Broker Rod Waterhouse answers the two most common questions from Vendors …
1) When is a good time to sell my boat?
This is a question the team here at DBY are constantly asked.
With such a vast customer database and history involving transactions of thousands of boats with our sales records going way back to 1977, we are well positioned to analyse the trends, and the results may surprise you.
In fact sales are quite constant all year around with no apparent significant spikes or troughs.
In March – April we see improvement in sales of cruising boats with the lure of the cruising season in FNQ. At the start of racing season August – September we see a small increase in movement of racing/performance boats.
The types vary but the numbers are quite constant.
What is really interesting is that the numbers have remained constant through both recession and boom periods.
What does change is the prices achieved. In good times where people are feeling wealthy eg high real estate prices, strong stock market and superannuation returns we see a small increase in achieved prices.
When times are tougher there is an obvious small dip in the sale price achieved.
But the statistics show sales volume remains roughly the same.
2) Is there a market for my boat?
The answer to this is very simple and obvious by looking at our performance in sales .Everything sells. Multihull, Fibreglass mass production, Heavy displacement, Racing, Aluminium, Power, Ferro, Timber, Steel.
We have not seen a dip in sales in any sector. What has changed is prices.
At the moment multihulls are the flavour of the month and limited availability is meaning higher achieved prices. Power boats have seen a price decline, particularly in the high end with fuel and maintenance costs impacting.
Mass production yachts eg Beneteau, Bavaria, Jeanneau, Catalina, Hunter are all easy to sell but watch your competition to ensure you are pricing to meet the market.
When it comes to the other sectors, no matter what your type or build material it amazes me that absolutely everything is still selling. Just ensure you price competitively. Check on the popular websites, or ask the experienced team at DBY.
What’s really important is to determine actual sale price as against advertised price. Sometimes they vary enormously but other times sell close to the asking price. So the critical question to your broker is – how much did similar boats sell for and how long did they take to sell?