We often see boats that have been on the market for far too long. There could be multiple reasons for this—the owner may be asking too much, the boat has problems, the boat has no exposure or maybe the owner has chosen the wrong brokerage company to represent him. Our job is to sell your boat and it is a task we take seriously. The Initial Assessment Our first step when we list your boat is to find out why you are selling. This helps us determine your perceived valuation of your boat for determining a pricing structure. This is not a casual step. During our initial meeting we will discuss the history of your ownership of the boat, any history that is available that predates your purchase, any changes, repairs or improvements you have made to the boat, and the way you have been using it. This and a visual inspection is the information we need to set your selling price. Our next step is to visually inspect the boat. We will look for known defects in boats that fall within the year and model of your boat, defects in typical age-related parts, cosmetic problems, accommodation problems and other reasons why your boat has not sold.  We also make a list of the positive qualities of your boat—things that should help it sell better. These will use in a listing, should you decide to list with us. The Research Armed with your information and the results of our visual inspection, we can begin researching for a reasonable price structure. Most brokers have access to soldboats.com, which is a subscription service that allows them to check prices boats sell at. This is a superior tool for setting price as it gives them access to not only model, year and make – but also the full boat listing with the original asking price and the final selling price. With this tool we can compare apples to apples. For instance, the sistership of your boat may have sold for a lot more than you have been asking,  but we find that the boat had twice the equipment, better electronics or other attributes that set it above the pack. The Follow Up At this time we are ready to help. We will present you with the data we have compiled and discuss what we feel is a realistic asking price. To bring your boat up a few notches on the scale of desirability we may discuss a budget to bring the boat up to the level we predict will attract a buyer. This is the best route to a quicker sale. With many boats available and fewer buyers, the smart buyers are now looking at the cream of the crop. The less desirable boats attracting other types of offers—not what we are looking for. The Criteria It is important that your broker is advertising on Yacht World. At one time BUC had capitalized the market on used boat broker-to-broker services but are now an also-ran. The advantage of Yacht World is that the buying public has access to the listings (unlike the old BUC system). The downside is that there may be hundreds of similar boats on the same site. There are two ways to sell a boat in that enviornment – the lowest price or the best boat. Since most sellers do not want to go with the lowest price scenario, they should be prepared to go to the other end of the spectrum. Have you chosen the wrong broker? You probably know the answer to that question already. I have seen boats listed on Yacht World with very few details and/or horrible pictures which leaves me with the impression that the broker does not care whether he sells the boat or not.  I have seen boats that literally deteriorate at the docks and are not clean or welcoming when potential buyers arrive to inspect. Also watch out for brokers who won’t participate in open listings because they don’t want to split commissions. Make sure your broker has your boat listed as an open listing, increasing your chances of a sale in other regions. Our Commitment We have chosen to be proactive when it comes to selling your boat. It is the only way to survive in the boat sales market and it is our commitment to you. If you would like to talk to our sales department about a current or new brokerage listing, call Rob or John at 410-822-8556.