Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Why is it Important to Determine Your Boat's Value?

By John Howard

Establishing the monetary value for a boat is one of the most important and sometimes the most difficult aspects of dealing with pleasure boats, from the perspective of the seller but of course also for other parties such as buyers, brokers, insurers and marine surveyors

If you are selling, the proceeds that you will get on your motorboat, sailing yacht or fishing pontoon will either determine how much you will have in your pocket if you are moving away from marine life, or if you are upgrading, it will settle on the size of your next vessel.

As a buyer, similarly your ability to appraise your new toy with the right foreknowledge is essential, and you should not walk lightheartedly into a transaction, or you risk being on the losing side of it. You need to learn about boat appraisal to strike a fair deal.

This is, unfortunately, harder than it seems. Boat prices fluctuate a lot due to a series of sometimes obscure circumstances, such as the place you are in and the season of the year, and these are all things you need to be aware of. Otherwise you may strike what seems a great deal, but in hindsight you may then notice that the transaction left you worse off by thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

Which is why boat evaluation cannot just be an afterthought or a given, but must be considered with care. First of all, the prospective buyer or seller needs to decide whether to go solo, or whether to hire a boat evaluation pro. Marine brokers can help to sort out the issue for you.

In fact, as there is a lot of information available on the subject for those who are willing to spend some time educating themselves, you can do this yourself if you prefer not to be dependent on someone else's opinion.

To become your own appraiser for boat values, you need to look at as many resources as possible - and there are plenty of books and websites on the subject. Your aim should be to come up with realistic minimum and maximum process for the kind of boat you want or are about to sell.

For this, trade magazine classifieds (whether online or offline) are a fantastic place to start. Systematically collecting and comparing ads for similar boat classes over time will give you a very good idea of offer and demand, and therefore of current price levels.

Your next stop should me your local marina's party or some other kind of social get-together, where you can find other boat owners that can brief you on the current state of the market.

New boat exhibitions are good to gauge current fashions. Fashionable items demand a better price, and you can increase the value of your marine transaction by finding out what features and accessories are currently over- or undervalued. - 16887

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