What are you looking for?

I'm not a boat appraiser/surveyer but I would say the market is what people are paying for boats rather than what they are asking. Bongo, I would say people are just dreaming and they are totally upside down because they bought the biggest boat they could get a loan for.

With respect to NADA and all of the boxes to add options, I think that is a bunch of BS. When I was shopping there was one particular boat that I looked at and gave an offer with deposit and the broker scoffed at my offer. The broker actually had the audacity to email me an NADA list with every box for options checked in order to get him to his asking price. This included things like K-planes and verious other options that are standard equipment on a 36' performance boat.

I began to discern motivation on the part of sellers and how much they were in the boat for and whether or not they were willing or able to take the hit necessary to see the deal through. Persistance does pay off.

Good luck and I will keep my eyes open!!

I know the market is soft, I've had my 29' for sale for a while and haven't received too many real offers, but if it doesn't sell by summer looks like the wifey will get it.... she really would like a small cruiser but I don't need four boats....LOL

I would like to sell it but it's not just in dry storage and not costing me anything but insurance and storage...

I vote for patience. My thinking is there will be a correlation between the burst of the housing bubble and great deals on used boats. The home values seem to be "sticky" on the way down, boat prices might be "sticky" as well. But in the end I (and I am often wrong) think reality will prevail.

A local dealer here in NC said they normally offer 10-20% below NADA or BUC for trades b/c those guides tend to be a few months behind the actual market by the time they go to print.

Of course they failed to metion how they respond to that same formula when one wishes to buy a used boat from them!!

here in Jersey...dealers use NADA trade less 20% when appraising a boat. boat market right now is similar to the housing market...people are burried (especially those that bought new) rates are up slightly over same time a year ago and the market is on a decline.

I think that boat values are dropping in my region quite fast because it's one of the largest assets that someone has that can be pulled to a different region. You can't move that house that you can't sell in Michigan. It's stuck right there. So, what do you sell? The boat.

There is a very nice 35 foot Mistress sitting south of Detroit for 39k with trailer. A few years back that would have been the price for the hull. This is fully rigged and ready to launch.
Crazy.

I've got 2 boats for sale, my ocean express cat and a 30' proline sport fishing boat, no activity on either one and i believe their priced fair and below nada. Im beginning to believe that their worth more in parts than in whole,reminds me of a movie with danny devito that bought companies and parted them out !!

I wish I could get a good deal on a Apache 28 or a Pantera 28, thier are some good Pantea's out thier bit I think prices are a little high, compared to the market

I'll keep shopping. I think NADA just gets you in the ball park and I also compare it to BUC value which is what we used when we loaned on boats. Seemed to have the closest value. Also look to see what the average price is for listings.

Now I can understand asking $250K for a 20 year old apache, there aren't many around. May not get it but would be a lot more likely than a production boat that there are 20 other of the exact same model for sale competing.

I guess I just expected to see prices take about a 20%-25% drop from last years asking on used boats. I figure not including the first year that a boat loses about 8-10% a year from the prior years "values" until the boat gets about 10 years old then levels off. Given the economic state of the union I was figuring another 10% to get something moved or about 20% less than last years asking price. So a boat priced at $150K, that didn't sell at that price last year would need to be around $120K this year to realistically move it.

Again this is on a common boat that at any one time there are 10-20 of the same model for sale for a more limited model I can understand not quite the hit.

Am I way off base on this?????