This last week, I ran into two situations that honestly stung a little. It made me wonder if I’d possibly overpaid, but yet, every situation is different. . . Still, I met two separate boat owners who had paid FRACTIONS of what I had paid and I thought I got a great deal! Hearing about this kind of deal really shakes your foundations. Maybe this wouldn't have even bugged me so bad, but these boats were even in the same class as mine, one of them literally the same boat and even two years newer.
It was even the cheaper of the two! Sigh...
That's not to say either of them were in the same condition, but still. . . How many dollars would it take to restore them, up to the level of my boat. This is one of those things you could just churn your stomach into a thousand knots if you think too much about it, but as I aim to inform here, I'll share my pain, also just to show you what is possible.
The two boats in question were first of all a 1981 Catalina 36', sold in January of 2017 for $3,000.00!!! I don't care where you look on the internet, this boat will sell between $20-40k!!!
The pictures here above and below are of the $3,000.00 Catalina 36. Proving no offer is a ludicrous offer and for every price point there is probably a buyer.
The single mother that bought it found it by walking the docks. I've heard this story time and again, but make friends with your marina managers. They can be your best asset in finding the boat of your dreams. The truth of the matter is, no one reads newspapers and Boat Trader magazine anymore - But there are plenty of old people that have no clue how to use Craigslist or Yachtworld... or even where to look for them. This is where you will find these crazy opportunities. A simple FOR SALE sign rigged up to their front rail... And dying to make a sale. In this case, the old man who sold it to the single mother of two, asked her for $5,000 and while she admitted this was a fair price, she only had $3,000.00. He accepted the cash.
The second boat I happened onto, was a sloop rigged '79 Endeavour... Basically my boat, but without the mizzenmast. The gentleman who owned her, spoke next to no English. He was an old Italian salt, but we were able to communicate (through Google translate, so cool!) that we shared the ownership of the same boat and in a way, he soon accepted me like a brother. He invited me to look around the boat and while there were as many things broken on his boat as mine, they were different things, but all easy enough to fix with time and opportunity. He actually remained on deck the entire time, reworking a piece of wood I recognized as the frame for one of the roof hatches. As I came up from below, he reached back behind him and opened a cooler and pulled out a couple beers. He gave me a big toothy grin as we tried our best to communicate.
Long story short, I found out he had only owned her for two months and again, the previous owner was dying. He didn't have any kids with any interest in sailing (or with deep enough pockets to refit her), so he just wanted to relieve his family of the obligation. In the end, he was able to pick this boat up for $2,000.00 and again, this boat typically sells, depending on condition for between $20 and $40,000.00.
Now, I am not suggesting you are going to find a deal like this. But are they out there? Absolutely. As the boating public rapidly ages and millennials begin to feel priced out of the market (by new boat builders, who's offerings are in the $100's of thousands). I believe there will be more and more of these deals to be had in coming years and I will be looking for them as I move into the 40-50' range with my next purchase.
Another point to make is to keep in mind, if you are buying a boat to live on, you not only want a budget to buy the boat, but you want an additional 25-30% above your purchase price to spend on things you might have missed... And by the way, you wouldn’t buy a home without an appraisal. Don’t buy a boat without a survey!
That said, I did. But I’ve also been studying these things for the last four years and had a good idea what to look for. I'd even recommend looking up boating surveys online so you have an idea of the kind of things a surveyor is looking for, from soft spots to checking the integrity of the chain plates.
Ultimately though, I should have got a survey. If I had it to do over again, I would get a survey. Not only because it may reveal problems I have not recognized, but also, because it will give you a good idea of the overall value. You’ll better understand what your challenges are, and you’ll have a triage list as to what your priorities should be moving forward and your first offer will be based on a point of REAL value, not perceived value.
Getting back to the point I was making earlier about being able to buy the boat for a fraction of its asking price. Asking price may be nothing more than what the owner thinks one might pay for his boat. Don't think for a second that the current owner isn't grossly aware of everything that is wrong with his boat. He may look at your offer and start deducting from that list in his head to see how savvy you were, before he ever stops to feel insulted. If your price is still around the same as what it would take in his head to buy the boat and exact these repairs. He may be willing to deal, because either doesn't want to, or can't afford to make those same repairs himself.
And don't overlook the two deals I told you about above. Those deals represent between 85-90% off the average asking price of these two boats (in similar condition). No offer should be considered too low. It is what it is and again, cash talks and bulls.... walks. If you were a member of my first group in the Part One of my story, your cash might go a long way to making an otherwise impossible deal happen.
If you were in group two, just desperately looking to downsize and simplify, but money isn't as hard to come by - This still holds true for you. I have another friend who a couple of years back bought a boat through a local broker. It was a beautiful 1989 Catalina 36' that the owner had listed at $47,000.00, but the broker knew he might move quickly for a cash offer. My buddy had $20k cash. The broker told him, that might be worth submitting and 48 hours later, the deal was accepted and my friend had an amazing new boat. Percentage-wise again, I can't tell you another market where these kind of deals are made... and made more often than you might realize. Can you imagine paying 40% of asking on a car, or real estate? Yet deals both large and small can be found on the water.
Okay, so what did I pay? Nothing as crazy as any of my above examples, but the boat I found was fundamentally a sound boat. She had been repainted a couple years earlier and the owner had used a diver regularly to maintain the hull. While she is probably close to being in need of her next bottom job, her records showed she had been well cared for. The engine was an unknown, but it was known that it wouldn't turn, so fearing the worst I planned from the get go to find another engine (or I wouldn't have bought her). I did find an engine that had just been rebuilt and it was the same Perkins 4-108 that I'd be pulling out of her.
I only had $9,000 to put down on my boat. The owner was asking $20k and he said he was open to negotiation, but it would have to be pretty close to that because he knew the Endeavour is a popular 'blue-water" boat and he did have other potential buyers. I asked him if he would accept $17k, but with only the $9,000.00 down. He would then have to be willing to hold back $8,000.00, in which we would contract a seller-finance deal on and I would make payments. That would allow me to free up some capital to replace the engine and comfortably pay him back over the next two years.
If you consider that the deal includes not one dime of interest (try that at a bank), I actually got a much better deal than $17k and again - I put myself in Group One (from above). Even if I could get a loan, the interest rate would be CRUSHING! So really, for the shape this boat was in, I haven’t got much to be ashamed of and I will OWN MY HOME in just TWO YEARS!!! How many land-lubbers can claim that? Plus, just three months after purchasing her, she runs like a champ and according to my insurance agent, I could sell her today for at least $28k (not that I'm going to). She's a great boat!
To Be Continued... CHAPTER 3: MARINA SLIP FEES AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE - Tomorrow!!!
By the way, if you missed the first chapter, NOT A POT TO PISS IN, you can find it here:
https://steemit.com/boat/@buckethats/why-i-decided-to-live-on-a-boat
If you haven't yet UPVoted my posts and you've enjoyed them, please do so and if you REALLY like them, I'd love it if you'd re-STEEM! Thanks and look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.
