Forums > Sailing General

Best way to sell a boat

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Created by keensailor > 9 months ago, 4 Jan 2019
keensailor
NSW, 699 posts
4 Jan 2019 3:46PM
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Thinking of selling our Northshore 27 which we have on a mooring in Jervis Bay. They seem to be for sale at around the $20k mark.
What do people think of the following;

- would I be better sailing her to Sydney and getting a temp mooring to show her off
- is it worth employing a broker, Batemans Bay or Sydney
- needs to have an antifoul job, should I leave it for when someone is interested to buy and hauls her out for survey and do i t then
- does anyone have any other tips for a successful sale

cheers

MorningBird
NSW, 2662 posts
4 Jan 2019 5:22PM
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It might take a while to sell so paying for a Sydney mooring might become a problem and you would need to use a broker. I don't know what brokers charge for a cheaper boat but it might take a chunk out of $20K. As the mooring fees (probably $2-300 a month) buildup the broker will be in a position to get you to take any offer just to offload it.
If you have the time to take tyre kickers out for a look and don't mind how long it takes do it yourself in JB.
Presentation is everything but it depends on how much time and effort you want to put in. It probably won't affect the sale price because potential buyers are usually enthusiastic and there will be one that won't mind a bit of cleaning. But it could well slow the sale process considerably.
Personally, I turn away from boats that smell of bilge water, wet furnishings and diesel, although a bit of the latter is often unavoidable.
If the boat is clean, tidy and doesn't smell when you open the hatch you will be way ahead.
Also give the topside and decks a good wipe down.
If the seller said they would pay for an antifoul at purchase that would do me. Others might want to see a clean hull as they first approach the boat. If you do the antifoul first and it doesn't sell in 6 months or so it might turn out to be wasted money.
Two best days of a boat owners life, day they bought and the day they sold it.

Cockpit
156 posts
4 Jan 2019 4:31PM
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Brokers will probably want around 10% which like MB says is a big chunk and could be your negotiating tool if you sell yourself.
I would try on Gumtree first for a few weeks myself and see how you go.

Bundeenabuoy
NSW, 1239 posts
4 Jan 2019 7:43PM
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It is essential to price it right.
Sonia Robertson at Yuti was great

southace
SA, 4776 posts
4 Jan 2019 7:18PM
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Defiantly antifoul , buyers don't want extra work and extra costs. Also if they want a survey the inspection can be taken out on a short lift.
I antifouled my previous boats and then got a purchase survey done to forward to prospective buyers including a bunch of antifouled and polished hull pics.
You can also download a bill of sale copy for the prospective buyer to sign once the deal takes place, saving about $2k going through a broker.











Jode5
QLD, 853 posts
4 Jan 2019 6:50PM
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I am with Morning Bird, make sure the boat is well detailed inside and out with no smells. I am always weary of boats with fresh anti fouling as it can hide things. Most buyers don't mind doing a fresh anti foul if needed, but I would make sure the bottom is cleaned prior to a slipping inspection or test sail. Dive yourself or pay a diver. I have always sold my boats privately with no problems and quickly but they have all been presented immaculate.

southace
SA, 4776 posts
4 Jan 2019 7:37PM
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Jode5 said..
I am with Morning Bird, make sure the boat is well detailed inside and out with no smells. I am always weary of boats with fresh anti fouling as it can hide things. Most buyers don't mind doing a fresh anti foul if needed, but I would make sure the bottom is cleaned prior to a slipping inspection or test sail. Dive yourself or pay a diver. I have always sold my boats privately with no problems and quickly but they have all been presented immaculate.


I have to disagree with the comment about most buyers don't mind doing a fresh antifoul Jodes5. People that want to buy a new boat want a new boat. You don't go to a second hand car dealer and see a dirty car and the sales person says yeah you can have it detailed if you want at your cost. I work in the upper market marine industry and if we have a boat to go on the market it's presented as new top to bottom.

keensailor
NSW, 699 posts
4 Jan 2019 8:14PM
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Great advice guys, thanks for the details.

Jode5
QLD, 853 posts
4 Jan 2019 8:12PM
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southace said..

Jode5 said..
I am with Morning Bird, make sure the boat is well detailed inside and out with no smells. I am always weary of boats with fresh anti fouling as it can hide things. Most buyers don't mind doing a fresh anti foul if needed, but I would make sure the bottom is cleaned prior to a slipping inspection or test sail. Dive yourself or pay a diver. I have always sold my boats privately with no problems and quickly but they have all been presented immaculate.



I have to disagree with the comment about most buyers don't mind doing a fresh antifoul Jodes5. People that want to buy a new boat want a new boat. You don't go to a second hand car dealer and see a dirty car and the sales person says yeah you can have it detailed if you want at your cost. I work in the upper market marine industry and if we have a boat to go on the market it's presented as new top to bottom.


We will have to agree to disagree on this one. Fresh anti fouling on an old boat can mask a lot of problems. If the boat is in good condition you a better of showing it and that is why I said to make sure it is clean. You can alway offer to anti foul when the boat is slipped for inspection if the purchaser agrees to buy. The other option is to take lots of photos prior to anti fouling.

southace
SA, 4776 posts
4 Jan 2019 9:23PM
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Select to expand quote
Jode5 said..

southace said..


Jode5 said..
I am with Morning Bird, make sure the boat is well detailed inside and out with no smells. I am always weary of boats with fresh anti fouling as it can hide things. Most buyers don't mind doing a fresh anti foul if needed, but I would make sure the bottom is cleaned prior to a slipping inspection or test sail. Dive yourself or pay a diver. I have always sold my boats privately with no problems and quickly but they have all been presented immaculate.




I have to disagree with the comment about most buyers don't mind doing a fresh antifoul Jodes5. People that want to buy a new boat want a new boat. You don't go to a second hand car dealer and see a dirty car and the sales person says yeah you can have it detailed if you want at your cost. I work in the upper market marine industry and if we have a boat to go on the market it's presented as new top to bottom.



We will have to agree to disagree on this one. Fresh anti fouling on an old boat can mask a lot of problems. If the boat is in good condition you a better of showing it and that is why I said to make sure it is clean. You can alway offer to anti foul when the boat is slipped for inspection if the purchaser agrees to buy. The other option is to take lots of photos prior to anti fouling.


We are talking about a seller not the buyer. What do you do to house prior to selling ? Paint it out in fresh paint. Trim the garden and get the professional cleaners in. Same applies to a $20 k yacht. It's not going to be a easy sale if the buyer realisers it needs even more money spent on it slipping , painting , prop speeding etc. at there expence. That's my opinon anyway.

Planeray
NSW, 213 posts
4 Jan 2019 10:45PM
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If I can throw something else in.

Photos. Loads of photos. Inside and out. From the wheel and from another boat with the sails up. Reeeeally clean up inside, and for chrissakes, move your dirty jocks off the table you're taking a photo of!

nickic
NSW, 58 posts
5 Jan 2019 12:34AM
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Planeray said..
...... and for chrissakes, move your dirty jocks off the table you're taking a photo of!


Lol Ray. I do wonder what some are thinking when they take their photos, especially the internal ones.

Bundeenabuoy
NSW, 1239 posts
5 Jan 2019 5:11AM
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Planeray said..
If I can throw something else in.

Photos. Loads of photos. Inside and out. From the wheel and from another boat with the sails up. Reeeeally clean up inside, and for chrissakes, move your dirty jocks off the table you're taking a photo of!



There are very few owners who can photo their boat as well as the broker or his professional can.
Whatever you do to improve it's appearance will help you sell it, but not necessarily get you any more money.
And you should want to sell it in a reasonable time. (eight weeks in my opinion).
If it hasn't sold there is a reason for it.

For around $3000 to $5000 I believe a good broker is worth the money.

FreeRadical
WA, 855 posts
5 Jan 2019 4:04AM
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Documentation is a big thing for me.

I can provide you with a receipt for just about every dollar we have spent since owning our boat. We also keep a detailed ships log of every outing, engine hours, every maintenance item/action, fuel, oil, parts, the works. You could look at the log to see when the last engine oil change was done, and match it to receipts for the oil (we do mostly all our own maintenance). We have copies of every owners manual, maintenance manual, and user guide for pretty much every item or system on the boat. Complete electrical schematics, plumbing etc. The ships log book and a google drive storage gives every detail about the boat and what we have done.

The boat had a good maintenance history of this stuff before we bought it, not quite like our record keeping, but pretty good. It gave us a lot of confidence in what we were buying.

Ramona
NSW, 7584 posts
5 Jan 2019 8:05AM
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keensailor said..
Thinking of selling our Northshore 27 which we have on a mooring in Jervis Bay. They seem to be for sale at around the $20k mark.
What do people think of the following;

- would I be better sailing her to Sydney and getting a temp mooring to show her off
- is it worth employing a broker, Batemans Bay or Sydney
- needs to have an antifoul job, should I leave it for when someone is interested to buy and hauls her out for survey and do i t then
- does anyone have any other tips for a successful sale

cheers


Are you selling the mooring as well? I would leave it where it is. Clean it and use it regularly. If you do decide to antifoul advertise the date she is on the slips so prospective buyers can see what she looks like out of the water. Gumtree and Yachthub and of course a sign on the boat. If the boat is seen sailing often enough you have word of mouth as well. Prospective buyers will be mostly local and Canberra I suspect and will be used to traveling. The tricky part is setting your asking price. Nothing seems worst to me than seeing boats where the price keeps dropping. Find a price point that is going to attract interest and get people to want to actually turn up to look at the boat. Maximum number of first class photos in your ads. Make sure you have photos of it actually sailing and showing the state of the sails. Make a Youtube video of the vessel being used and share on Facebook.

Craig66
NSW, 2460 posts
5 Jan 2019 8:42AM
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Select to expand quote
keensailor said..
Thinking of selling our Northshore 27 which we have on a mooring in Jervis Bay. They seem to be for sale at around the $20k mark.
What do people think of the following;

- would I be better sailing her to Sydney and getting a temp mooring to show her off
- is it worth employing a broker, Batemans Bay or Sydney
- needs to have an antifoul job, should I leave it for when someone is interested to buy and hauls her out for survey and do i t then
- does anyone have any other tips for a successful sale

cheers


First Id put a post up on a forum, say SeaBreeze or the like, create a bit of discussion / interest about your boat.

keensailor
NSW, 699 posts
5 Jan 2019 8:32PM
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Select to expand quote
Craig66 said..

keensailor said..
Thinking of selling our Northshore 27 which we have on a mooring in Jervis Bay. They seem to be for sale at around the $20k mark.
What do people think of the following;

- would I be better sailing her to Sydney and getting a temp mooring to show her off
- is it worth employing a broker, Batemans Bay or Sydney
- needs to have an antifoul job, should I leave it for when someone is interested to buy and hauls her out for survey and do i t then
- does anyone have any other tips for a successful sale

cheers



First Id put a post up on a forum, say SeaBreeze or the like, create a bit of discussion / interest about your boat.


yeah what a great idea ;-))

keensailor
NSW, 699 posts
5 Jan 2019 8:34PM
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southace said..
Defiantly antifoul , buyers don't want extra work and extra costs. Also if they want a survey the inspection can be taken out on a short lift.
I antifouled my previous boats and then got a purchase survey done to forward to prospective buyers including a bunch of antifouled and polished hull pics.
You can also download a bill of sale copy for the prospective buyer to sign once the deal takes place, saving about $2k going through a broker.












what sort of boat is that SA

southace
SA, 4776 posts
5 Jan 2019 8:50PM
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keensailor said..


southace said..
Defiantly antifoul , buyers don't want extra work and extra costs. Also if they want a survey the inspection can be taken out on a short lift.
I antifouled my previous boats and then got a purchase survey done to forward to prospective buyers including a bunch of antifouled and polished hull pics.
You can also download a bill of sale copy for the prospective buyer to sign once the deal takes place, saving about $2k going through a broker.












what sort of boat is that SA



Dunc 37 Same as the 35 but they split the bow and added a flush deck. A 35 Dunc just arrived. Has a dunc 29 cabin. Bloody good sailing yachts!



southace
SA, 4776 posts
5 Jan 2019 9:29PM
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Select to expand quote
keensailor said..

southace said..
Defiantly antifoul , buyers don't want extra work and extra costs. Also if they want a survey the inspection can be taken out on a short lift.
I antifouled my previous boats and then got a purchase survey done to forward to prospective buyers including a bunch of antifouled and polished hull pics.
You can also download a bill of sale copy for the prospective buyer to sign once the deal takes place, saving about $2k going through a broker.












what sort of boat is that SA


Comparison 35 dunc and a 37 raised deck . As you can see same hull just stretched on the bow and diffrent decks and cabins. Bloody great yachts.




sirgallivant
NSW, 1531 posts
5 Jan 2019 10:51PM
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It would be with a folding prop.

FreeRadical
WA, 855 posts
10 Jan 2019 10:03PM
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https://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/northshore-27/227338

www.mysailing.com.au/news/the-ultimate-270-an-affordable-cruiser

keensailor
NSW, 699 posts
13 Jan 2019 7:33PM
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Select to expand quote
southace said..

keensailor said..


southace said..
Defiantly antifoul , buyers don't want extra work and extra costs. Also if they want a survey the inspection can be taken out on a short lift.
I antifouled my previous boats and then got a purchase survey done to forward to prospective buyers including a bunch of antifouled and polished hull pics.
You can also download a bill of sale copy for the prospective buyer to sign once the deal takes place, saving about $2k going through a broker.












what sort of boat is that SA



Comparison 35 dunc and a 37 raised deck . As you can see same hull just stretched on the bow and diffrent decks and cabins. Bloody great yachts.





yeah, my fav is the Dunc 35, lovely looking boat

tomooh
276 posts
14 Jan 2019 3:48AM
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If you want to sell it have it ready to use so they are buying a holiday dream not a load of hard work. But in the end it's price that is important. That boat will sell tomorrow if its cheap enough.



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"Best way to sell a boat" started by keensailor