{"id":50230,"date":"2023-06-06T18:52:08","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T22:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=50230"},"modified":"2023-06-07T10:29:49","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T14:29:49","slug":"brokerage-market-opening-up-for-buyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/sailboats\/brokerage-market-opening-up-for-buyers\/","title":{"rendered":"Sailboat Brokerage Market Opening Up For Buyers Who Are Ready To Pounce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Sailboat <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Brokers are seeing some opening up on the sailboat market, with fewer quick sales at asking price, and longer listing times.<\/span>\n Anna Om\/Stock.Adobe.com<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n

Mark Pillsbury can see the change in his email inbox. The longtime editor for Cruising World<\/em> has been looking to buy a brokerage sailboat for the past year, maybe year and a half, but the pickings have been slim. Buyers scooped up pretty much anything that could float during the pandemic. Even when Pillsbury took the time to input his criteria for an online brokerage database, he never got a single email alert about a matching listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, it\u2019s maybe three or four boats a week that get listed and meet the criteria I put in,\u201d Pillsbury said in late March. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely opening up a little bit, but you can look at the pictures and then get to the boat, and you think, Were those really pictures of <\/em>this boat<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His experience mirrors what numerous brokers and sailors say they\u2019re seeing in the marketplace for brokerage sailboats\u2014especially popular, sought-after models. The overall number of available boats is starting to increase, with more boats for sale now than there were just six or eight months ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quality of those boats, though, can vary, and savvy buyers are still \u00adwaiting in the wings to make fast offers on well-maintained, right-priced vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Shannon <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The classic Shannon 43 Nighthawk<\/i> sold pre-pandemic at a premium, largely due to its pedigree and Bristol condition at the time of sale.<\/span>\n Billy Black, Courtesy David Walters Yachts<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cLast year, 2022, we sold about 18 boats before they even listed, which is unheard of,\u201d says Josh McLean, president of David Walters Yachts in Annapolis, Maryland. \u201cIf you look at certain models, like a Hylas 54 or a Hylas 49\u2014if I had a listing on a Hylas 49, the boat had multiple offers before it even hit the market. There are still certain boats where that\u2019s true today because there\u2019s been such a lack of inventory. I have a list of people waiting to buy one as soon as it becomes available.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the broker says, he\u2019s seeing what boaters say they\u2019re \u00adexperiencing as shoppers: \u201cFor the first time in a while, we\u2019re starting to receive emails announcing price reductions,\u201d McLean says. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing fewer \u00adinstances of boats selling at full asking price, and we\u2019re starting to see boats sitting on the market a little longer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boats are still moving relatively quickly, in the grand scheme of things, but it\u2019s only a matter of months, not years, to get most boats sold, McLean says. For certain boats\u2014particularly semicustom boats where the manufacturers built only a handful every year\u2014options remain extremely limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

We\u2019re seeing fewer instances of boats selling at full asking price, and we\u2019re starting to see boats sitting on the market a little longer.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Rich Hoyer knew this while looking to buy a Sabre 38. He and his wife \u00adco-owned a Hylas 54 built in 2006, but the Hoyers wanted to switch to a different style of cruising. They put the Hylas on the market in spring 2022, when friends of theirs managed to sell an Island Packet 480 immediately at full price. \u201cWe had a full-price offer pretty much the same day,\u201d Hoyer says. \u201cWe heard that wasn\u2019t too uncommon at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That buyer didn\u2019t pull through, though, so Hoyer ended up selling the Hylas 54 to a different buyer in fall 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Kurt <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t

Supply and Demand<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\n
\n Kurt Jerman at West Coast Multihulls says that he sees the market for catamarans \u201ccalming down but not really slowing down.\u201d Folks aren\u2019t as crazed as they were during the pandemic, but there\u2019s still limited brokerage inventory, and new boats continue to sell. \u00a7 \u201cI think the big takeaways are that catamarans are still pretty en vogue,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re not really keeping up with demand right now because there aren\u2019t as many builders for catamarans as there are for monohulls.\u201d<\/span>\n Courtesy Kurt Jerman<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cIt felt like after spring, things got slower,\u201d he says. \u201cIt took a while to find another buyer. We felt like we had missed the window.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The buyers who landed that deal this past fall were Gayle and Kevin O\u2019Sullivan, who owned a Beneteau 461 but had been thinking about a Hylas 54 for years, after seeing one at a boat show. Gayle started watching advertisements online in summer 2021. She saw a different Hylas 54 pop up for sale in fall 2021 and went to see it at the Annapolis boat show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy the time we got down there, they had an offer on it,\u201d she recalls, adding that the broker told her and her husband to get on the boat for a look anyway. \u201cHe was right. We walked around, looked at him and said, \u2018I can\u2019t believe we missed this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Hylas <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Though the market has begun to soften, highly sought-after models like the 2001 Hylas 54 Caris<\/i> are still selling above list price.<\/span>\n Courtesy David Walters Yacht <\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

When the first buyer on Hoyer\u2019s Hylas 54 fell through a year later, the O\u2019Sullivans didn\u2019t want to lose out again. They had their broker, their financing, their \u00adinsurance, everything in place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithin 15 minutes, we had made an offer, and it was accepted,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoyer, in turn, then had the ability to do exactly what the O\u2019Sullivans had done: He pounced on a good-quality Sabre 38 that popped up. He had wanted one for about 30 years but had experienced similar challenges finding one that met his criteria.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was not planning to buy and sell at the same time,\u201d Hoyer says. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of a nightmare. But this was an incredibly special boat. It was built in 1988, but the owners live in Greenwich, Connecticut, and they summered on the boat in Maine. They would give it to Hinckley every fall and say, \u2018Do what you need to do to make this a good experience next summer.\u2019 It had a new Yanmar engine, new plumbing, new electronics\u2014Hinckley had been rebuilding it for the last 10 years. I had never seen a boat that special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He snapped it up inside of two weeks during fall 2022\u2014after negotiating with the owner on price, something that also was virtually unheard of during the pandemic boat-buying craze.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"H54 <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Hoyer\u2019s H54 Rover<\/i> is also still selling above list price.<\/span>\n Courtesy David Walters Yacht <\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cI paid $115,000,\u201d he says. \u201cI think they were asking $145,000. Most Sabre 38s would go for about $85,000, but it had a new Yanmar and the boat was stored indoors for 10 months a year. It was an outlier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLean says that the ability to \u00adnegotiate, as Hoyer did, was impossible for most buyers during the pandemic, but it\u2019s happening more often this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBuyers are having a little more \u00adnegotiating room now,\u201d McLean says, adding that some sellers are taking a bit longer to come to terms with that marketplace reality, so buyers should be prepared to encounter pushback on price. \u201cAnybody who bought a boat in the craze of 2020 to 2022, if they\u2019re coming back now to sell, they\u2019re people who bought their boat at a premium, at the peak of the market. They\u2019re not going to see those same numbers that they saw a year or two ago, so you\u2019re having a little bit of sellers saying they bought their boat for X, and they don\u2019t want to be told it\u2019s worth less now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

During the \u00adpandemic, it was full-price offers on everything, sometimes multiple offers. We\u2019re seeing that slow down a little bit. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Kurt Jerman at West Coast Multihulls in San Diego says that there\u2019s a similar dynamic in the brokerage market for catamarans. He also has savvy, prepared buyers waiting in the wings to snap up the more coveted models, but he\u2019s also seeing the negotiation process normalizing somewhat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring the pandemic, it was full-price offers on everything, sometimes multiple offers,\u201d Jerman says. \u201cI think we\u2019re seeing that slow down a little bit, but that said, a nice, clean, fairly late-model catamaran is still going pretty quick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking to buy a catamaran brand such as Leopard, Lagoon or Fountaine Pajot\u2014builders that pump out a lot of boats\u2014will typically give a buyer more options, he says. Those cats can stay on the brokerage market for up to six months, while more-boutique brands get sold much faster. As an example, he said in late March, he recently had a Seawind come up for sale. It\u2019s a smaller builder. The listing lasted barely 24 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Rich <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t

Old or New?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\n
\n Sailor Rich Hoyer, after being a buyer and seller recently, advises friends to look beyond the age of any boat when deciding whether to buy it. His advice: Look at how the boat was maintained. \u201cIf you put your mind to it, you can kill a boat really, really quickly,\u201d he says. \u201cI think what\u2019s happening now with these boats is that if they\u2019re not trading, they\u2019ve been let go. Buyers know, do you want to go sailing? Or do you want to fix something for the next three years? The boats that are turnkey are selling.\u201d <\/span>\n Courtesy Rich Hoyer<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cThe next day, I had it under contract,\u201d Jerman says. \u201cThere are certain brands that people are looking for, and there\u2019s not as many of them. The more-sought-after ones, they sometimes don\u2019t make it very long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pillsbury is still waiting for his ship to come in. His budget is for a boat in the 40-foot range built in the 1970s or \u201980s. His requirements include a windlass, a good amount of refrigeration and reasonably sized water tanks. \u201cI have a pretty open mind about what boat,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s more about the condition it\u2019s in. Hopefully the previous owner hasn\u2019t turned it into Frankenstein\u2019s monster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, nothing has gone on the market that fits his bill. And he\u2019s not alone; a friend of his with different requirements has also been looking for about a year and a half. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re finding is that if there\u2019s a boat with all the stuff you want, it has, like, no keel, and it will be a horrible sailboat, which is a turnoff for me,\u201d Pillsbury says. \u201cOr you find a boat that\u2019s got a decent hull, decent sails, decent everything else, but it doesn\u2019t have a windlass or refrigeration, or it\u2019s got only 40 gallons of water. Finding that Goldilocks boat where everything is perfect, it\u2019s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, he says, he has faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like getting lucky with a gal,\u201d he says. \u201cIt takes just one.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sailboats are still moving quickly through the market, say brokers, but Spring 2023 showed fewer instances of immediate, full-price sales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":50234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Kim Kavin","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"167","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Sailboat brokerage market opening up for buyers. Brokers say sailboats are still moving quickly but fewer instances of immediate, full-price sales","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[167],"tags":[1959,195],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}