# list price vs purchase price



## jcwhite (Apr 7, 2011)

In general, how close to the asking price will a boat actually sell for? I'm sure there's massive variation depending on where/who/which boat, I'm just looking for something to keep in my head while I search. Should I be limiting myself to boats that are listed for within my price range, or can I hope to badger the seller down a bit and so explore more expensive ads?


----------



## Sabreman (Sep 23, 2006)

Limit you search to what's in your price range. If/when you purchase a boat for less, use the difference for repairs and upgrades. Assume 10% of the purchase price per year for expenses and repairs. If you are handy, maybe less but not much. There is a huge variation in list vs. offered vs. purchase price. You can take a variety of strategies and sometimes get an awesome deal but generally figure on offering 20% below list and settling somewhere north of there. If the boat has been on the market for a while, you may be able to do better but if it's been on the market for a long time, there is usually a reason. As with anything else, the good ones go fast and they don't go cheap. 

When you find the right boat, buy it and don't hesitate. If you're not sure that you want to buy at all, that's fine. It sometimes takes years to get your head around the idea and expense. I've found that some people search endlessly while they get their head around the boat idea. Others wait for years and then move quickly. We fall into the latter category - we held on to our 28 for 4 years while deciding to buy another. When we finally decided, our search lasted less than a month, we looked at 3 boats and bought one of them.

Good luck.


----------



## Siamese (May 9, 2007)

If I told you that boats always or almost always go for 12% less than the listed price, would you believe me?

If I told you that there is NO predictable relationship between the listed price and the selling price would you believe me? 

Your question almost makes the assumption that there's some sort of rhyme or reason to the listed price in the first place. Which is to say a given boat could be priced appropriately, or over-priced, or waaaaaay overpriced, underpriced, or buy it now you fool underpriced. 

The only way to approach looking at a boat for sale is to have some idea of the value of the given boat.

It can be tough to get a handle on boat values. Knowing the value of a house is easier. Just look at past sales of similar homes in the neighborhood and factor in a few variables. Trouble with boats is that there's no published record of boat sale prices, at least that I know of. Makes it tough. 

Bottom line is: there's no formula. 

Lucky for you though, is you can find a boat you like and get some pretty good opinions about price here on Sailnet, understanding of course, that those giving opinions will have little knowledge of the condition of the boat.


----------



## Pamlicotraveler (Aug 13, 2006)

It's easy enough to find the value of a boat in a certain condition. Find the boat first, then the value via research on "actual" selling prices for that boat, and then offer based on that. So the offer price is the owners "best case" scenario, but you have to determine actual value. I bet sales prices are often 20-30% or more below the listing price.


----------



## SeaQwest (Nov 17, 2008)

Pamlicotraveler,

Unless you are a broker, how do you get the "actual" sold prices of a boat? If such a resource were available, it would sure make things a little easier for us shoppers!

Jim
SeaQwest


----------



## MarkSF (Feb 21, 2011)

SeaQwest said:


> Pamlicotraveler,
> 
> Unless you are a broker, how do you get the "actual" sold prices of a boat? If such a resource were available, it would sure make things a little easier for us shoppers!
> 
> ...


If buying from a broker, ask them to print the sold prices for you. Mine did it without asking. Then I made an offer 15% below the average sold price for the last year.

But this is one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions, as the selling price is dependent on so many variables - was the asking price high or low? What is the demand? What is the boats condition?

The dictionary defines value as the selling price when neither the seller nor the buyer are acting under duress.


----------



## SeaQwest (Nov 17, 2008)

Unless you have procured the services of a buyer-broker, the broker you are dealing with works for the seller. I have to wonder how many brokers would provide sold prices to a prospective buyer if it was not in the best interest of the seller.


----------



## QuickMick (Oct 15, 2009)

boat quest dot com is free and lists prices boats sold for. private sellers may be more flexible as brokered boats pay the broker 10% so he/she has an interest in selling as high as possible...


----------



## Pamlicotraveler (Aug 13, 2006)

SeaQwest said:


> Pamlicotraveler, Unless you are a broker, how do you get the "actual" sold prices of a boat? If such a resource were available, it would sure make things a little easier for us shoppers!


I agree it would be nice to have that info available, but I do think you have to ask a broker to get it for you. I would just tell any broker I am dealing with that I need that prior to making any offer and I am sure they would provide it. It probably wouldn't work for rare and 1 of a kind boats, but if it is for a common maker and length it is most helpful. It usually goes back a few years.


----------



## MarkSF (Feb 21, 2011)

The asking price should be in your price range with quite a margin, due to the other expenses of just buying a boat - in the first month you'll have :

Taxes, 9.75% in California
Haulout and survey
First month slip fees and deposit
Insurance

12% on a 40K boat, right there.

Then there's fixing the things you inevitably don't like about the boat - this always happens, even on a bristol-condition one. 

I found you can sign up for BUC and they'll let you do a couple of book price calculations free before they ask you to join fully.


----------



## YeahJohn (Nov 4, 2010)

I always try to find out what boats sell for around my marina. It seems that boats that are worth it normally sell for their list prices, while boats that are listed to the owners nostalgic value often eventually sell for less than the list price. If your price range is 10k I would think most people selling a boat for 10k that just needs to be gone will sell for 9k, it never hurts to make an offer and let them say no or counter. I just watch a boat go from 10k and to 8k then sell for 7k. A Saga 40 at our marina was listed at 225k and is now listed at 175k because they need to sell. It would be crazy to think you could up your price range in the low end of the market. I normally only look at boats that people just want gone, you would be surprised at the great deals people get on excellent boats all of the time, it goes without saying though that more people make poor choices and buy a boat on ebay for $1000 that needs 10k of work but is only worth 5k in amazing shape...


----------



## Tanley (Aug 20, 2009)

MarkSF said:


> If buying from a broker, ask them to print the sold prices for you. Mine did it without asking. Then I made an offer 15% below the average sold price for the last year.
> 
> But this is one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions, as the selling price is dependent on so many variables - was the asking price high or low? What is the demand? What is the boats condition?
> 
> The dictionary defines value as the selling price when neither the seller nor the buyer are acting under duress.


Not all brokers accurately record 'sold prices' on soldboats.com. Ours was listed as having sold for several thousand more than what we actually paid for it.


----------



## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

I paid 80% of asking price in November '10... I've since put 35% of what I paid for the boat into the boat plus a hundreds of hours of my own labor.. Today she's probably worth what the asking price was. Boats are a crappy investment.


----------



## Pamlicotraveler (Aug 13, 2006)

eherlihy said:


> I paid 80% of asking price in November '10... I've since put 35% of what I paid for the boat into the boat plus a hundreds of hours of my own labor.. Today she's probably worth what the asking price was. Boats are a crappy investment.


Honesty on the forum...yee ha


----------



## jcwhite (Apr 7, 2011)

Hah! Don't worry, I'm under no illusions about coming out ahead of the game. Right now I'm budgeting 16k for the boat, which leaves 6k plus any of the leftover boat fund for refit and updating. Does that seem reasonable? I can do all the work myself, but I may be looking at rerouting lines and other such non-trivial things.

If I'm buying privately, do I have any recourse other than BUC or the forums to determine what's a fair price?


----------



## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

A fair price is what the vessel is worth to you. No more, no less.


----------

