Maryline Bossar: Hi and welcome back to full displacement. This is the podcast by current yachts. I'm here today with Amanda Haley. Hi Amanda. How are you?

AMANDA: Hey Marilyn, good to see you again today.

Maryline Bossar: If you're not already subscribed to the Current Yachts channel, now's your chance. Subscribe and you won't miss our future episodes of Full Displacement. We're doing a second take on our most common questions from both buyers and sellers. So without further ado, let's jump into common buyer questions and let's find out what our Yacht Broker in Chief will say to that first question. What actually happens between an accepted offer and closing? Can you walk somebody through those steps in as few words as possible?

AMANDA: Sure, most people don't have a mental map, but basically you find the boat you want, you sign a purchase and sale agreement, you deposit 10 % in escrow, you go to survey and see trial, you accept the vessel after negotiations, and then you close on the boat. Six steps.

Maryline Bossar: Okay, and let's go back to the sea trial that we sometimes call trial run, because it's not always on the sea What should I be doing as a buyer and what should I be asking about when it comes to the sea trial?

AMANDA: Correct. Of course we all like a day on the water, but you're there to assess the boat. And most of the time you are closely following your surveyor and asking him questions. A lot of surveyors need to focus to do their work and don't really want a thousand questions while they're working. But some of them can multitask. It's best just to observe ⁓ a lot of them will point out ⁓ certain things that find are wrong at the time. so that you have an idea, but it's really follow your surveyor. That's my best advice.

Maryline Bossar: And what if the seller wants to run the boat during the sea trial? This can happen, right?

AMANDA: All right, so if the seller is present during the survey and sea trial, which is not often, usually the seller will be hiring a captain to go on the survey and sea trial and run the vessel for him. But if he's there, take advantage of asking him questions about maintenance, history, ⁓ little nuances that every boat has, like in order for this to turn on, you got to go down here to this switch and turn on this. ⁓ know things about their boat ⁓ the sea trial captain may not. ⁓ take advantage of that. ask him about maintenance history, some of the best places to go that he likes. Those are important times.

Maryline Bossar: add as well this is your best chance to verify what kind of usage was made on that boat which is pretty important when you're evaluating maintenance and condition and so forth so I think it's generally a plus you get to have insights into the boat you wouldn't have otherwise. Now Another important question that comes up a lot can create anxiety. We're sending a escrow deposit to an account to basically confirm our interest into a boat and we're kind of not always sure what does that mean? Is my deposit stuck and like not going to come back to me ever under what circumstance can I get my deposit back? What happens if the deal falls apart?

AMANDA: That's a very good question. do get asked that a lot. People are wary about giving a full 10 % deposit. Oftentimes I get asked, do I have to give a full 10 % deposit? Remember that 10 % deposit is your good faith to the seller saying, I am very serious. I am here to assess this boat so that I can move forward. And yes, this 10 % deposit is fully refundable if you have conditions in your purchases. and sale agreement. Most of the time a purchase and sale agreement will have the conditions of personal inspection, survey, sea trial, mechanical inspection, sometimes financing even will be a contingency that allows you to reject the boat for not able to get financing or insurance sometimes even is a contingency. If for any reason you say I'm rejecting the boat for these reasons, you are allowed to get your 10 % deposit back. So really it's a proof of good faith to the seller that you are moving forward to buy this boat.

Maryline Bossar: Can you speak to when deposits don't come in, at least not within the time that would be expected in that purchase and sale agreement?

AMANDA: So usually a purchase and sale agreement delineates how many business days till the deposit has to reach the escrow account. It's anywhere from three to five days. If that deposit doesn't reach the escrow account, the seller is allowed to postpone or delay any future showings or any sea trials just to say, hey, man, you you didn't get your deposit in. I'm therefore not going to let you take my boat out on a sea trial and pay for the captain to get it there. and once again, it's you proving your good faith to that seller.

Maryline Bossar: And if the deposit is not received in a timely fashion, we have learned that this can be a breach of contract. And we're going to let an expert speak to that. have a future episode in the works with the law firm that actually guided the verbiage inside the purchase and sale agreement that is used by the IYBA. That's the International Yacht Broker Association we were just talking about. And so we're going to have lots of good questions around that for them because it's so important to Understand the terms of the purchase and sale agreement and we found that a lot of brokers actually do not even understand those terms So how can they possibly explain them to their clients? ⁓ So ⁓ we want to just take our word for it. We'll have the experts speak to that soon next question The survey came with a long list of issues. How do we negotiate that without blowing up the deal Amanda?

AMANDA: That's where the broker earns their keep the most. I would definitely say this is where the negotiation tools come in. ⁓ There can be five lists of things. There can be a hundred lists of things. A lot of the times I like to just make a spreadsheet, go through the findings, have a column of this is how this is what was found. This is how much it would cost to fix it. And then just have a total at the end. And we go through these things with the buyer and the seller. Yes, OK, I'm willing to give you this off the price of the boat. Or yes, I'm willing to fix this before we close. It's a negotiation. It's a back and forth. Do deals fall apart at this stage? Yes, they absolutely do. And this is where it's very important to know the art of negotiation and when it's important to push and when it's important to pull back. So that's the dance of the brokers. We try to be the middlemen between emotions, between the buyers and the sellers. And our goal is obviously to get the boat sold.

Maryline Bossar: And by that you mean middle women.

AMANDA: correct. ⁓

Maryline Bossar: ⁓ Another thing we're going to mention here is we have a dedicated video in the specifically on how to negotiate post-survey. So if you're watching this episode today and you're not yet subscribed to the channel, subscribe to Current Yachts right now so you can catch it when it comes out. ⁓ It's going to be a really good one. My next question from the buyer's side. I'm buying a boat that is in another state. What do I need to know about taxes and registrations, matters like this? What's the most common thing that you deal with as a yacht broker?

AMANDA: ⁓ and licensed yacht broker in the state of Florida. And I know what is required from my state. I cannot speak to every other state. I would absolutely recommend that you hire a documentation agent ⁓ who is familiar your state's taxes and laws. ⁓ As for the of Florida, ⁓ there is something. you are an outside buyer, let's say you live in Georgia, ⁓ the closing took in Florida and you're going to bring the boat back to Georgia, you are not required to pay taxes in the state of Florida. And me as the broker doing the transaction or current yachts as the broker during the transaction is required to give you a form that is called an affidavit of removal. That way the state of Florida is notified. Yes, the stale took place in Florida, but the boat will not be staying in Florida. So you have 90 days to remove the boat from the state of Florida and send back proof. that that boat left, either receipts from a gas station in Georgia or your slip-ease or some kind of proof that that boat left. The other proof you can send to the state is your actual registration in the state of Georgia. Those things are allowed. Now, let's say the boat needs major work and you can't get out of the state within those 90 days that are allocated. You can actually pay for what they call a 180-day affidavit of removal, which gives you more time to move the boat out of the state.

Maryline Bossar: Right.

AMANDA: So there's a lot of options. Taxes are specific to state and you have to work with your documentation agent and make sure those things are taken care of. ⁓

Maryline Bossar: And to that point, if you're looking for a Marine Pro near you or nationwide, we are going to share down below the link to the Couranyacht's Marine Directory. It's basically the yellow pages of the modern world that we created for you and it gathers documentation specialists. It's going to have freight contacts. If you're looking to ship boat, it's going to have marine attorneys. It's going to have all these contacts, even customs brokers. So take a look at that marine directory and find the contact that you need for the specific questions that you may have. Again, yacht brokers don't always have all the answers, but we're here to ensure you know who to talk to next. At least we make those suggestions, then it's up to you and we start with some suggested names that you can look into. Moving on to the second part of this conversation today, coming from a seller perspective, the question we get most often is, how do I price my boat to sell fast without leaving money on the table?

AMANDA: That is a very good question. That's one of the main things that I do in my first questions to a buyer is ⁓ much do you want ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ you sell this boat? And sometimes ⁓ ⁓ are very unrealistic. And that's where I bring them the reality. ⁓ basically I'll sit down with them and I'll show them, these are the boats that are like yours, comparable boats, that are currently on the market and this is what they're listed for. ⁓ this is how many days ⁓ have been on the So I can show them that those statistics then I'll go and I'll say these are the boats that have sold recently and I'll go into the sold boats report and I'll show them how long it took for that boat to get sold what the starting price was and what it actually sold for how many days later So that gives them a clear reality Sometimes they're realistic Sometimes they need to cut come down from what they thought their boat was worth and then I'll ask them how how aggressive do you want to be? Do you need to sell this boat tomorrow? If so, you need to under price and undervalue your vessel for what I think you should sell it for. If you have time, if you have months to leave the boat on the market, then let's set it right there where it should be, middle of the road, because people are always going to ask a lower price than you're asking price. That's just human nature. So most people, if they want to net something, we're going to say, okay, price it six to 8 % above that because you you're going to have negotiation terms on that. So it's really this dance that comes down to how aggressive and how, I hate to use the word desperate, but that's a reality. At what point do you really need to sell this boat?

Maryline Bossar: another question I should ask here is there's a very important criteria inside of the pricing strategy and how you're going to market the boat and that relates to co-brokerage. We've spoken about this before. ⁓ What is the one thing that you would share with sellers who may not be familiar with this? What would you tell them so they can be educated and know what to ask?

AMANDA: co-brokerage is very important. was actually pointing this out to a client just this morning. On the back end of the MLS platforms that the public facing platform does not see is a little one line item that says co-brokerage terms. Is the boat open for co-brokerage? And people see this. ⁓ Only the brokers in back end can see this. ⁓ And it's basically saying, is there room in pie for me? ⁓ Do I get paid? if I bring a buyer and if a boat is closed for co-brokerage most brokers are just going to say next on to the next because there's no money on the table for them so I really highly suggest that a seller open their boat to co-brokerage which means they are willing to compensate a buyer's broker when he brings a buyer to the table. allow at current yachts we allow our sellers to choose how much that co-brokerage amount will be. We are not the ones that determine that.

Maryline Bossar: Another key aspect of the pricing for sellers is even when a boat is open to co-brokerage, which we absolutely recommend, if a buyer says, ⁓ I want to buy this boat and they don't bring their own broker, the seller will not pay that side of the commission. Even if you said, I'm willing to pay up to 4%. If Mrs. Johnson comes down the pontoon and says, I want to buy this boat right now. she doesn't have representation, the seller shouldn't have to pay for representation absenteeism, right? So we're not going to have that side.

AMANDA: All right. In the traditional model, just for people who don't understand, the 10 % commission is usually split 50-50 between both buyer's broker and seller's broker. If a buyer's broker isn't on the table, they end up keeping that full 10 % anyways. So way we do business with current yachts is we separate the two. ⁓ is how much ⁓ yachts is paid when the boat sells, ⁓ this is how much the seller is willing to compensate the buyer's broker if and only if ⁓ bring a buyer. ⁓

Maryline Bossar: Terrific. I think this is really critical. A lot of people don't understand how this works and they don't realize what the standard is. So a very quick thing you can do as a seller is you can go to the seller calculator on our website. I'll put the link on the screen for you all to find easily. My next question then as part of the pricing, Amanda, what is the real cost of overpricing that some people overlook?

AMANDA: holding cost, 100 % holding cost. Think about it, you have your slip fee, you have your insurance, you have the diver that comes and cleans the bottom every month, you have the boat washer that comes The sooner you sell that boat, that could be thousands of dollars per month, every month your boat sits there. Holding cost is that, thing that people don't factor into their selling price. And then if you do the math of, just would have priced my boat $30,000 less, I may have brought up myself a buyer. Now, sometimes people are so unrealistic that that $30,000 is just a blip and they're willing to sit there and wait for the right buyer to come along. But in a lot of cases, please do know your holding costs per month. And if you want to sell this boat fast, take that off the price and sell the boat fast.

Maryline Bossar: Terrific. And then another question that comes up a lot from sellers. What should I fix or not fix on my boat before I list it to sell it?

AMANDA: Yeah, that's a good one. Really good one. So get your boat compounded and waxed, please. When you show a milky white boat, it just doesn't show well. Declutter the vessel, pay for that, pay for someone to come in and clean the boat. The other thing that really makes a difference is if the boat can pass the sea trial, just make sure that your oil is changed, that the impellers are changed. Do the normal maintenance so that the boat will perform well. it will go to the standard RPMs of the engines, that it will pass a survey and see trial. That is the number one thing to spend money on. Upgrading this or that... redoing the cushions and the canvas and things like that. Don't spend money on those things because you're not going to see a return on that. You want your boat to perform well at survey and present as a clean vessel. That's it. Then sell your boat and let the next owner decide how he wants to upgrade it.

Maryline Bossar: And can you share what we're talking about this besides the boat's appeal, visual appeal and condition, what else is important to selling a boat?

AMANDA: Another key thing to have is your file of maintenance ready to go. If you can present that to a buyer and say, here, this is the last time I changed the oil. This is the last time I had the boat bottom painted. the buyer that you have upkept the boat well.

Maryline Bossar: What about those foreign boats?

AMANDA: Ah, and the foreign boats. Please do locate your CBP form 7501 to prove that duty is paid.

Maryline Bossar: And we'll leave another follow on video for you all to watch about this matter because it's very important. My last question, Amanda, this also comes up a lot in various scenarios. And the question is, should I my boat with a broker or can I do it myself? The so-called FSBO route, the for sale by owner, which is also very common in real estate. Can people do it alone?

AMANDA: For some people, the for sale by owner or FSBO route is very feasible. Some people who have sold boats before, multiple boats before, know the drill. And if they have the time to show the boat, they can absolutely sell the boat on their own. And it does come down to price point as well. I hate to say this, but brokers are usually only involved in transactions that are above $200,000 because the money that they make is just not enough for them to spend the time. It honestly takes just as much time to sell a hundred and thirty thousand dollar sailboat as it does a million dollar boat. So obviously for those reasons brokers are going to want to get involved in transactions that offer them more compensation and it does take just as much time.

Maryline Bossar: And we should remind our audience, we're obviously YAR brokers ourselves. what does a YAR broker actually do for this commission? Before we go into why it sometimes makes sense to go the FSBO route. Can you remind us, what does a broker actually do? Are you just looking for the boat and that's it, your job's done?

AMANDA: No, that's usually the easiest point. And to be honest, Most of time it's the buyer who I want to go look at this boat and brings the boat to me. That's the easiest part. ⁓ Where it comes down to the broker earning his commission ⁓ is the tools, the negotiation tactics, ability to show market analysis, research and data, ⁓ their within the industry, who they know. ⁓ Okay, ⁓ when ⁓ the AC is broken, it costs this much to repair it, and here's the guy that did repair it for me or my past client last month. That is where a broker earns his commissions, his actual connections and knowledge of the industry. A lot of people will know these things already or have the ability to search it out themselves. Some people will not. They will not have the time and they need the guidance. So it really just depends on the type of person that needs this help.

Maryline Bossar: Very good point. So I guess now is the time where you could share with our audience what we have been working on to supplement our offer as brokers. What else have we been working on in the background?

AMANDA: We recognized early on when we started Current Yachts Maryline, that there was this segment of the market, a large segment of the market, to be specific, 96 % of boat transactions are not with a yacht broker. Only 4 % are with a yacht broker. 96 % go for sale by owner. And they are the smaller price point boats. So that's why we started fsboat.com ⁓ Foxtrot Sierra Boat dot com. T. encourage you to check it out. ⁓ We've incorporated a of cool things into this and it is to speak to ⁓ the segment of market ⁓ that really doesn't a yacht broker. ⁓

Maryline Bossar: And it's a platform, as we're going to learn here in a second, does much more than just listing boats for sale by private sellers, again, to the FSBO name. ⁓ you tell us what else ⁓ will find there?

AMANDA: so embedded a few things into this platform that we think are super cool. Of course, ⁓ we've really specialty tools. We've got safeguards that keep you from getting scammed, ⁓ and got guidance to be able help you. ⁓

Maryline Bossar: So what do mean by safeguard to start?

AMANDA: Safeguards for one ID verification. We're gonna make sure that you're not speaking to some scammer in Nigeria who's wanting you to send a deposit for his boat ID verification ⁓ done a platform it says ⁓ you are who you say you are ⁓ and that is very important. It's not a barrier for you to browse boats, but if you do want to come and either sell a boat or make an offer on a boat, you have to be ID verified.

Maryline Bossar: So speaking of offers, can you share a little bit more about the tools that are available inside the FSBOAT platform?

AMANDA: Sure, ⁓ We have embedded escrow to make sure that your money, even though some of these transactions are ⁓ 30 to $80,000, that's a significant of money. ⁓ It's not just a, here's $5,000 ⁓ transaction within the driveway. It's enough that you want to have an service protecting ⁓ you. So we've embedded that service the platform as well. The survey is a great tool that I ⁓ You'll get your survey report back and it'll have a whole list findings, ⁓ but you may not know how much it is for those findings be mitigated. ⁓ So you run it through there and the AI deckhand tool that have created ⁓ will be able to say in your area, a new bottom job is X or through-hull fittings are this price and it'll make and create a list for you and then have it go back and analyze the survey of what is the most important.

Maryline Bossar: And even going one step back, it would even tell you if those findings are actually pretty normal for that age and for that model, because as a new boat buyer or buying this kind of boat for the first time, how would you know? And if you don't have broker guidance, going to now not be on your own, even though you don't have a broker. So speaking about guidance, since we're getting back into that now, tell us more about Deckhand.

AMANDA: So we've created an AI agent, Dex is her name for short from Deckhand She has all types of market knowledge and boat sales knowledge and we encourage you to give Dex a try.

Maryline Bossar: And if you're stuck, where else can you get help from?

AMANDA: That's us. Good old fashioned yacht broker on call. So for a small fee, you'll be able to set a 30 minute block with a licensed yacht broker and speak to an actual person.

Maryline Bossar: Love it. So where do people go to check that out then? One more time.

AMANDA: it is fsboat.com F S B A T dot com. ⁓

Maryline Bossar: Love it. Thank you for your time Amanda and sharing this exciting news with the rest of our audience here today. can't wait for you to check it out. If you need a yacht broker, you can call Current Yachts, but if you don't want a yacht broker, you don't have to, there is fsboat.com Thank you all for watching. Have a great day and we'll see you on the water. Fair winds.

AMANDA: Fair winds.

Maryline Bossar: A buyer skips the sea trial to save time. Good idea?

AMANDA: With rare exceptions, I not recommend it.

Maryline Bossar: Seller wants to stay aboard while selling.

AMANDA: Allowed? Definitely not recommended.

Maryline Bossar: should a seller disclose known problems before listing.

AMANDA: It is an absolute legal requirement.

Maryline Bossar: And what is the one document that sellers almost always forget to have ready?

AMANDA: CBP form 7501.