U.S. Buyer Purchases a Yacht in Spain, Part I: The Search

Note this article was originally published by John Burnham at Rightboat: https://www.rightboat.com/blog/u-s-buyer-purchases-a-yacht-in-spain

Purchasing a yacht in the U.S. is an intricate process, with no two transactions the same, but when you’re ready to buy a yacht overseas, the process can literally become a journey.  Recently, Charlie Mann, one of our brokers at Latitude Yacht Brokerage, worked with a buyer in Connecticut who ended up purchasing a yacht located in Majorca, Spain. This multi-part blog post series offers insight into the steps and considerations involved on this buyers’ journey. In Part 1, we’ll talk about how the buyers found the yacht of their choice.

Charlie Mann grew up sailing around Long Island Sound, headed up a junior racing program in Connecticut and still coaches for a local youth keelboat team. You may see him racing on Wednesday nights or making sail changes on the bow at offshore regattas around the US. Charlie remains active at the Wadawanuck Club in Stonington, Connecticut and in recent years became friends and raced with a couple; he even delivered a yacht for them as a captain. In the fall of 2024, the couple started looking for their next yacht, and when they found out Charlie had started brokering boats, they asked him to help.

(Author’s note: we yacht brokers spend a great deal of time marketing ourselves, looking for buyers and sellers of yachts who require our services. But sometimes it’s a $35 for sale sign or learning a sailing friend is looking for a boat that provides an opportunity. You just never know in this business!)

Buying a boat overseas typically involves transporting it on a yacht transport ship like this one, but there were a few steps to take before this moment in the transaction came to pass.

The buyers were looking for a sailing yacht in the 60- to 75-foot range with the intent of offering it for charters and racing it in some big-boat races like Newport Bermuda Race. Their initial targets were classic sloop-design boats by Swan, Alden, Southern Wind, built in the 1990s or more recently.

The search was a challenge, as the East Coast US markets for boats of this type are fairly slim. Around early December, they found a 70-foot sloop that they looked at and eventually took to survey. For most yachts sold in the US, this involves a full day survey and sea trial with a short haul. For a yacht of this type, with all its different systems, it was much more involved. Also, as a broker, you can recommend survey resources, but at the end of the day it’s the customer’s decision.

Once everything was in place, the survey began. There was a rigger who came and looked at all of the rigging and hydraulics.  A separate diesel surveyor did the engine.  A third surveyor went through all systems, pulled the bilge apart, going stem to stern on the boat. In all the full survey took almost five days. Throughout that time, Charlie coordinated scheduling, making sure the boat (which was on the hard) had water and power at the marina. He essentially served as a master of ceremonies and made sure the buyer understood all of the data they were being presented.

At the end of the day, the bones of the boat were great, but to get her in the shape the buyers wanted would have been too costly and time consuming, so they ended up not accepting the boat. It was a tough, agonizing decision. And now it was late December 2024, and the buyers’ timeline for having a new boat for the 2025 season was getting shorter.

Charlie Mann, Latitude Yacht Sales broker

So the search continued, and Charlie helped the buyers look at a Swan and an Alden, avoiding non-US boats for the time being.  But then they came across a 56’ yacht built by the Dutch shipbuilder Hoek in 1997. Hoek is a well known naval architect that mostly focuses on 100’+ boats.  In this case, the boat was listed in Mallorca, Spain, subcontracted by Hoek to sell the yacht for them.  

The Hoek was on the smaller side of what the buyers were looking for, but in terms of her outfitting, she checked all the boxes. In addition, with a boat in the 70’+ range, it forces you to consider things normal boat owners might not normally think about.  For example, where is a fuel dock that supports a boat of that length?  Do I need to hire a captain and/or a mate to help me sail her?  With a 56’ boat, most of those questions go away, so this became another point of interest for the buyers. They looked at the photos etc and discussed how best to assess the boat. It’s one thing to drive an hour and look at a boat; if the pictures aren’t accurate and the boat looks like crap, then you’ve wasted an hour or two. But going to Spain is another matter.

So Charlie contacted the Spanish broker and arranged for a virtual tour. The broker FaceTimed the buyers and walked them through the boat. And the pictures proved to be accurate. The boat was beautiful. The buyers were excited and decided to begin the process of putting in an offer.  All without actually going to Spain—that would come later.

In the U.S., the buyers’ broker would put together a standard YBAA (Yacht Brokers Association of America) purchase & sale agreement with an offer, send it to the listing broker via Boatdox, and if the offer was accepted by the seller, the buyers would put 10% down with the listing broker who would hold it in escrow until the vessel was either accepted or not. But in Europe, brokers don’t have the benefit of the YBAA standardized agreements..

In their search, the buyers toured the interior of the 57-foot Hoek design in detail via Facetime plus images of the yacht online. Whites Yachts photo.

So the listing broker sent their Spanish law contract over, and the buyers had a maritime lawyer review it. After exchanging a few redlines back and forth, the contract was set, and now the challenge was to agree on a price. In the U.S., that would be straightforward, but for a boat in Europe, the Dollar-Euro exchange rate would come into play. After all, from offer acceptance to actual closing, with all that needed to happen in between, the process could take at least a couple of months or longer.  And if the rates were to go the wrong way, your offer could become much more expensive.

One strategy is just to make the offer in U.S. Dollars and put the exchange rate risk on the seller. In a prior life long ago, this author sold technology into many other countries for years and we always did it in U.S. Dollars. But the consensus here was to make the bid in Euros. So the formal offer was made, there was some negotiation, and all parties agreed on a price. The deposit was made by the buyer and put in escrow by the listing broker. It was now early 2025.

Now the real journey began. Look for Part II of this story to learn about getting the boat to survey and sea trial and what was required to make that happen.