The main reason I’ve searched for repo boats across the U.S. and Canada for the past seven years is that frankly I’ve found no other resource that produces under valued boats than repo boat auctions. As newer boat and yacht prices surged in the past decade boat repossessions sold at local and regional auctions for almost 45% less.
According to YachtAuctions.net in 1998 a brand new cruiser sold for $255k on average. Just four years later that same new cruiser sold for $367kFast forward to late 2008…a new cruiser averages a staggering $465k. But get this, that same cruiser sold at a local boat auction house or dealer liquidation (used of course) for an average price of only $250k.
But boat auctions aren’t regularly listed in your local classifieds. You have to really look if you’re a DIY’er, but the reward can be staggering as well. If you’re able to keep your self in front of enough lenders and they actually have boats in repossession than you may be in position to work out a deal as they are often in a must sell situation to write off their “non-performing asset” as quickly as possible. Your proposed offer may not be accepted but they’re almost always considered.
If you’re toying with buying a repossessed boat you have to find credit unions or lenders in general who finance boats regularly and are willing to keep you on alert of new inventory. Not as simple as you would I used to believe. As it turns out most lenders already have an ongoing relationship with a local or regional auction house. For this reason I got smart and leverage several online auction sources namely www.BoatAuctionsDirect.com to keep of any seizure or repo type auction locally. Do that and you’ll stay ahead as well.
Tags: auction house, auction sources, boat auction, boat auctions, credit unions, online auction