Overseas Radio Network – Yacht Buying Tips, Get Actual Sales Prices of Comparable Yachts
In the Overseas Radio Network Show 5, Segment 2, we will share tips from experienced yacht brokers. We continue with these insider secrets to buying yachts that can save you money:
- Find actual sales prices of comparable yachts
- Yacht location affects prices
- Foreign currency exchange impacts yacht prices
- Yacht delivery costs
ESTELLE COCKCROFT: Welcome back to “Yachts: The Perfect Escape Vehicle”. Today we are talking about insiders’ secrets to buying yachts. Gary, in real estate, we can do comparable studies for clients of similar homes with similar type characteristics and we can that way we can figure out more or less how much a house is worth. We have similar things for boats we can do.
For a transcript of this podcast, click “read more” below.
Find Actual Sales Prices of Comparable Yachts
GARY FRETZ: Indeed we do. We have a great tool called soldboats.com. And it is available by subscription only and it’s to the brokers in the trade. And so what they have in here are all of the recorded selling prices since 1998. So the last time I looked I think it was about 170,000 different boats whose prices are recorded in the database. Along with prices you have the spec sheet from those boats, you got photographs, layouts, line drawings, and everything that was used to mark the boat when it was for sale. So you can get an idea of what condition the boat when it sold.
And another interesting thing about this, it shows the original listing price and the date and it shows the actual selling price and when it was sold. So you can see how long that boat was on the market. You know some of these boats stay on the market for a year and you can see how much the price dropped so it is a great tool to know what the market is and where it’s been so you know what comparable boats are selling for.
If you are in the market for a boat you may want to contact one of us. Stephen is at catamaranguru.com; I am at largecatamaransforsale.com. And tell us what model you are interested in. It is best to say, okay, model years 2002 to 2005 for example, I am interested in a Lagoon 440 you know show me what these thing are sell for in the last couple of years and we can print up a report custom made for you that shows you exactly what prices have been doing so it is just another way we help you save money and buy smart.
ESTELLE: Okay, great. Stephen, do you have anything else, another way we can save big to buy a yacht?
Yacht Location Affects Prices
STEPHEN COCKCROFT: Yes, another fact to consider is location. Boats and yachts tend to vary in value depending on where they are located. Certain types of boats in Florida that sell for X may often sell for X plus 20% in California or Pacific Northwest. A good example of this is catamarans. Catamarans are too large to ship, ah, to truck. So generally they have to be shipped or they have to be sailed to the west coast on their own bottom.
Being that most of the major manufacturers are either South Africa or France and so they are easy to sail to the east coast but very difficult to get to the west coast which represents an additional cost. So if you are looking for a cheaper catamaran specifically the east coast is where you should be looking where you find east coast catamarans are quite a bit more expensive.
There are other issues that affect the price of boats when it comes to location. Fresh water-kept boats in the Midwest of the US can sell for 30% more than the identical boat in Florida. You know boats that have been kept in fresh water are deemed to be more valuable. They haven’t faced all the sort of corrosion and issues that a boat in the ocean faces.
Caribbean-based boats often sell at 25% discount to the Florida price because there is a large supply of boats compared to a small number of buyers. You know this is specific to the charter industry where you have, you know, we were talking about flooding the market factor.
Can you see, you see how you can save big bucks by shopping in certain areas especially if you combine the strategy with the seasonal price tendencies noted previously. You know you might not want the boat to stay in the lower priced area, but deliveries can be arranged and you can still save substantially by buying in the right place at the right time.
You can see location discounts in the black book which is what the banks use to determine loan values because you can sometimes find all the boats in location that is the great lakes that is in pristine condition and they only cost a little bit more than the average condition boat, that’s because their season is only 3 to 4 month long and they are stored on the hard in the winter.
So because of this and the sun isn’t damaging the boats’ exteriors, you can find 10- or even 20-year-old yachts that looks like brand new boats.
ESTELLE: So the conclusion is you can find a deal anywhere. But you mentioned delivery, Stephen. Gary, can you talk about delivery companies how you chose a deliver company and what do they do?
Yacht Delivery Costs
GARY: Yes, there are a number of good yacht delivery companies that will deliver a boat on its own bottom anywhere in the world. And as a very general rule, it costs between $2 and $3 dollars a mile. So if you are talking about 1000 miles, it is between $2000 and $3000 to deliver the boat. That’s all inclusive. These rates are somewhat negotiable depending on the time of year and how much the delivery company wants to do this delivery.
So you may want to consult with one of us before booking some of this because we can help you negotiate these sorts of things.
ESTELLE: Okay, thank you. So you need a professional’s advice preferably. You can do it yourself but it will best to ask the guys who knows. Gary, do you have any other tips for our listeners that are buying boats?
Foreign Currency Exchange Impacts Yacht Prices
GARY: I sure do. This one is called the foreign exchange factor. And foreign currency exchange rates can have a substantial impact on the price of yachts. And you need to be aware of how this affects prices. Now I remember when the Euro was trading at 88 cents to the dollar, that is, one US dollar would buy .88 Euros. Now the Euro costs $1.26 or $1.3 to the dollar. So a yacht price at €200,000 used to cost US$176,000 but now costs US$200,000. So as you can see the dollar over the last 5 years as really weakened against the Euros.
So for an American to go to look at Euro-denominated boats, it may not be the best place to look. You may want to look for weak currencies, some of the far eastern currencies are week so you might want to look for boat denominated in one of those currencies and that’s about it for that.
ESTELLE: Stephen, you obviously have some experience with South African boats, imported South African boats to the US. Can you tell us about that?
STEPHEN: Yeah, the South African rand also fluctuates substantially against the dollar. But South African boats are pretty affordable. You know salaries and overhead in South Africa is reasonable so South African boats tend to be reasonably priced. And especially if the dollar weakens then you start seeing some really good deals. But mostly globally you know all the prices tend to bubble down to round about the same price till you see some substantial prices fluctuate. So it is a very good idea to keep an idea on currencies.
GARY: Okay, so we have to take a short break and we will be right back you are listening to “Yachts: The Perfect Escape Vehicle”.
