up to the buyer if they want to instruct a survey of their own, but they would be more confident in no serious issues.

 

 

You seem to be determinedly missing the point here. A "moody boat" means (to me at least) means one with loads of problems i.e. not sound at all.

 

A boat where the seller is doing his best to conceal the faults having decided they are all too much trouble to put right, and to flog it on to some poor unsupecting wet-behind-the-ears newbie instead.

[Robbo]

 

 

You seem to be determinedly missing the point here. A "moody boat" means (to me at least) means one with loads of problems i.e. not sound at all.

 

A boat where the seller is doing his best to conceal the faults having decided they are all too much trouble to put right, and to flog it on to some poor unsupecting wet-behind-the-ears newbie instead.

That's why I think all brokers should insist on a pre selling survey before they market it.

 

A broker doesn't offer much more than a middle man at the moment. If a broker got a reputation of providing good surveys then buyers would more likely use them.

Edited August 6, 2016 by Robbo