The time has come. If you’re here, then this is about to be the 2nd best day of owning a boat, the day you sell. Right?
I’m going to outline exactly how you can get top dollar for your boat, avoid broker fees and sell your boat fast and easy.
You know the saying, the two best days of boat ownership are the day you buy and the day you sell. Probably true for most, but for many the days in-between are where the memories are made and cherished. As boaters, we look forward to the next one, but never forget the adventures she provided.
Getting top dollar for your boat is far easier today than it used to be! I recently sold my boat in 72 hours myself, no sweat.
With all the FREE tools to market your boat for sale today, it’s never been easier to get the word out.
The key to selling a boat for top dollar is to take out buyer uncertainty. And do so while not wasting your time.
I’m going to walk you through it all here.
So let’s dive right in:
Prepping Your Boat For Sale
First impressions are everything. Now is the time invest in getting your boat to be the best it can be within reason. You are going to recoup this investment, I promise. Some of you may decide to keep her after all this prep, but the rest of you are going to get top dollar.
Fix it!
Go over the boat and fix whatever is not working, especially the small things. For example, any blown fuses, corroded electrical connections, cushion upholstery, bilge pumps, electronics, etc. Do it within a budget so these are not items that come up for negotiation during a survey. All these minor things are going to help you get top dollar! Remember most buyers are going to compare your boat to a new boat and what they see in magazines and boat shows. So get it close.
No Personal Junk!
Get all your personal stuff off the boat! 99% of the time, modifications and customizations are a turn off to buyers! So if you have your favorite sports team stickers on the boat, fishing tackle, clothing, flags beer mugs, etc. Get all that junk off the boat as well as anything that is not included in the sale.
But, leave them the safety gear! Give them the life jackets, flares, fire extinguishers, etc. It is the right thing to do and a great selling tool. You’re going to get top dollar, so you can buy all that stuff again.
Don’t Neglect The Motor
The life of the sale and boat is the motor! Do the latest maintenance and make sure she fires right up. I had a Yamaha 300 4 stroke outboard which requires service every 100 hours. I went ahead and did the latest maintenance, so the buyer doesn’t have to. It’s a great selling tool. Also pull up your service records and brag about them. Buyers want to know that you cared for the boat, especially the motor.
Update Paint
If you have bottom paint, put a fresh coat on. If the gel coat has knicks, get it repaired. Don’t make the little things turn into massive negotiations. When we are talking top dollar, your buyer wants to drive off knowing there is not much if any work to do.
Wax on, Wax Off
Now that just about everything is working and your junk is off the boat, we need to bring in a professional detail guy, unless you are capable of course and you probably are not. Boat detailing is far different from detailing a car. A professional boat detailer has little secrets to remove rust spots, make the whites whiter, and get the fiberglass shiny again. It is worth the investment and not something to take likely. Again, get the boat to look it’s best possible and when we get it there, we can start to identify our asking price and shoot for the top!
And right when she is the best she can look, it is time for her to pose for the camera. Don’t be shy now.
Take Too Many Photos!
It shouldn’t of been easy for you to get to this point. Some boats might need wet sanding others might only need polishing, but either way you should of gone over your vessel with a toothbrush if you want top dollar and you’ll be glad you did.
Right after you are done detailing the boat (don’t even bother taking pictures if the boat is dirty) I want you to take at least 100 high resolution photos with a real camera, wide angle preferred. If you have a good phone camera that will work just fine. Try to time your photoshoot when the sun is right overhead and a bright, clear day.
Here are some examples of photos you will want to take:
Every angle of the entire boat in the frame
Deck
Seating
Electronics
Wiring
Bilge
Head
Cabin
Anchor
Safety Gear
And whatever else you think buyers will want to see.
Imperfections For Full Disclosure:
It does no good to hide imperfections of your boat. In fact, just about all boats have imperfections and by disclosing them, you build confidence with your buyer and trust me it will pay off. I am extremely honest in all my business transactions, I have no ego in much of my work and it is this reason I have customers from all over the world trust me before even meeting me. So take pictures and show your buyers the faults of your baby, imperfections are what make her unique. During my sea trials, I showed all gel coat issues and anything that I thought could use updating.
High Quality Video:
Now that you got 100 photos, it is time to shoot video. And while I know you may not have all the fancy video equipment I carry around, your mobile phone will do just fine. The key to shooting video with your phone is to be as still as possible. Do a full walk around and if you are comfortable talking on camera, do it.
I like to tell people to put their elbows on the sides and do slow pans. Do about 5 seconds pans of each area of the boat. If you are shooting a bathroom, then pan side to side and up and down. Again go slow and be still. Video is a huge part of this ad!
And here is the icing on the cake! If you can sell the experience on video such as the boat running, fishing or just a family outing - you will reap the rewards. In my ads, I use a drone to capture the boat running in the ocean. Here at ReelReports.com, we can do this for you at a small fee. If you can figure out how to get this done yourself, do it. YouTube is 100% FREE (more on that soon).
Here is the promo video I made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI6pr6VXzcI
Price It Fair, but not TOO Fair!
If you have a boat that is not selling, most likely your price is too high. The price has just about everything to do with getting buyers interested in your vessel. When pricing my boat, I looked online at all the popular sites and tried to find boats similar to mine. I wrote down the price, year and engine hours for each similar boat I found. And since I went the extra mile of ensuring everything works and the boat is in optimal shape, I went for the higher end of the price range.
I also kept in mind what I paid for the boat and the average depreciation. For example, on a boat that cost $100k new and depreciates about $10k per year, I would expect to ask $70k after 3 years. Now there are many variables in that logic such as engine hours that would determine a higher or lower asking price. As well as options, condition, etc.
Use all the tools you have, come up with a fair price. When pricing out my boat, even though my boat was in better condition than any on the market, I set my price a bit lower so it would sell quick. Time is money too!
I thought some of the prices online were crazy and exactly why their boats were not selling. I’m not going to fret over a few thousand dollars and I want both myself and the buyer to walk away happy with the deal we made. After all, of all the boats I have sold over the years, I am still friends with most of the buyers. There is a reason why boaters wave to each other on the water, but not on the road. We are just happier on the water and share a common hobby.
Know the Numbers
Know your bottom price. Consider all the money you just spent to bring her back to tip top shape, advertising cost, etc. This is a business transaction, so know your numbers. They will ask you and test you on your bottom line and even below, so be prepared to go to combat.
In my case, I asked 74k and my bottom number was $71k. Would I take 70k, 69k, or 68k - that’s a good question and it really depends on the response the first 24 hours. In my case, I was overwhelmed with calls, emails and text. So I knew if I hung in there I could probably get my asking price. But if the response was slow, I would of certainly considered the first reasonable offer.
Listing The Boat
Before I give you all the sites you can list your boat, I want to show you an example of my listing and just how detailed it is.
2015 25' Competition, One Owner, Meticulously Maintained.
Hull:
- Ice blue hull with white bottom
- 24 Degree Deadrise
- 3 Piece Hull
- Flat Deck from Bow to Stern
28 LOA
8’2” Beam
18” Draft
Motor:
- Single F300 4 Stroke Yamaha HP (1227 Hours) - Just finished service.
- Yamaha Y.E.S. Warranty Through 4/1/2020
- Fly by Wire Controls
- Yamaha Command Link Plus Gauge
- Tilt Helm
Accessories:
- 166 Gallon Fuel Tank (Over 300 mile range)
- Full Hardtop with lighting
- Split Console Door
- 5 Piece Eisenglass Including Wings
- 50 Gallon Leaning Post Livewell (Fully Round)
- 30 Gallon Rear Livewell
- Coffin Box (Never Used To Hold Fish, Always Dry storage)
- 30 Gallon Fresh Water
- Saltwater Wash Down
- Rear Bench Seat (Removable)
- White Rub Rail with Stainless Insert
- 2 Kite Fishing Outlets
- Swim Ladder Under Engine Bracket
- Dual Bilge Pumps
- Lumitec Underwater Light
- Under Gunnel Lights
Electronics:
- Garmin 7612xsv Touch Charterplotter/GPS Combo
- Dual GT51 Transducers CHIRP ClearVü and CHIRP SideVü scanning sonar
- Garmin Blackbox VHF
- Full NMEA
- Fusion Radio with 6 JL Audio Speakers, 2 Amps, 2 Sub Woofers, Sirius Satellite Radio, AM/FM Radio
- 2 New Batteries (Replaced Last Week)
- On board battery charger
3.0MPG on Light Load
The boat is in excellent condition. Always detailed every 3 months. Never beached or ran hard. I have most manuals and documents. Only selling because I ordered another 25 Competition and it is almost finished. Boat is located in Hallandale Beach 33009. No Trailer. (Title In Hand)
$74k OBO
Call Mike: (954) 546-8805
In my ad, I listed absolutely everything I could. No surprises. My main goal was to weed out having to answer questions and wasting time. I want buyers that are ready write checks. By having everything listed in the ad, they pretty much know exactly what they are getting, leaving only the “price” up for debate.
So where do you list your boat for sale?
It is such a great time to be alive. We have so many free resources out there to list our boat and even get people to share our listings to friends. Here is where I always start and in this order:
TheHullTruth.com: This is a great forum type website and great for selling boats from $500 to $250k. It is $15/year to join and list as many boats for sale as you’d like. The moderators do a great job with keeping the comments to potential buyers.
craigslist.com: Your local craigslist as well as other areas are FREE listings. In fact I have sold more boats here, than anywhere. Post your same detailed ad with pictures and links to the video, so you weed out the tire kickers as there will be a lot. I usually list my boat in about 10 different areas. In my case I’m in Miami, so I make sure to cover all over Florida and go even as far as New York. You can check out uship.com to get an idea of shipping cost so you are armed with the info if you get a call from an out of town buyer. It is so easy to transport vehicles these days anywhere.
Manufacturers Instagram, Facebook and/or Website: Most boat manufacturers understand the value of social media and customer interaction. Reach out to them and ask if you can have a post on their social media. This is real secret sauce and probably how you would get the boat sold if you can pull it off. In my case, I posed on the Competition Boats Instagram to 10k followers and had well over 20 responses in the first day. They usually have a “pre-owned” section on their website as well. And if they have none of these things to offer you, at least send them your listing and ask them to let others know. They get calls from people all the time looking for used boats, especially ones not on the market yet.
Youtube.com - It’s Free! Put your video ad up on Youtube and be sure to post the link in your ads. Buyers will share this video and free exposure continues.
BoatTrader.com, YachtWorld.com, Boats.com - You’ll find several “boats for sales” websites out there and while they are OK, they are a dying breed in my opinion. I like these sites for the “hard to sell” type boats because they rank well in Google and still get some traffic from the “old school”. But don’t get your hopes up if you think this is the only place to list your boat.
EBay.com - Use Ebay’s Ad listing to display your boat for sale or run an auction with a reserve. Ebay is still very popular for cars and boats and a great way to show your ad to a global audience and offer shipping. Again, this is for the “hard to sell” type boat. Remembert, there is a buyer for just about everything!
There you have it, all great resources that are sure fire way to get your boat ad in front of buyers. And don’t forget to go “Old-School” and throw a “for sale sign” on the side of the boat at your marina. I didn’t have to do it, but surely could of taken advantage of thousands of boater driving by each weekend.
Here they come!
It might only take minutes for the first call to roll in and if your boat is a hot item like mine was, they might even show up the same day. Are you ready!?
Buyers are going to ask you all types of questions, however if you wrote a detailed ad like mentioned above, they might just be calling to schedule a viewing.
You can feel out how serious buyers are on the phone by their questions. Price usually isn’t even discussed until they see the boat. If they are fixated on your “Bottom Price” right now, it is probably not meant to be. The old “let me ask my wife” is usually a bad sign as well.
Work with your buyers schedule to show the boat. In my case I told them “ANYTIME!”. I had my first buyer show up within 24 hours of the listing. They were 2 buddies from up the coast. And would you believe I talked them out of the boat!
Let me explain.
These 2 guys were divers, spear fisherman if you will. And If they were “free divers” I would of said perfect boat for them. However they were scuba divers and when I had this boat built, scuba diving was not on the menu. It is a hardcore fishing boat and having scuba tanks rolling all over the deck is less than ideal if that is 90% of what they will be doing. So I was honest and told them this isn’t the best dive boat for the price out there.
The next day I had an overwhelming number of calls and told everyone I’m available to show the boat anytime. Shortly there after I had a police officer, a firefighter and father and another father and son all back to back.
The police officer really wanted the boat, but did not make a deposit. He was waiting to hear from his bank. As a buyer, if you want something, lock it down with a refundable deposit. That was his mistake.
Shortly after, the firefighter came to look at the boat, wrote me a check and after the survey and wire transfer drove it home. Would you believe while he was writing a check, the other father/son just showed up. I also showed them the boat and told them I just got a deposit and contract. If the deal was to fall through, he would be the “second” person I let know the boat is available again. Luckily I didn’t have to go through that process, but if I did it would of been fine as they were lining up to buy the boat with checks in hand.
About The Transaction
Once you have a buyer and a deposit, is time to draw up a contract and bill of sale. I like to take a 5% deposit to take the boat off the market while we are processing the sale.
In my case, my buyer was financing the boat. So the bank ordered a survey. The surveyor comes and goes through the entire boat, motor and even does sea trial. It is pretty intense. Would you believe they even found a couple things I had missed, such that the bilge float was not working, nor the saltwater washdown. Easy fixes, but man are they thorough. Well worth the money for a buyer, especially if you don’t know boats very well.
We created an “as-is” bill of sale and awaited a wire transfer for the remaining amount. You will see the wire in your account as “processing” the first day. I personally wait until the funds have settled to hand over the title and keys. You can also call your bank to verify the funds are there as well, as well as his bank.
Once the funds have settled, I signed over the bill of sale and title to the buyer. We met at the marina and I went over everything with him once again. I also jumped on board to answer any final questions before my baby drove away.
So is the day you sell your boat, the 2nd best day of owning the boat? That’s debatable. I loved that boat and the memories created are something to cherish for the rest of my life. Every boat you own has a part of you. There are hardly any 2 boats that are exactly alike. They all have some sort of blemish, customization, etc that makes them yours.
I recall a story of a sailboat I used to go on as a kid. The entire cabin had wood accents that were hand carved by a family that lived in the boat while they built it in the 1960’s.
In my case, it was a boat I picked the options, the seating, everything was to my specifications, so selling her was not easy, but it was time.
It was an easy transaction and I hope that is article helps you get top dollar for your boat.
Here are my top 10 tips to help you sell your boat:
Timing Is everything: Buyers typically are buying during the spring and summer. It is boating weather and the best time to get top dollar. Use this to your advantage.
Know your numbers: Miles per gallon, Hours, WOT, etc. Buyers like to know this stuff.
Warranties help: If your motor has a year of warranty left, that is a a great selling tool. Know before you sell. Most manufacturers offer 10 year hull warrantees.
Ignore Low Ball Offers: Ha! I didn’t have a low ball offer this time, I didn’t give the low ballers enough time. They usually come out when they see a boat on the market for a long time and if that is the case, maybe you shouldn’t ignore them.
Take The First Offer: If the first offer is a good one, go for it! Don’t fret over trying to squeeze out a little more from another buyer only to have your boat on the market again. Remember buyers are always looking and a boat that is on the market for an extended period of time raises a lot of uncertainty.
Why Are you Selling? They are going to ask, so you better have a good answer. In most cases, you may be looking to upsize or even take a break from boating. But give them an honest answer and be ready for it.
Dont’ Fall for scams! If you are going to list on Craigslist than the Prince of Nigeria may contact you and even send you a cashiers check. HA. Come on, don’t fall for this crap. They are very good at fooling people and even the banks for a day or 2. Last I heard the Nigerian Scams still rake in $700,000 a year!
Take non refundable deposit for sea trials: Some may want to take a ride on your boat and even though I didn’t have these request, I have sold other boats where I asked for a $500 non refundable deposit if we were not under contract.
Service Records: Having service and maintenance records are a great selling tool. It shows you kept your boat well.
Write Good Ads: Use phrases that help sell boat such as: Meticulously maintained, one owner, low hours, all service records available, never used enthanol fuel.
And if all this sounds brutal to you, simply hire a broker or trade it in. Selling a boat on your own will take the most about of work, but will also yield you the most. Hiring a broker or listing with a dealer is far easier, but many of them will require 10%. If you are trading in the boat to go bigger or smaller you will also net tax savings.
Whatever you decide, I hope you get into another boat soon and continue to create memories out there on the water.
Happy and Safe Boating
Captain Mike