Why use a Yacht Broker? Part 1.

What a FSBO sign might look like

Like most yacht brokers, at Latitude we get a lot of our leads by people calling us or emailing us off the website.  I recently heard from a boat owner who wanted us to help him sell his boat.  It was built in 2000 and the comps showed that similar boats in this area had sold in the past 2 years for around $150K.  So, I called him up.

After getting more detail on the boat and learning it was on the hard, I started walking him through what needed to be done to get her ready for listing and showing.  When I got to the part about cleaning her up down below he asked “Isn’t that your responsibility?”.

I told him no.  It’s his stuff down below, I don’t know what he wants to take or leave on the boat, that’s his job.  He said he’d think about it, so we talked a few days later and he said “I don’t think you’re doing enough work to merit a 10% commission.  I will try to sell it myself; I already have a lot of interest.” I told him I didn’t want to help him sell his boat if he didn’t want me to, and that was that.

I am sure all of you have bought and sold a few houses in your day.  If you were selling your house, would you ask your realtor to clean it?  Mow your lawn?

There is a segment of the boat owning community that does not like to work with yacht brokers.  Many have their reasons, but the prevailing ones (from my perspective) seem to be:

-They feel that somehow, we are costing them money (or even ripping them off);

-They think the job of selling or buying a yacht is easy and they can do it themselves;

-They may question our knowledge or experience.

Let’s have a look at some of these.

First of all, if you are trying to buy a yacht, BROKERS COST YOU NOTHING. Commissions are paid by the sellers (at least here in the US).  So why not have us out there supplementing your own search efforts? You don’t even have to sign anything, tell us what your requirements are and we can guide you in the right direction.  We have the networks and contacts that will make your search more thorough.  We can arrange for showings, getting more info on the boat, etc.  We’ll even go with you if your target boat is far away and arrange for you to see other boats in the area.

On the selling side, yes, engaging with a yacht broker will require you to pay a commission.  Also, as a seller you must sign a listing agreement, which gives us exclusive rights to market the boat.  So, as a seller, engaging a yacht broker is definitely more of a commitment (just like selling your house).

But how much do we as individual brokers get? Like realtors, our commission almost always gets divided up. For example, if another broker brings a buyer to the table (happens at least 80% of the time), we split the commission 50-50 with them (under some circumstances brokers might negotiate a different split between them). We have other expenses, including taxes. So weeks or potentially months of work helping to sell a boat that might sell for $100K - it’s not like we’re getting rich.

So yes, as a seller we cost you money.  But we’re in this business to help you buy or sell your boat, and hopefully you use us again when you sell or upgrade later. Plus we love anything boats!

My next blog post will cover why most buyers and sellers use brokers and why we make it a better experience for them.