- Joined
- Apr 12, 2003
- RO Number
- 11395
- Messages
- 214
About three weeks ago I made the decision that I'd get serious about selling our Carver Santego. We've enjoyed the Carver for the last six years but it was time for a change. The Carver was the last in a line of five boats that have provided us with mucho quality time on the mighty Mississippi over the last 20 years. Why did we decide to sell? A year ago my wife purchased an old cottage with a river view less than 1/2 an hour from our house. We initially thought we might fix and flip, or rent or do a B&B. My wife has made enough money on various properties that she has the go ahead to buy one when she sees the right one.
But a funny thing has happened this time. I'm the one who's really gotten into the cottage. Cutting wood, hauling and mowing with my new, (old), John Deere, bonfires in the evening, eating and reading on the porch, and having our grown kids stay out there with us. So, I came to realize that I can't maintain a house, a large boat, and a cottage. While I'll hire things out, like most of you here, I prefer, (I can more afford), to do a lot of repairs/maintenance myself. The Carver wasn't as clean and shiny as usual, and my lawn at home wasn't looking the way I wanted. And, with boats, there are always the ongoing financial expenditures. After I made my decision, I figured over the winter I'd get serious about prepping the boat for showing well in the spring. I'd also put in time and marketing effort, (I definitely planned to look seriously at some of the excellent stuff that has been written here by folks like Tony and Ernesto). But, something told me to email the broker that I was willing to drop the asking price significantly. I guess I wanted folks to notice the boat and price over the winter and get motivated by the spring. However, it's better than that. A week after emailing the broker, he called and said a very serious couple was interested in my boat. They were familiar with the Santego, had already looked at a few, and really wanted to get a boat yet this year and get it upriver through the six locks to their home area by the Twin Cities. I'm going to shorten up an absolutely crazy few days to report that a very nice couple headed upriver with their new love five days later.
So, I'm telling this story in hopes that it may just help someone else sell their boat if that's what they want.
I'd recommend:
- If you think you'll need to cut your asking price, don't wait, do it now. IF I'd waited till spring, these buyers would have been gone . . . and I would have spent a lot of time and roughly 4K more on winterizing, paying for next year's slip, etc.
- Don't assume that buyers aren't out there. It just takes the right people, the right time, the right boat, and the right price.
- If you do a lot of the work, consider asking your broker for a cut in commission. In my case, he was 150 miles away. I took the pictures, did most of the write-up, and demoed the boat and spent the time with the buyers. He made a couple of phone calls, posted on the website, and collected the money and got it to us. Mostly importantly, he knew someone who was looking for this kind of boat when he saw my price drop. Since I'd dropped 20K on price and did most of the leg work, he was willing to cut his commission when I asked.
-DO clean the boat as best as possible before showing. In our case, I hadn't touched it in 6 weeks. It was a mess. I had four hours to work with and did the best I could. I'd explained to them that I hadn't had a chance to work on it and it was filthy. They said they knew the difference, between filthy and neglected. STILL, I wanted the first glance to be positive and it was. Their comment to my dock neighbors was that if it looked this good with just a quick job, it would probably look like new when really cleaned up (they're right).
All the best!
But a funny thing has happened this time. I'm the one who's really gotten into the cottage. Cutting wood, hauling and mowing with my new, (old), John Deere, bonfires in the evening, eating and reading on the porch, and having our grown kids stay out there with us. So, I came to realize that I can't maintain a house, a large boat, and a cottage. While I'll hire things out, like most of you here, I prefer, (I can more afford), to do a lot of repairs/maintenance myself. The Carver wasn't as clean and shiny as usual, and my lawn at home wasn't looking the way I wanted. And, with boats, there are always the ongoing financial expenditures. After I made my decision, I figured over the winter I'd get serious about prepping the boat for showing well in the spring. I'd also put in time and marketing effort, (I definitely planned to look seriously at some of the excellent stuff that has been written here by folks like Tony and Ernesto). But, something told me to email the broker that I was willing to drop the asking price significantly. I guess I wanted folks to notice the boat and price over the winter and get motivated by the spring. However, it's better than that. A week after emailing the broker, he called and said a very serious couple was interested in my boat. They were familiar with the Santego, had already looked at a few, and really wanted to get a boat yet this year and get it upriver through the six locks to their home area by the Twin Cities. I'm going to shorten up an absolutely crazy few days to report that a very nice couple headed upriver with their new love five days later.
So, I'm telling this story in hopes that it may just help someone else sell their boat if that's what they want.
I'd recommend:
- If you think you'll need to cut your asking price, don't wait, do it now. IF I'd waited till spring, these buyers would have been gone . . . and I would have spent a lot of time and roughly 4K more on winterizing, paying for next year's slip, etc.
- Don't assume that buyers aren't out there. It just takes the right people, the right time, the right boat, and the right price.
- If you do a lot of the work, consider asking your broker for a cut in commission. In my case, he was 150 miles away. I took the pictures, did most of the write-up, and demoed the boat and spent the time with the buyers. He made a couple of phone calls, posted on the website, and collected the money and got it to us. Mostly importantly, he knew someone who was looking for this kind of boat when he saw my price drop. Since I'd dropped 20K on price and did most of the leg work, he was willing to cut his commission when I asked.
-DO clean the boat as best as possible before showing. In our case, I hadn't touched it in 6 weeks. It was a mess. I had four hours to work with and did the best I could. I'd explained to them that I hadn't had a chance to work on it and it was filthy. They said they knew the difference, between filthy and neglected. STILL, I wanted the first glance to be positive and it was. Their comment to my dock neighbors was that if it looked this good with just a quick job, it would probably look like new when really cleaned up (they're right).
All the best!
