Latest: For Your Memorial Day Consideration
It’s safe to say we all get wrapped up in the “money” aspect of yacht ownership at one time or another: What can I afford? Should I upgrade or stand pat? But real boaters know these decisions are secondary, mere corollaries to the real question: What should I do with my boat? Boaters are by nature interesting people, and so they seem to have some inspiring ideas. “I’ve run into several clients over the years who find the most fascinating ways to spend what little time we have on this blue ball,” says Jason Dunbar, a broker with Luke Brown Yachts. “They’ll take their yachts and then take their children or their grandchildren for one year—usually the kids’ eighth-grade year—and they’ll cruise up the Orinoco river or the Amazon.” They share their sense of adventure, and the voyage, with the next generation. “The family goes to exotic places, and every single family member I’ve met that’s had this experience has had a life-changing experience where it’s happened,” Dunbar says. “It’s just something that affects your character and who you are the rest of your life.” The cruisers see indigenous populations, and take in the varied shoreline, from the darkest gunkhole...
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Europe, America, and What Buyers and Sellers Need to Know
The idea of the global marketplace looks great on paper—all the risk of the world is spread all over, reducing the exposure of individuals. And at what cost? The rewards are shared as well, of course. The problems arise when the inequities in the market throw the whole shindig out of balance and the participants [...]
Questions and Answers for Boat Guys
Boat buyers are a courageous lot when you think about it. They spend their time hunting up boats that may fit the bill, doing exhaustive research on the market and where the price should be for the boat they seek. Then they start looking at the actual boats, and learning about what’s really out there. [...]
Things Are Picking Up. Is Your Price Dropping?
If you’re selling your boat, you need to stay tuned in market conditions, regardless of how exciting everything is down at the boatyard. “The market is very robust right now but it is still price driven,” says Peter Thorsby, a broker with Prestige Yacht Sales in Norwalk, Connecticut. That basic truth doesn’t change, even when [...]
The Secret Lives of Yacht Brokers
How well do you know your broker? What does he or she like to do for fun? Where does he hang out? Who are her friends? Where does he live? Does she have children or a pet? Chances are, your broker shares many of your interests. He or she probably likes boating, cruising, or fishing, [...]
How Would Your Broker Describe You?
A broker recently told me about how his interactions with clients have changed over the years. We were talking about boat buyers and sellers and their relationships with their brokers and the broker, who shall remain nameless, got a bit ruminative. He was realistic, but a bit wistful.
Need to Know: Finding a Surveyor
Getting a survey done is a critical part of the boat-buying process: It’s your chance to know what’s going on with the condition of the boat in which you’re about to invest your hard-earned money. How do you find a surveyor that’s right for you? Here are three steps to the process.
How to Price Your Boat to Sell
Every boat listed on BoatQuest.com — or anywhere else — has an asking price. And for each boat, that’s something that the seller sets, hopefully with the wise counsel of his broker. The $64,000 question (or it could be even more, if you think about it) is this: How do you know you’ve got her [...]
Inventory Is the Mother of Invention. . .
Or to be more accurate, lack of inventory inspires creativity among boat buyers. Here’s what I mean. When there’s a great selection of used boats out there—boats that aren’t too old and in good condition—then boat shopping is easy. But when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
What Does Procrastination Get You?
To answer that rather obvious question, procrastination gets you nothing. But to answer it in a much more matter-of-fact way, it gets you far less than that. Case in point, boat insurance. If you’re thinking of buying a boat, you probably know what type of boat you’re looking for, how much you’re going to spend, [...]
