Craigslist Inflation?

[rucaradio]

I don't know if its my area or not, but what the hell is wrong with Craigslist sellers lately?

In the past year boat prices have increased tenfold on CL. I thought I overpaid in 2008 for my CL find, but now I can't even find something comparable for the price I paid!

I saw a 1981 21' Cabin Cruiser that needed a TON of work (seller notes floor was 'kind of' soft) for $8500!!!??!

Do people think they're really sitting on goldmines? Then they wonder why they have their listings up for months with no bites..

 

[DANZIG]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

Yep, even many CL autos are that way round here. I notice most of them relisted time and again though.

You can "ask" whatever you want, sure does not mean you are going to get it.

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

It is the same here. Everything seems so expensive! Cars are selling for over KBB, and boats are off the charts. $3000 or more for rotten boats with no motors or froze motors! It is crazy!

Although if you are patient and wait, you can find some good deals.

 

[25thmustang]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

I found my boat on CL for $11,000 less than the survey it had last summer...

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

Although if you are patient and wait, you can find some good deals.

I think the sellers are using that exact same idea. Except they are patiently waiting for that one sucker to come along.

 

[made in china]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

I've noticed the same trend. I think it is the down economy, people are asking darn near new retail value for lots of things. Foe example, I used to (2006-2007 era) buy nice, used, mid 90's Japanese cars to fix up, for less than $300 from CL. Thing is, I bought several cars like this and none of them needed fixin'. The owners were just flush with cash I guess, everyone I bought from had a new car in the driveway and they just wanted the old one gone. I flipped all of those cars for at least a $1000 profit.
Now that times are rough, people are hoping they'll get top dollar, and they have all the time to wait. I mean, this guy put up "new" tires on CL in the Seattle area the other day, some off brand Chinese tires. He was asking $600 for the tires alone! I checked, and they are only $50 ea at Pep Boys.

Took me forever it seemed to find our 86 Larson 175 BR with a 1990 Merc 115 OB. We paid $2600 for it. Everything else we looked at for months prior was rotted, faded, hazed, cracked, etc. and all more expensive. Even at $2600 I think we paid 2x more than the boat is worth!

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

I call Craigslist, "the funnies." I see real deals once in awhile, but most of the ads just make me laugh - literally.

My favorites are the boats/trailers listed, but the seller doesn't have paperwork on either. It seems like they always have some ridiculous price and have some wacky explanation on how the items can be "made legal."

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure!

Next.



???

 

[diesel5599]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

Boattrader used to be better but now the only people there are dealers and brokers. Due to boattrader's high listing fees no one else wants to spend that kind of money with no guarantee of a sale and their ad expires in 6wks.

Boattrader's fees keep going up, sellers keep running to CL, and brokers / dealers have taken over both. Impossible to win these days without a lot of patience. Took me almost a yr to get my current boat, but I refused to be taken to the cleaners.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

alot of the were over financed, they are trying to get the payoff, out of the boats and cars.

i have a friend, that owes $11,000 on a car that is now NADA booked at $5,000.

 

[diesel5599]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

alot of the were over financed, they are trying to get the payoff, out of the boats and cars.

i have a friend, that owes $11,000 on a car that is now NADA booked at $5,000.

That's what happens when you finance a car for 60 months, the first 40 months are paying the bank for the privilege to drive THEIR car or use THEIR boat while in the meantime the principal doesn't budge.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

Higher prices are a combination of debt, unstable economy and plain ignorance...you can list it for any price, but it will only sell for whatever the buyer is willing to pay on that day...if the seller is smart.

 

[25thmustang]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

Time of the year has an effect too. It's early spring, and boats are on peoples minds. I don't blame someone for trying to get top dollor for their product, if they are willing to find a buyer. I am more interested in the boats going for "cheap".

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

Once the spring boat buying/selling rush is over, prices will come back down to more reasonable levels. This is absolutely the worst time of the year to buy a used boat from a private party. Patience is its own reward.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

The good deals are gone. Smart sellers list in March/April and smart buyers buy then, to have a couple of months fix-up time. So there go the good ones and the projects.
What's left, as others said: sellers capitalizing on desperation, sellers basing price on either their loan payoff or what they need to buy the bigger boat (both irrelevant to the value of the boat being sold--but same happens with houses), sellers with emotional attachment, sellers who think they should get back what they put into the boat (also usually irrelevant), sellers who think their crappy old boat is unique ("it may be old but it runs like new").

 

[fixb52s]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

I would think these inflated prices will go down when the owners get no bites. There are a few stupid folks out there who will pay over what something is worth, but there are more who will wait.

Like CAT said, it is the start of the season, and the prices will be a little higher now than say in the middle of the winter. Not a really great time for those looking for a deal.

 

[crazyinkc]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

There is a guy on the KC site that has been listing his rotted out 20ft bowrider for two years now. He started last year at $3000 and dropped it to $2700 this past winter but has bumped it back up to $3000. He did have a pic of the stern and the drive is sunk several inches in the ground. It has a rotted tarp hanging off the back and he has no picks of the interior but he says the seats are rough but the boat is serviceable now. He relists this thing every day, sometimes twice a day. Its always getting flagged.

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/boa/1713167445.html

20' IN/OUT 265HP WITH SUN DECK - $3000 (Overland Park KS)

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Date: 2010-04-27, 2:46PM CDT
Reply to: sale-kmqyc-1713167445@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

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913 707-xxxx or 913 381-xxxx for non fade reception.

Original owner. 260 HP. Runs fast, pulls 6 skiers, seats 10 and trails easy. Needs seats and carpet to look good (nice project) but servicable NOW.


Location: Overland Park KS
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

 

[lakefisherman]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

IMHO one of the problems with CL is that its completely free so people run ad after ad (why not, its free) hoping to find a rube.

If I do find a boat I am really interested in I pull up the NADA and Bucs market value pages and give it to the seller and ask them to tell me why thier boat is worth so much more than all the boats like it. Doesn't always work but very often it does. Some times people just need a dose of reality. (Some folks want nothing to do with reality and their boat sets and sets.)

On the plus side, time is on the buyers side and a good deal always comes along.

I sold my bow rider for quite a bit more than the NADA price, but it was in exceptional condition.

 

[rucaradio]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

I understand it's buy buy buy, sell sell sell time for boats... I should point out that my local CL page has been inching up in price for the past year and a half.. I check it daily just to see if there are any "deals", and even in Oct/Nov/Dec people were trying to unload rotted hulls for a couple thousand.

I agree with the previous poster about "boattrader". Although I never used it, I'm quite familiar with AutoTrader. In my younger days I bought 3 or 4 cars from it and got great deals. No more.. Craigslist has ruined it.

 

[rokrau]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

Maybe this is because it is harder to buy a new boat on credit? That would drive up the market for used boats. In "foreclosure central" aka Brentwood,CA you might be able to find some real deals although they are not on CL.

My question is, where do repo-boats actually go once the bank has taken them back?

 

[rucaradio]

Re: Craigslist Inflation?

I imagine repo boats go where the repo cars go --- to auction.. Here where I live there's a company called SkipCo that holds a weekly auction. Cars, trucks, vans, SUV's, heavy equipment, etc..

I've heard you get some good deals, but buying something without hearing it run or driving it is a bit scary to me.