You finally find the boat you want to buy. Then comes the big question: how much to offer for it?
Ask any five people and you’ll get five different “rules of thumb.” I don’t think there is a universal answer, though: listen in to how I approach the question.
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Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
Sarah Burnett-Wolle says
Ask your buyers broker for a list of selling prices of similar boats that have been on Yachtworld.com. While the ASKING price of current boats is available for everyone to see, the SELLING price of previous boats is only available to brokers who pay for this service. Then take all of Carolyn’s good suggestions into consideration. Spending more on a well-founded boat is almost always better than buying a boat that needs work. Most importantly, as Carolyn noted, it is better to walk away from a deal that you are unsure about then to gamble on a boat.
Mark Sidmore says
you always get the low ballers and bottom feeders first….oh, and the ones that think yacht shopping is a fun thing to do on a weekend.
Jason E Koslow says
Your podcasts only go back to Jan 21 on both of my podcast apps. Am I doing something wrong?
Carolyn Shearlock says
That’s correct. Thats when Boat Radio stopped producing new shows, and I took mine independent. Old Boat Radio shows are being migrated over, plus the new ones.