buying a sailboat | Errantries

Author: Miranda

Location: Black Creek, WI

We really thought we had her!

We put in our offer. We bit off our fingernails to stubs- well, Pete did anyway. I just drank too much coffee and talked in short, blurting sentences to anyone I knew about “our offer.”

I couldn’t get Pete on the phone fast enough when I read Alexis’s email saying that Dariousz was prepared to accept our offer. All we needed to do was email a formal contract with a few edits to Alexis right away and be prepared to send our 10% deposit to the brokering company’s escrow account on Monday morning. Yes, we can do that. Done. Contract in and money ready to go. To me, this was acceptance of our offer.

I guess I’m naive enough to accept people at their word. To believe that even without seeing a signed contract, getting verbal (well, email) acceptance of our offer was enough. Brokers are masters of the fine print, so I guess writing that he was “prepared to accept our offer,” must not be the same as “I’m accepting your offer.” In addition, it would have been much clearer and honest to say, “the owner is continuing to show the boat and will be accepting offers until a contract is signed.”

Turns out that on Sunday afternoon a different prospect took a look at the boat (while our offer was accepted on Saturday), and told both the owner and the broker that he’d like to make a formal offer. This offer was higher than ours, and we received an email from Alexis stating that Dariousz had accepted this offer instead of ours.

I will be the first person to admit that I am new at this process. That I’ve never bought a house, much less, a boat before. Obviously I know that money talks, and I can see a point of view that says it’s stupid to turn down more money from a higher offer until a contract has been officially signed. But experiencing moments like this, those that make you disappointed in how you were treated by a fellow member of the human race are just kinda sucky. Not the most eloquent way of stating this, but accurate. Life will go on. There are bigger problems in the world. But still- this was kinda sucky.

We went to Florida as a learning experience in what specifics we are looking for in a cruising catamaran and gain knowledge into the boat buying process. We’ve accomplished both of these, and we are really quite pleased with how things went. This last incident just put a momentary hitch in our giddyup. But, such as with all life’s lessons, those that hit hardest are often the most meaningful and long-lasting. We are blessed to have this opportunity to take time off and sail, and we’ll continue to jump any hurdles we need to in order to make it happen.

Our boat is still out there, and we are fully confident that we’ll find her yet!

Author: Miranda
Location: Santiago, Chile

His name is Scott, and I desperately want him to be my new friend.

He is our broker. Our “buyer’s broker,” to be exact.

This is one of those ways in which the boat buying process is actually similar to that of buying a house. Now for those of, you like, me who’ve never purchased a home, this analogy may not work so well, but most of us understand that the process involves an agent working in the best interests of the seller and a separate agent working in the best interests of the buyer.

In the boating world, this is called the listing broker and the buyer’s broker. Some folks who have many years of experience around boats choose to go without using a buyer’s broker when looking to purchase a boat. They know exactly how much the models they are considering should go for. They know when they’re getting a deal and when they’re getting swindled. They are patient and know how to hide their excitement when they are viewing the perfect boat. They can deal with pushy listing brokers and know the buying/selling process well.

We aren’t one of these folks. Yet. Maybe someday we’ll be. But, for now, while we have to hold down our day-jobs, are new to the process, and are still perfecting our poker faces, we’ll use a buyer’s broker. To be honest, I don’t know why people would pass it up. The price is definitely right. Free. Yup, the buyer’s broker will get paid out of the commission made from the sale of the boat, with no fee or payment from the purchaser. It doesn’t change the final price of the boat, and if you’ve got a good broker, they’ll be saving you money in the end by helping you negotiate and make a smart decision. How often, in this world, can you find free, expert advice when you’re up the creek on something totally new? We feel so blessed to have a new friend in Scott, the boat broker.

So, we skyped with Scott today. He works in the South Florida area, and he was a breath of fresh air to someone who’s dug though the depths of the Internet looking for what to expect in the boat buying process, and hasn’t landed anywhere fruitful. He answered all our newbie questions without judgement, nor did he caution us that any piece of our plan was ill-prepared or ignorant of how things work. He was a wealth of knowledge, and he seemed genuinely excited about working with us. After we got of the phone, we both looked at each other and said, “What a nice guy!”

After chatting with Scott, we have much better idea how long the process will take and how we might set up the precious few months we have stateside this summer to ensure we leave at the time we’d like, come fall. We set up a tentative plan for when we’d be spending time in South Florida to scour the market for a boat that will suite our price, our sailing itinerary, and the accommodations we’d like.

Trying to plan such an endeavor while living a continent away from the boat market we’d like to get our hands on can be quite frustrating, at times. Therefore, it feels great to have someone on the ground, working for us in the mecca of ocean-going cruisers for sale!