Value after being on market

[bruceb58]

I also agree that everything is negotiable. I price things that way when I sell and no way would I ever offer full asking price.That is just dumb unless the seller is giving the boat away.

BUT, when you offer me $3400 for a boat I'm asking $4800 for that has a newer Mercruy outboard worth 4K easy any day of the week your going to **** me off and at that point you'll be lucky to get $10 off. In fact the price just went up because I'm done with you........LOL Wasn't a bad boat other than it was too small and I realized I'm just not, and will never be, an outboard guy.

LOL...I never let anyone **** me off with a low offer. I just say thank you but I am not interested and let them go on their merry way. What I usually do when I get an offer that is too low is that I just tell them that I have rejected a much higher offer already.

Out of curiosity, how much did you end up selling your boat for?

When I bought my pontoon boat, the boat was advertised with no price which was weird. I called up the seller who happened to be a dealer and he told me their price of $17K. I said I was willing to pay $13K, which was a fair price, and nothing higher so I told him if he wanted to sell it to me at that price, he knew where to find me. I never called him back. He kept on calling me and finally agreed to my price. I didn't budge one bit. I wasn't low balling him. I just set the price that I felt was what it was worth and that was it.

People get way to emotional selling their boats for some reasons. Not sure why.

 

[tpenfield]

IMO if you are not prepared/able/willing to pay the asking price you should not begin the conversation. Sure you can ask for a lower price, but if the seller says no you can buy or walk. If a boat is listed for $3000, you shouldn't offer $2000 and then get annoyed when the seller does not take it.

I think there is wisdom in those words and it is a practice that I employ in my boat searches over the years.

I usually contact and work with the sellers who are in alignment with my thinking on the value of their boat, i.e. their asking price is close or even lower than what I would be willing to pay. I paid asking price once, because it was low to begin with, and I felt the boat was well worth the price. The couple of others, paid within 5% of asking price. The reason I paid so close to asking price was that I believed that the asking price was fair and probably what somebody else would pay. So, it became a matter in my mind, 'am I going to buy it or will somebody else buy it out from under me'?

I have dealt a couple of times with boat/sellers that were over priced (IMO) and tried to work them down. . . it didn't happen. Those boats sat on the market for years.

Boats that are priced in the range where people want to buy it do not stay on the market long. A point of this thread is the boats that stay on the market for a while, and even a long, long time. Clearly that represents some issues with the seller, and I would assume along the way during that long time on the market, they got some offers and decided not to take them.

As a seller, the main reason that I would not accept an offer is that I truly believed there is somebody not too far off that will offer me more money. If a boat has been on the market for a year, or 2, or even 3 years . . . that belief of someone willing to pay more is truly false.

Some people look at boat advertisement listings as the boats for sale . . . but it also is a listing of boats that have not sold.

 

[muskyfins]

As a buyer the wheels fall off the wagon when you ask "what will you take", or "will you take less". If the asking price is $3000 and you feel the boat's worth $2000, just say, "I'd need to be at $2000 for a boat like this" And as a seller all that's required is a simple yes or no. No need to get all worked up or offended. Seller could also say, "for a boat of this condition, I think $3000 is fair" or "I'd be willing to take $2800 if we do the deal today" Or any of the sort.

As for the phone thing, if you're they buyer, you have to make a firm offer or you probably won't be taken seriously. Unfortunately there are too many people out there just working the phones to see how much they can get people to drop their price with no intent of buying. But if someone says to me, "I'm 50 miles from you and I'm very interested, would you be willing to take $2800 today if I drive to see it and everything you've told me is true and you haven't left any details out". That guy I'd be willing to work with.

I guess boats are one of those things and some people take it waaaaay to personal. It's really just business. For both parties.

 

[tpenfield]

I just think back to when I sold my F-242. I tried an asking price that I would certainly be happy with . . . $8900.. . My phone was not ringing and my inbox was empty. A few nibbles, but that was it, people asking how much would I take? That sort of stuff.

A week goes by . . . I lower the price $7900. The phone starts ringing and the inbox has some replies.

People make appointments to see the boat. Through the discussion process I get an understanding of how much money the potential buyers are thinking . . . $6500

A guy comes to look at the boat in the rain, more lined up to see the boat the next day.

The rain man offers me on the spot the high end of what I think the boat will sell for . . . $7000. Done.

There is an old saying, usually your first offer is your highest offer.

 

[bruceb58]

I guess boats are one of those things and some people take it waaaaay to personal. It's really just business. For both parties.

Exactly!

 

[alldodge]

Maybe I'll sell my boat after getting it fixed up. Lets see glass work, new fuel tank, new custom engine and new transom and HP outdrive. NADA says it's only worth around 15K, think I can get that for it.....

 

[tpenfield]

NADA is a real PITA when you go to sell, particularly on an older boat, as it so often understates the market value, but potential buyers get it in their mind.

It would be a shame to sell after all of that work though . . . Tough to re-coup.

 

[alldodge]

NADA is a real PITA when you go to sell, particularly on an older boat, as it so often understates the market value, but potential buyers get it in their mind.

It would be a shame to sell after all of that work though . . . Tough to re-coup.

Just joking, there is no way I plan to sell it. I'll have at least the NADA price back in it by the time I'm done, hence the roll eyes above got ya didn't I

 

[muskyfins]

Maybe I'll sell my boat after getting it fixed up. Lets see glass work, new fuel tank, new custom engine and new transom and HP outdrive. NADA says it's only worth around 15K, think I can get that for it.....

<looking for checkbook>

 

[Blind Date]

@bruceb58

"Out of curiosity, how much did you end up selling your boat for?"

I ended up keeping it for few more years. I put a new interior in it so that way I could really take a flogging when I did finally sell it. Cheapest used boat I've ever purchased, most expensive one I've ever owned....LOL But I had my fun with it and isn't that why we buy them in the first place!

 

[bruceb58]

@bruceb58

"Out of curiosity, how much did you end up selling your boat for?"

I ended up keeping it for few more years. I put a new interior in it so that way I could really take a flogging when I did finally sell it. Cheapest used boat I've ever purchased, most expensive one I've ever owned....LOL But I had my fun with it and isn't that why we buy them in the first place!

Yep, you never really get back what you put into them but the point is did you enjoy it and that is what matters.

A boat/house/car is worth what the market demands and that is it.

 

[smokeonthewater]

to date I've never lost a penny on a boat I've sold.

The only thing that annoys me is when someone asks me over the phone "what's the least you'll take?
As if I'm a total moron... I mean I put a price out there for all the world that I felt was reasonable but because this complete stranger asked I'm going to disclose my "secret" bottom dollar because I couldn't care one bit about the money difference between my asking price and the lowest imaginable number I'd accept if I couldn't do any better.... what's worse is that IF those bozo's were to actually show up to look at it I know they won't offer more than about 2/3's of whatever my stated bottom dollar is... THEN IF I were stupid enough to accept they'll have to go ask their wife, and she'll supposedly say they can't afford that much but they'll offer me an even lower price and then if I accept again they'll ask to make payments and THEN THEN THEN if I accept they'll want to give me $25 and take my 20k boat home right then with me trusting them for the rest.

What's the least you'll take? HA! my answer, "what's the MOST you would pay?" An equally stupid and insulting question.

 

[tpenfield]

Yea, I usually duck the "least you will take?" questions. Just say that I have not thought about it. Of course you could always flip it around and answer it with the question "what is the most you will offer?"

However, if you do not like or take an offer, It all still gets back to the belief ( or not ) that some one will offer you more. Otherwise, you would turning down your best offer.

I made an offer on a boat in July of 2012. . . Asking price was $29k . . . I offered $23k. . . the boat did not show well, but had some potential at that price. The seller turned it down. The boat is still for sale over 2 years later. I bet my offer was the best offer they have received. To the OP's question on the value of a boat after it has been on the market for a while. . . In the 2+ years since I made my offer, has the value of this boat stayed the same? Gone up? Gone down?

 

[roffey]

I think in some cases people will put their boat up for sale at a price they would sell at. If the price is not met might as well keep and enjoy. I think in some cases either the buyer does not know the value or in most cases the seller as a sentimental attachment and as such over prices. Just my 2c.

 

[roffey]

to date I've never lost a penny on a boat I've sold.

I have lost money on every boat I ever sold and a bought for much less than asking and lower then the seller bought it for. I learnt from every one what to look for and what to avoid.

Next boat I buy I'll take Kevin with me, LOL.

Feel like a trip to Canada, the great white North, take off eh. Anybody got a beer, back bacon maybe. How about a hose, I need some gas for my boat eh.