ok so I'm looking at buying a used boat through a broker
I want to make an offer on the boat but the broker wants a 10% deposit paid in to there trust fund be for the offer is presented to the owner.
it sound crazy handing over a deposit with out my offer being looked at or accepted by the owner as I might never see it again
anyone had a similar experience?
what do you think?
Doesn't sound right to me and I would be a little hesitant as well. My experience with buying through brokers was that a 10% deposit was paid after the offer was accepted and before sea trials and other checks and the like were considered.
Ive worked as a boat broker, we never did that. Your offer should be put to the seller at no charge. Costs and deposits are usually only involved when you get to the test drive stage or if the seller takes the boat off the market while your offer is considered. Go to Lamoores website, they did have a tutorial on the boat buying process there.
Perhaps the Broker has other ideas who will own the boat in the end
personally Id try and ask around so you could contact the owner personally and after that maybe the broker might end up with a different idea
With my present yacht I paid a deposit and then had to meet the owners to see if I was a suitable person to own her. Fortunately I passed the interview.
Utterly unacceptable!
When l bought mine l was not asked to pay any deposit, whatsoever. Sea trial or not, l would not have paid a brass razoo, anyway. (the dealer, during the sea trial melted the pong box by not turning on the sea cock - so what about the ten% then?)
I thought Eddie Obeid was Mr Tenpercent?
The 'suitable buyer' requirement might be acceptable if the subject is of historical interest. But even then...???
Doesn't sound right to me.
From my one and only experience, I purchased my first boat, a Cavalier 28 last July, I paid a 10% deposit only after my initial offer was accepted, before an on / out of water survey. If I decided after survey I didn't want to proceed I understood my deposit would have been returned.
I've never heard of that sort of deal. We put in an offer last week, had it accepted, and then paid 10% as a fully-refundable deposit subject to survey.
Select to expand quotesirgallivant said..
The 'suitable buyer' requirement might be acceptable if the subject is of historical interest. But even then...???
Oh I dunno; I fall in love with boats and I know Ramona's former owner was very, very careful with her. My brother had to watch his beloved boat rot to pieces in the hands of her next owner and I'd hate to see it happen to a boat I had loved.
Owners can pretty much make any sort of contract they like. If they want to know that their boat is being cared for, good on them and those they put their trust in; having met Ramona I'm sure they are happy with their choice.
thanks every one for there input its good to know what other boaters think and just as I thought it stinks.
seams like away to lock me in to the bargaining proses to spend more so I don't loss my deposit.
they are a well known brokerage (I'm not going to name them)
I will offer the normal way deposit after offer accepted then sea trials and survey and see how I go
I will keep you all updated
thanks again
Buying/Selling a boat is a two way negotiation. You want to buy, they want (and maybe even need) to sell. Put your terms on the table. What harm could it do, especially considering you seem to be willing to walk away from it anyway.
cheers toph
I will give it a ago should know on Monday
yeah i would walk away rather than pay a deposit for a offer that hasn't been accepted/looked at by owner even though I like the boat seems like bad policy to me
I had a similar situation for a boat I was looking at. A well known Sydney brokerage firm would not accept an offer, or indeed do anything, until 10% was paid up front. I walked away. About a week later I got an e-mail agreeing to let me see the service history of the boat without the deposit. After looking at the service history, I then understood why the 10% as the boat had virtually no service in the past few years, but emergency pull outs to fix big ticket items such as sail drives. I walked away even faster.
Sounds totally dodgy to me, I'd ask him if he wanted to earn his commission or not and tell him where exactly he could stick his 10% deposit until after the offer had been accepted, even then I'd hold onto the deposit until the receipt showed clearly that the sale was dependant on the surveyors report.
There are certainly principles involved here, for me anyway. As long as l pay it is my terms or the highway for the seller. Whoever it is.
I would not under any circumstances, give up my principles for a "good deal" .
No way.
If I had my yacht listed for sale with a broker and he came to me with a verbal offer, my response would be "Verbal Contracts are not worth the paper they are written on.
Verbal offers are just fishing to see if you will bite.
Contracts are based on "offer and acceptance". An offer is constituted by a purchaser signed contract with whatever conditions are required by him/her and is accompanied with a consideration ie a deposit of substantial value be it cash or car or another yacht.
Acceptance is an executed contract ie signed by the vendor with whatever conditions he/she wants which if any are added will have to be counter signed by the purchaser.
You buy yachts the same way you buy real estate.
Any broker I deal with will know not to bug me with "verbal offers".
Select to expand quoteToph said..
Doesn't sound right to me and I would be a little hesitant as well. My experience with buying through brokers was that a 10% deposit was paid after the offer was accepted and before sea trials and other checks and the like were considered.
Tophs right this is the way it should work.
I think Cisco that verbal offers also have there place as a starting point to save time make an offer broker rings vendor a price can be negotiated put it in writing
You would think that a good broker has already sounded out his vendor to establish if the vendor would consider an offer. Hence he could say if he thinks it would receive consideration.
However, we know that many vendors have no idea of a market place, and are locked into ideas of the worth of their boat based on history, or how much they have spent on maintenance. The broker then has to wait months, sometimes years, for reality to set in. This is very frustrating, so it is understandable if the broker then is reluctant to bother with an offer. Some brokers do not accept a listing if they think the vendor is totally unrealistic.
