BDiggity

Getting ready for our a big for us boat purchase. My question revolves around determining the value of the boat for financing. I look at nada to get a ballpark idea, but was told the survey would determine the value. If this is case, what would a surveyor use for their baseline? Is it like house appraisals where you keep getting it done by different people until you get the number you are looking for? This is all new territory for us in the boat world.

Ryan8886

The surveyor will generally base the value first on the condition of the vessel as it relates to it's age, appearance and structural integrity and then compare that to some form of reference such as NADA or BUC to assign a fair market value for the region you live in.

As for financing....which source is used varies widely depending on where you are in the "food chain". For older boats with smaller loans (like mine) most of the big dog lenders you see on here aren't able to help. I ended up going through a local bank, however it wasn't easy. Most banks and credit unions I dealt with would finance ONLY what NADA said it was worth and NADA was running about 10K lower than the market around here. So be sure you know what your options are with your lender before you go hunting.