What's up with the price of boats these days?

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GregR

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I've been boating for over 20 years. I've owned 7 boats over those 20 years. I sold my last boat April of this year with the intention of buying another one after a few months.

I have looked at over 15 boats since then, the prices, IMHO, are out of control. The exact same year, make and model for two of my previous boats are selling now for 25% to 30% more than I sold them for 10+ years ago.

I've been working with a broker who has been showing me boats. I recently asked him to make an offer on one for me. He refused stating my offer was too low. I've driven 4 hours to look at boats in very bad condition (one was infested with spiders, bugs and moisture, another had bad engines) only to have the selling broker say afterwards, "Sorry, I did not know, I have never seen the boat".

It's been my observation brokers have gotten lazy, prices are very inflated, and I do not know why. Most brokers will not return an email, or if they do they will not answer follow-up questions. Yes, the economy feels good, but not that good.

Am I the only one experiencing this?
 
No you are not. My experience has been pretty bad this year as well. First, the models that I want are hardly available, as opposed to last year when there were a dozen or so just in my area. Those that are "for sale" seem way over priced -- with prices all over the place. Brokers are all but useless. I like email for an initial contact, as much of my looking is after hours and it give the freedom for the broker to respond when he can, not when he is in the middle of a sale or something. Very few are responsive.

Last week I went to see one. About 2 hours away. Got there and broker was there -- good sign. The boat was rack stored, but they didn't take it out of the rack. Made it difficult to inspect the outside. Opened up the inside and went thru all the particulars. Nice boat, definitely a candidate. We get to the engines and the powered hatch won't open. Diagnose what looks like a dead battery. Ok fine, can we plug in? Nope, even though there are outlets along the wall. Ok, I'm a bit upset that I came all this way and I can't see the engines. But I am an easy going guy and the admiral has to give final "approval" anyway. So I ask the guy if he can get it open and take some good pictures (the one they had sucked) so I know it's worth coming back. Sure, no problem he says -- Probably Saturday. Well, it's Tuesday. Nada.
 
I just purchased a used boat this week. Been shopping for a few months. What I learned was that during the housing crisis of 06-08, most manufactures scaled way back on their boat production of new units. Obviously because less were being bought during the recession. I was told numbers before and after, but don't recall.

They never really ramped up production again, so, there are less available boats on the market due to 10+ years of limited production of new units.

It could be a load of crap, I have nothing but a salesman's word on that, but, sounds legit to me.
 
Boats are selling like mad on the Great Lakes. I am thinking of selling my 1986 Silverton 34C and upgrading to a 41C.
 
My experience this season has been interesting, I have been listing only on Craigslist, and have had to lower my price, and have seen quite a bit of price lowering on Craigs this season. It feels like prices have taken a hit this season when watching the Craigs market. Just in the last couple weeks I am getting lots of interest, and hoping to sell very soon.
So I have been shopping around Yachtworld and Boattrader this week looking for an older 32 foot express. And the prices are out of hand.
It has to be that those boats priced properly and in good shape sold, and the only ones left right now are those that have owners who are not realistic. For example, one 2000 30.5 foot bayliner express is at 59k! Crazy...
 
quote:
Originally posted by VTBoater

My experience this season has been interesting, I have been listing only on Craigslist, and have had to lower my price, and have seen quite a bit of price lowering on Craigs this season. It feels like prices have taken a hit this season when watching the Craigs market. Just in the last couple weeks I am getting lots of interest, and hoping to sell very soon.
So I have been shopping around Yachtworld and Boattrader this week looking for an older 32 foot express. And the prices are out of hand.
It has to be that those boats priced properly and in good shape sold, and the only ones left right now are those that have owners who are not realistic. For example, one 2000 30.5 foot bayliner express is at 59k! Crazy...

Click to expand...


That's what I am seing. Boats that hit the market fairly priced go quickly. Those over priced linger for a while.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Golfman25

Last week I went to see one. About 2 hours away. Got there and broker was there -- good sign. The boat was rack stored, but they didn't take it out of the rack. Made it difficult to inspect the outside. Opened up the inside and went thru all the particulars. Nice boat, definitely a candidate. We get to the engines and the powered hatch won't open. Diagnose what looks like a dead battery. Ok fine, can we plug in? Nope, even though there are outlets along the wall. Ok, I'm a bit upset that I came all this way and I can't see the engines. But I am an easy going guy and the admiral has to give final "approval" anyway. So I ask the guy if he can get it open and take some good pictures (the one they had sucked) so I know it's worth coming back. Sure, no problem he says -- Probably Saturday. Well, it's Tuesday. Nada.

Click to expand...


I have had 2 similar experiences. Dead batteries, engine hatch will not open, no effort made to get it open. You are lucky the broker even showed up!
 
The economy is good, people are spending money on discretionary items and if you have a nice used boat in good shape it will sell quickly.
Good clean well maintained used boats sell even in bad markets if they are priced fairly. In good markets they sell for a premium.
After shopping for my current boat two years ago I quickly learned that there just aren’t that many good clean used boats out there. There may be a lot of boats for sale, but the majority of them fall short in some way.
 
quote:
Originally posted by VTBoater

It feels like prices have taken a hit this season when watching the Craigs market. Just in the last couple weeks I am getting lots of interest, and hoping to sell very soon.
So I have been shopping around Yachtworld and Boattrader this week looking for an older 32 foot express. And the prices are out of hand.
It has to be that those boats priced properly and in good shape sold, and the only ones left right now are those that have owners who are not realistic. For example, one 2000 30.5 foot bayliner express is at 59k! Crazy...

Click to expand...


This is exactly what I am seeing. Boats that sold for 30K 2 years ago are now listing, and selling for, 50K+. I sold my 2001 Regal 3780 9 years ago for $85K. Exact year make and model are listing for $125K now. I sold my 1995 Sea Ray 330DA 10 years ago for $50K. They are listing for $45K+ now.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Knotayat

What I learned was that during the housing crisis of 06-08, most manufactures scaled way back on their boat production of new units. Obviously because less were being bought during the recession. I was told numbers before and after, but don't recall.

They never really ramped up production again, so, there are less available boats on the market due to 10+ years of limited production of new units.

It could be a load of crap, I have nothing but a salesman's word on that, but, sounds legit to me.

Click to expand...


I forgot I heard this as well from a broker
 
quote:
Originally posted by JVM225

The economy is good, people are spending money on discretionary items and if you have a nice used boat in good shape it will sell quickly.
Good clean well maintained used boats sell even in bad markets if they are priced fairly. In good markets they sell for a premium.
After shopping for my current boat two years ago I quickly learned that there just aren’t that many good clean used boats out there. There may be a lot of boats for sale, but the majority of them fall short in some way.

Click to expand...


Agreed. I have found one, 2005 year, with low hours (40 on engines, 9 on genny) that's been sitting for a while. Bad things can happen to a boat this sits. It needs about 2K in restoration, all of which I can do, it's a private seller. I found the boat by leaving a note on it asking the owner to call me if he ever wanted to sell.

He told me his price. I made a lower offer after having my mechanic go thru it and do a sea trial. It's been accepted pending a survey.
 
Some brokers are very good, others ? Not so much.
Some just see the commission dollars and don't want to earn it and that is sad. I fear they have a lot of "tire kickers" out there, but don't take it out on me. A smart veteran broker should be able to tell the difference and treat us very differently.

I have visited a few boats where the broker has never set foot on the boat. What is he thinking ??
 
I'm looking to move up and just listed my boat with a broker. He told me that the boat market is very hot right now, and all the people in his company have consistently busy for the past 2 years. They had a listing for a 33 foot Sea Ray that was expected to sit for a few months. It sold right away.

I'm the 1st owner of my boat and have kept it very clean and well-maintained. I know it's in good condition but I was quite surprised that the recommended listing price was considerably higher that I expected.

By the way, the broker I'm using has been very responsive and insisted on coming out to see my boat in person. He didn't take photos, but I had already done that and sent them all to him.
 
My nickels worth; In the last two years the economy has improved leaps and bounds over the last (pick your segment), 8, 10, 20 years. People are buying again. Boats, houses, cars, everything. Big ticket items especially. I know there are folks that are going to say that it isn't true or just fluff increase but the fact is, cutting a deal on things is getting tough when you have several folks interested in the same item. Especially the quality items. That in turn drives up the questionable items.
 
Maybe it would be a good time for me to sell? Not that I have any plans to replace it anytime soon I could never afford to replace what I have!
 
quote:
Originally posted by Audrey II

Maybe it would be a good time for me to sell? Not that I have any plans to replace it anytime soon I could never afford to replace what I have!

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Well, if you like your boat I suggest you keep it. You will do well on the sale, but the next one will be proportionality more expensive as well. I sold mine in April, made about 30% more than what I paid for it 18 months earlier, thought "woo hoo" but quickly learned all boats are overpriced now. I wish I had never sold. 4+ months of no boating now.
 
I have seen this cycle more than a few times now - whenever it is low or high the feeling is that is the way it will be long term.
Only to discover that the cycle reverses and prices decline with fewer buyers pursuing more boats , and then after that it goes back again.
IMHO - having a boat priced 25% higher after about 10 years is not a rising market for the most part.
 
Well having just bought a new to me boat in May all I can say the Broker could not have been better. That being said he had a seller & buyer that both wanted to make a deal happen. He responded to my emails/calls in real time and didn’t drop the ball at anytime, and I had questions daily. The seller was great too, prepping the boat for his own use if it wasn’t sold before being launched and I got a lot of maintenance items updated. He must have put well over $10k+ of items into the boat before launching it

Outside of deciding to get back into boating in early 2018, I haven’t been tracking boat pricing for years. I did find a decent amount of inventory for the style of boat I was looking for, just an issue with the small percentage of them having the larger mains I wanted.
 
I like to wait until the high fliers are all shaken out in a recession for high ticket items, then enter the market with cash. My house is worth 30% more than my 2010 purchase and my airplane is worth 40% more than the 2012 purchase. If I decide to move up, I'll let someone else take the hit. Right now, I can't see buying a boat under these economic conditions.
 
Geebee - That is a very rational and logical approach. Unfortunately with many boaters, emotion takes over when making a purchase. The next trend will be the number of boaters upside down on boats they overpaid for and can’t afford.
Jim
 
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