Pre Listing Survey

S

spj

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I have a friend, and yes it is a friends boat, that has a 32' Sea Ray that she bought 4 years ago. The boat has been out of the water for 3 years. She know little to nothing about the boat. (Long story, but she bought it with a boyfriend that is no longer in the picture)

She would like to sell the boat, and is considering getting a survey before she does.

The purpose of the survey is to determine the value of the boat, and to see if there is anything she should do to it before she sells it.

Here is what one surveyor qouted her,

"The basic survey, conducted as a Condition and Valuation/Insurance survey would be 17.50/Ft. That includes inspection of the vessel, its equipment, any electronics for power up and basic function, and the report. If you wish any mechanical work, such as compression checks on the engines, or oil analysis, those services are extra. Compression check on V-8 engines is 125.00/engine, Oil analysis, 90.00/engine, 90.00/Transmission. Those services are the options. The base survey is the 17.50/ft"

I do not think that this includes any checking of the engines to see if they even run. He request electric be available, but did not say anything about water. Am I missing something here? What else should she be asking for in a survey?

Also if anyone has any recommendations for surveyors in South Jersey that would be great.
 
IMHO, I don't think she should spend the money for the survey. Instead, she should spend the money to hire a mechanic to service the engines before re-starting after 3 years on the blocks and a detailer to clean and wax the hull and interior. Then have the mechanic perform a sea trial and follow his recommendations on any findings that needs repair. A pre-sale survey by the seller is not required. The fact is that the buyer will pay for his own pre-sale hull and mechanical survey. Your friend may wish to consider hiring a boat broker to sell her boat and guide her through this process. The money spent for a pre-sale survey will go a long way towards getting the boat cleaned up and running before going on the market.
 
I go with poqman's recommendation. As far as value, check YachtWorld.com or ask a broker in the area.
 
Disagree here. The boat will get a survey when it sells and doesn't need one before. A broker can tell her the appropriate price, but will want 10% commission. Sale by owner, you can do a little research on what the present value of the yacht is worth. This is easily done.

At the sale, after survey by buyer, a negotiated price can be done to take care of problems noted.
JMO
 
I agree with all the above- it would be a waste of money to survey it now. Get a mechanic to service it and get it running and to confirm all systems are functioning. Then get it detailed. Tell her to be sure to take pictures of the bottom of the hull and the running gear BEFORE she puts it back in the water!
 
I agree with the above advice; no survey, but get the boat serviced. I potential buyer's surveyor will probably be happier knowing the boat was recently serviced versus reading a competitor's survey about the boat. And no buyer in their right mind would trust the seller's surveyor.
 
For an inexperienced seller, a good broker is invaluable. Get a lot of references. Have them look at it even before the mechanic/boat yard. And make sure that she gets detailed work orders and receipts for any work done.
 
forgot to mention in my earlier post that she needs to have any fuel in the tanks removed and fresh gas added. Trying to burn this old fuel with possible moisture contamination could spell problems when on sea trials. Could kill a sell.
 
You can have a boat broker provide all the sales of the same model boat that have occurred in the past year. That is a ballpark idea of the value, of course boat will range in value based on hours, condition, etc.
 
I'm a contrarian on the survey although most of my boats were smaller thus a cheap survey. whenever I mentioned I had an old survey the buyers we're screaming to see it. And I'm more impressed when there's an old or new survey to see on a potential purchase even though I 'd get a new one if that close to buying it. Maybe shop for a cheaper surveyor since she's selling and not concerned terribly with doing every repair on the boat.
 
She does not need a survey. As others have said, a good broker will do an inspection of the boat itself and a market evaluation. He/she will have access to the sold boats database on Yachtworld and will be able to cite recent examples of similar boats sold in your area. This is important because the prices of boats sold more than 2 years ago are irrelevant and the prices in distant locations aren't likely to be either.

As suggested, I would have a qualified mechanic get the engines/ genny in running order including the fuel.
 
Big important detail missing here, age of the boat? If it is a 80's something 32 SR then there is not much point in spending anything on it.
 
To set the asking value of the boat she could go to NADA's website and look up the price; then at least double it. Go to Yachtworld and check similiar boats to make sure the asking price is not too low!

Without knowing how old the boat is, the condition it's in, and whether or not it was surveyed prior to her purchase; all play a part in the decesion. If the boat is in good condition, then spending money on survey should not be needed. On the other hand if the boat has tons of issues, then addressing some of them may be beneficial. When a potential buyer gets the survey done and it comes back with a host of issues, I think they'll be looking to bail out versus if their survey lists only a few things. A boat with a load of issues seems like a neglected boat with more issues just around the corner. The two big factors that determine how quick a boat sells are price and condition. If either is not within reason, it's a hard sell.
 
Spend the money on a good mechanic to get it running again and a good detailer to make it look nice. Then have a couple of brokers take a look at it and let them tell her what they think its worth. If she doesn't want to get involved with a broker then she can look around at some other stuff for sale to try to get a value. The only problem with that is she will probably come across a lot of stuff that might have been sitting on the market for a long time because the seller had priced it too high. It sounds like she wants to get out of this boat, so she needs to get a realistic idea of what they are actually selling for, not what the asking prices are. She also needs to keep in mind that values fluctuate greatly not only on condition and options, but by geographic area too.
 
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