Putting an offer on a Sealine, how low to go?

[Neil1300r]

Hi all,
First time poster, so go easy for the potentially stupid questions. We've spent a few months looking at 2nd hand Sealines, adverts and actual boats. The ones we are looking at are all in the £95-£80k range. Ranging from 1997-2005, specificationsall similar. Lots of badly presented boats out there. We've now found the ideal one. But now have to put an offer in. It's suddenly all got real, we may actually end up buying a boat! So, two questions, I saw during covid 2nd hand boat prices shoot up - are they still overpriced? ( yes stupid question, if I had a crystal ball I'd be a millionaire, but would still appreciate views). Second question is how low to make an offer. Interested in would owners feel insulted with an opening offer of 15% less than asking price for an immaculately priced boat? But there are lots out there, none appear not to be selling ( yes its been winter). Do people put their boats up for sale expecting cheeky offers?

 

[simonfraser]

depends how You value the boat
you're not there to please the current owner, however you may realy want the boat

 

[SC35]

There are many variables.
From what I can see, many second hand boats have returned to pre-covid prices.

If I was a seller, I would have a "happy price" in mind, assuming I was not desperate to sell.
That happy price for me would not less than 10% of what I would advertise it for.

If I got lowball offers and the boat was in good condition, I would just keep rejecting the offers until I got one that exceeded my happy price.
If it didn't sell after a reasonable period of time, I would eventually lower the price.

 

[billskip]

owners feel insulted with an opening offer of 15% less than asking price

Are you dealing with the owners or the brokers/agents?
Make an offer you feel comfortable with, if it's a broker, chances are a refusal will be his advice.....I would start at, at least 20% off ...you can always go up....

 

[Neil1300r]

Good point. Dealing with the broker. I'm probably over thinking it, but like your view of starting at 20% off via the broker and see what he says. Obviously all subject to survey etc

 

[philipdawsonladds]

I wouldn't respond to offers that low. You need to have a reason for such a low offer, like others for sale in a similar condition. Sealines are sought after. I priced mine reasonably And had 4 immediate offers (SC35) and sold within minutes at asking price. No harm in trying of course. All depends on the seller's circumstances and wiggle room built in. I would be happy at 5% plus any identified issues.

 

[billskip]

I wouldn't respond to offers that low. You need to have a reason for such a low offer,

You may not accept offers that low,
but a simple no thank you is more polite rather than no response, it's your choice, the buyer doesn't need to give any reason for his offer...
The seller wants his price, the buyer is offering, they may find happy ground....

 

[Irish Rover]

You've been looking that long you should have a good idea of the average asking price for boats of apparent similar quality. I'd be inclined to offer around 10% below the average asking price of similar boats. I bought and sold recently and both were just inside 10% of asking price.

 

[oldgit]

Hi all,
First time poster, so go easy for the potentially stupid questions. We've spent a few months looking at 2nd hand Sealines, adverts and actual boats. The ones we are looking at are all in the £95-£80k range. Ranging from 1997-2005, specificationsall similar. Lots of badly presented boats out there. We've now found the ideal one. But now have to put an offer in. It's suddenly all got real, we may actually end up buying a boat! So, two questions, I saw during covid 2nd hand boat prices shoot up - are they still overpriced? ( yes stupid question, if I had a crystal ball I'd be a millionaire, but would still appreciate views). Second question is how low to make an offer. Interested in would owners feel insulted with an opening offer of 15% less than asking price for an immaculately priced boat? But there are lots out there, none appear not to be selling ( yes its been winter). Do people put their boats up for sale expecting cheeky offers?

Some Thoughts.
Boats are returning to selling at Pre Covid prices . Asking prices reflecting whats actually selling.
We have around 80 boats on our club moorings , officially and unofficially there are about 8 - 10 up for sale at the moment, depending on who you speak to, mainly Flybridges in the 10-15M range and late 1980s to late 1990s.
Probably have never had this proportion up for sale before at any time in the past, good number of very long term boaters finally packing it in due to age and non use of boat.
Usually something is only really for sale when the brokers van appears in our car park or a skippers "For Sale" notice goes up on our notice board.
The time to buy is before any seller gets a broker involved, if you have the cojones to go it alone, otherwise a good survey and a brokers guidence is worth its weight in Gold.
One French flybridge circa 2007 has recently been moved up to Essex, having failed to sell locally for nearly 2 years and with two different brokers.
Look at as many boats as possible , one will usually stand out from the crowd .
A nice well loved boat will still sell fairly quickly, any " Rock" on a brokers list that has been there for a while either has problems, is over priced or both.
Would suggest that special attention should be paid to anything that has been sitting idle since Pre Covid, possibly standing neglected for 5 years +.
A good polish up outside and internal valet can make everything gleam again, its whats going on mechanically that should be worried about. ?
Welcome to the world of boating.

 

[Greg2]

Percentages are a little misleading and perhaps irrelevant when debating this topic but for what it is worth I have gone to 30% below asking with an offer but got an emotional response from the buyer that was enhanced by the broker (who had indicated that there was room for manoeuvre) instead of doing his job properly and seeking to find some common ground with sensible discussions. End result was that the buyer didn’t get a sale and we went elsewhere - reality is that we were prepared to go up but the seller and their broker never bothered to see if that was the case and that boat sat on the market for quite a long time after that.

On a different boat we negotiated with a much more professional broker with a starting point of a similar percentage below asking and agreed a price in principle that was a little higher. A good broker makes all the difference.

My take when considering what to offer is that looking at the boat and taking account of condition, age of electronics and service history and comparing with the market helps in deciding where to come in with an offer. When comparing the market it is about what others are asking and also the state of the market and reality is that some boats aren’t shifting that quickly at the moment, with a contributory factor appearing to be some sellers clinging on to pandemic period prices.

A final factor is how much you want the boat - it isn’t all about getting the best possible the deal and as long as you come away happy that is job done IMHO
.

 

[jrudge]

There is no rule of thumb. Boats are priced all over the place. If it is a nice boat and you know it is realistically priced then it will sell for that. Vastly over priced it shows a deluded seller and people walk on by.

Looks at the boats.co.uk site. They own much of their stock and are in business to sell the things not look at them. That will give you some comparable evidence of what it is truly worth.

On auto trader the higher prices cars are private sales. The trade is more realistic.

Speed is your friend. If you say £x take it or leave it no survey it works well.

You can find more in a few hours then most surveyors in any event. I am sure some will dispute this but this is my experience. Will you find osmosis. Maybe not but most boats don't have it

 

[SC35]

Speed is your friend. If you say £x take it or leave it no survey it works well.

You can find more in a few hours then most surveyors in any event. I am sure some will dispute this but this is my experience. Will you find osmosis. Maybe not but most boats don't have it

"No Survey" is an option if you know what to look for, or have a friend that does.
I'm not sure it's a great option for a first-time buyer.

 

[Dino]

A lot depends on condition, location and desirability of the boat. There are often deals to be done if the boat is unloved and needs a bit of TLC. Another common scenario these days are boats for sale by elderly owners who are retiring from boating. They often can’t be dealing with logistics of moving a boat or are not able to clean/fix them.
I have seen this a lot lately. A friend was looking at a boat on the French canals where the owner wouldn’t move it to the nearest boatyard for essential repairs. Another in the UK looked at a boat up a tricky tidal river but the elderly owner couldn’t get it sorted out to move it to get it lifted for a survey. Another mate got a good deal by skipping the sea trial as the boat was ashore and the owner couldn’t get it sorted to relaunch. He offered an extra few grand off if it was taken straight away without sea trial. The owner accepted.
If the boat is in good shape and the owner is looking to trade up, then I think around 5% is about as good as you could expect.

 

[Neil1300r]

Full survey, including an engineer checking the mechanicals is what we are going to do. Don't know enough to do it ourselves.

 

[PCUK]

In that case the seller will know you are investing money into the purchase and will be able to confidently stick to near asking price. Unless any serious faults appear.

 

[Greg2]

Full survey, including an engineer checking the mechanicals is what we are going to do. Don't know enough to do it ourselves.

Very wise, particularly as you are a first time buyer. We did the same when we bought our current boat and it is our sixth boat in 22+ years of boating.

I probably know enough to check a boat over myself but that is worth nothing to insurance companies and whilst I understand what jrudge says, I tend to think that the chances of me missing or not knowing something are probably higher than a decent surveyor doing the same
.

 

[Irish Rover]

In that case the seller will know you are investing money into the purchase and will be able to confidently stick to near asking price. Unless any serious faults appear.

Not really if he makes an offer Subject to sea trial and survey which would be normal.

 

[Moonbeam]

We've now found the ideal one

That's the important bit. Good examples don't come along often, so don't let it get away if it's the one you want.

I'd start at 10% under asking and see how you go. But this depends on how it's priced against the other examples currently for sale (which you say are badly presented), and if it's been on the market for long.

 

[Momac]

I wold say 5% below asking price might be accepted but there is always the possibility of further reduction if significant faults are found by the survey.

There are a lot of boat buyers who go around criticising the slightest thing and making silly offers until they get one that bites.
If you want to do this I would say you should have have funds to transfer to close the deal within 24 hours with no survey .

 

[Grumpydev]

Everyone is different, but to give you a recent example - I asked the broker what they thought they might accept and went in with an offer approx. 7% below asking, subject to survey, which was accepted and a deposit paid immediately after the paperwork was received. A few things cropped up on the survey that were important to me (nothing major, just things I wanted sorting ASAP) so eventually agreed a final price of approx. 10% below asking.

So many variables though, but I wouldn't personally go 15% lower unless you have had some indication from the broker (assuming its through a broker) that they might be amenable to that.