Have a great and safe, "last gasp of summer" weekend on the water, http://speedonthewater.com/commentar...boat-deal.html.

existing boats are worth half of what their owners usually think they are.

Tough to swallow especially if you financed it 8 years ago on a 20 year note.

Very tough to swallow, I agree. But I think it's worth keeping in mind that you don't really "lose" or "make" money on any investment, from an Oppenheimer fund to a performance boat, until you liquidate it.

But if you're in a position where you have to sell ... yeah, you hit the nail on the head, tough to swallow. A very harsh reality.

Seems insane to me that anyone would be crazy enough to finance a toy that depreciates as much as a boat for 20 years..

I dont even get 30yr notes on my real estate, all mine have been 15 year..

I dont however think boats are worth less these days, just that people paid more than they were worth when they bought them.. You make a deal when you buy something, if you buy at the right price its always worth that, if you overpay its a bad deal from day one.Most people overpay because they are not really paying, they are financing becuase in reality they really cant afford something that expensive,,so they only look at the monthly payments, that is until they cant make those and then realized how much they were screwed to start with,by then its way too late

It is all really simple. People still want what they cannot afford.
Steve

yup.

I am buying now and have a budget. That budget is a full cash buy. However i keep getting people wanting to sell me more and finance.......no thanks.

These are toys, you should understand what the actual cost is you can afford. Financing is not the problem, buying over your head is.

prices are really down... but giving away your boat to be able to buy at a steal price your next one, it's probably the same price difference it was 2 years ago... it's only the fact that both boats dropped... the best thing is if you did not have a boat in the last 2 or 3 years... then you can really say you can have a good deal !

Sorry for the lack of photo credit, Tim. Thought I got that shot from Stu Jones at the Florida Powerboat Club.

You must have as I have no record of sending it to you.
The only other person to have images without the watermark would be Stu.
Probably an oversight on his part to acknowledge the photographer when the images are to be used...