Re: How to determine if price is good?
First, take your time! Dont' rush into anything There are a zillion boats on the market right now and it's only going to get "better" from a buyers viewpoint.
Second determne what kind of boat you want.
Third determine a budget of what you can afford.
refer to number one!
It's not likely you'll find a "deal" at the asking price... this is why so many guys pay to much. you have to be willing to bargain with the seller. If you don't have the stomach for that (most people don't) then you may still find a decent buy but it won't be near what you could have bought either that or a similar boat for.
I look for ads that say "must sell", price negotiable, need cash etc etc.
Look in the paper, craigslist, ebay etc and look for boats that have been relisted several times or stay in the paper for weeks on end.
When you call the very first question to ask the seller is if the boat is Paid off! 90% of the time if he owes money on the boat he's not a good prospect for you. Next question is how much does he owe? Most of the time he's upside down in the boat. chances are that he'll let it be repo-d before selling it at much under what he owes... move on, don't even waste your time going to look at it.
If the seller has title in hand, needs cash due to a job loss etc then depending on how long he's been trying to sell it he may be a candidate for getting a "deal".
And in my opinion unless you need a hobby.... do not even consider buying a "project boat". Now is not the time.... as too many ready to go boats can be had for much less than you'd end up spending on even a "minor" project boat, never mind your labor.
The deals are out there but most sellers are not just going to roll over... you have to be selective and make the low ball offers.
If you decide to bid on a Ebay boat, you'd be well served to follow this bit of advice. communicate with the seller prior to bidding and inform the seller that you intend to bid on the boat BUT you will not send the seller a penny until you inspect the boat or have your rep inspect it. Obviously you need to set a reasonable time frame for the inspection as in no more than a few days after the end of the auction. Most honest sellers will agree to this.
That paid off for me recently.... I bid 60,100 on a boat that was in south florida. I communicated with the seller at least a dozen times during the auction via email and phone... The boat was part of an estate sale (was his dad's). After some research I found that Pursuit sometimes would install the generator where the fish box was supposed to be.... I didn't want that and asked specifically if the fish box was "intact". The seller told me he didn't know as even though it was his dad's boat he'd never been on it and asked that I call the dealer who sold him the boat and had done all the service.
So I did just that. the service manager called me back after "checking their records" and told me that the fish box was still there and that the generator had been installed in the alternate location under the helm.
So, won the auction (shocked at the price still) and along with my brother we drove the 700 miles to get the boat.... low and behold when I opened the under deck fish box there sat the generator!!! We asked to be taken back to the rental car place.... just before getting there the seller asked "if I reduce the price by 5,000 will that make this issue go away? I was within a few seconds of telling him I'd take the boat anyway (because I had stolen it in the first place....) So I saved an additional 5 grand....
More than made up for the nasty trip across the gulf of mexico!
