Maryline: So let's dig into some of these examples that are quite telling about lead generation not really working from the Yacht World platform because we've, this week, noticed a huge uptick in spam leads that Yachtworld has been mostly to control. And that's huge time drain for us. We're trying to represent listings for sellers and entertaining scam and spam leads. Who's got time for this? Welcome to Full Displacement. I am here with Amanda Haley and my name is Marilyn Bosser. Welcome everybody. We're here to share some specifics about the marine industry that you ought to know, whether you are a buyer or seller or potentially somebody working in the industry and trying to figure out exactly what is going on.

Amanda Haley: They're very sophisticated

Maryline: So Amanda, tell us a little bit about what we're going to be doing today as far as pulling the curtain goes. How aggressive are you gonna be about spilling the beans on Yachtworld?

Amanda Haley: Well, this is the dirty side of yacht brokerage that we might expose a little bit today. And you know, we discussed this Marilyn. These are things that we think buyers and sellers really should be aware of because it affects the industry today and if they're going to keep more of the equity in their assets or not. So that's why we're here.

Maryline: how can you even tell a lead ⁓ is potentially a scam before you even try to What's ⁓ what's the dead giveaway? And so, and so really we're here to give you the facts and then you decide how much of this you care about and whether or not you want to ask more questions. That's on you. so quick preview of what we're gonna talk about today. There's three parts in this conversation. ⁓ the first one I call ⁓ yacht world versus brokers, and we're gonna break this down for you. The second is co-brokerage tactics that may hurt you, and actually probably do, but you do not know in what way, so we're here to show you how.

Amanda Haley: another one ⁓ is the phone numbers often have too many numbers or too little numbers as well. ⁓

Maryline: the biggest problem that our industry is facing is actually the sold boats data vanishing before our eyes and it's impacting everybody. And not doing anything about it yet as an industry, and we hope that that's coming. So let's dive into it. So there's too many digits in the phone number because they just are putting a random number in there. Yep.

Amanda Haley: many digits and the phone numbers are too little. Yeah. Too little digits.

Maryline: World versus Brokers. if you've watched this podcast now for some time, you may already know that Boats Group is the parent company owns Yacht World and Boat Trader. They had become the industry MLS for Yacht Broats. Brokerage they are starting to lose their grip on the market. ⁓ summary, I'll share that some brokerage companies and dealers really believe that Boats Group is abusing their position of dominance in the market. They've applied outrageous price increases that have driven many of their subscribers, brokers, dealers, away from the platform. And that means is. Listings are now more fragmented than ever, right? Amanda, you want to speak to that a little bit? Some of the platforms that exist today, lots of competition, right? It's hard to find listings.

Amanda Haley: the ⁓ needed know about the yacht? Also, why are they selling it? a very common question that buyers want to know. So I then again, and you can see here ⁓ as I'm going through, hey, I just checked the vessel again now. I think it's not bad, ⁓ it will It's yeah, before you used to go to one platform and you would see all the boats listed. It was a central MLS like real estate has. And you could also trust some of the data that you saw there. Now you have to go to seven or eight different sites to find boats that are for sale. No longer can you just go to one central area.

Maryline: Mm-hmm.

Amanda Haley: So great here you can see that the verbiage of the English is not quite correct there so great to make a deal happen. I would love for a physical meeting ⁓ on sometimes this week or next week. let me know what time would work for you. And before that, do you mind? And here's the big scam: ⁓ us getting on a Zoom video call I know I am dealing with the right person before driving down next week. So the call to action is always

Maryline: Yeah, and we saw that as a result of this fragmentation, the industry started their own listing platform, an initiative called Yachter. we actually published a paper to tell yacht sellers about this. And so if you want to better understand how the old platform dominance ⁓ crumbling and how it's changing things, I invite you to download it. I will put the link ⁓ in the description below. So ⁓ getting too far off track here.

Amanda Haley: a Zoom call where you click on their link.

Maryline: The main thing that I wanted to address with you here in this segment around Yachtworld the value is not really there anymore. As far as lead generation, Yachtworld's power is eroding and quickly. There's a lot of ways now to generate leads and a lot of the habits of yacht brokers advertising on Yachtworld may also change because the quality is not there. Can you speak to the spam threat that we're seeing today in our inbox every day?

Amanda Haley: Yeah, ⁓ and this is where we want to be very factual. we're here to show ⁓ on why things are changing. So ⁓ other day I received eight leads one ⁓ brand new boat that we had just listed.

Maryline: And I'll go ahead and share my screen so that our viewers can see those examples. But if you're driving right now and just listening to the podcast in audio form, you can refer back to the video of this podcast on YouTube. So And I know we've brought this up to Boats Group. Do you care sharing what they have done to address this? When we report those fake leads, what happens?

Amanda Haley: Sure. Yeah, they you know they definitely get back to us right away. ⁓ I can't say that they don't. ⁓ and they just say our dev team is looking into this. Our dev team is looking into this. and it, you know, I I filled their inbox this one particular day and just said, scammer, scammer, scammer, scammer, and kept pointing out to them that the leads that they were sending over were scams. So here are some telltale signs to me as a broker when I get a lead in my email box that show, hey, this person may not be real. Number one would be when the telephone number is actually my phone number. ⁓ so that's the example we're showing here.

Maryline: Yeah, that one would be pretty obvious, right? So the takeaway here for sellers is Yacht World doesn't work as well as it used to, we can tell because we advertise all of our listings in various different platforms because of the fragmentation we pointed out earlier. And it's not the prime place to list, and in fact the quality now is so poor that we're wondering if this is worth it. the takeaway here for sellers ⁓ ⁓ World doesn't work as well as it used to, we can tell because we advertise all of our listings in various different platforms And it's not the prime place to list, and in fact the quality now is so poor ⁓ that we're wondering if this is worth it. yeah, there's another example that you've called on to me, which is the way that the inquiry is formulated. So ⁓ perhaps you can talk to the phrasing that's being used here. I I can share that our expense for working with Yacht World is about six thousand dollars a month, and that's that's not pocket change.

Amanda Haley: One of the odd things that you'll find is ⁓ we're here for a quick cash purchase. ⁓ they don't ask any questions about the boat. They want to get to the point, there's a potential cash purchase, we're in a hurry, ⁓ kind of that quick language that makes you think they're in a rush or that you could get a cash deal. ⁓

Maryline: And we know that there are other brokerages out there who feel that same pain and have already decided to pull out because the cost isn't justified anymore. So another thing that I believe is gonna throw the industry for a tailspin here is the fact that we learned recently

Amanda Haley: Those are the telltale signs. Also, you can see there that I responded to them and two minutes later at eleven twenty-nine, ⁓ and the time zones are off here on this example, but basically it was a automated response because it came within thirty seconds of me sending the original return on inquiry.

Maryline: Yeah, and a lot of the things we see too is odd typos or what looks like broken English. And there's nothing wrong ⁓ with English not being your primary language. I would know this, but in general there are some weird phrasing, right? once you've reached out to the person, ⁓ I wanted to pull out this very specific ⁓ attempt to scam people. Can you share the WebEx or the Zoom link trap?

Amanda Haley: Yeah, so the trap is the way they scam you is they have you click on a link that they give you for a meeting site. It's always, hey, you know, I want my wife or my partner to be involved in this conversation and they're not with me right now. So can I send you a Zoom link? Most of the time it's definitely Zoom. Now they've gotten more ⁓ sophisticated and are saying, ⁓ we'll have a Google meet, we'll have this link. But they're the ones sending you the meeting link. As soon as you click on that meeting link, that's when they have access to your computer and that's where the scam happens. ⁓ So you to be very aware ⁓ of that The whole point ⁓ is that will respond and get you to click on their link. ⁓

Maryline: And again, these are leads that we're wasting our time following up on instead of working with real leads for the seller's benefit. that Yacht World is offering its listing service to private sellers, sometimes called FSBO for sale by owner. Which that's a line was never crossed before by Boats Group. Yachtworld was always an exclusive platform for dealers and brokers use as stated on their website. And I'll show you what that looks like here.

Amanda Haley: yeah, one of the things I wanted to point out is these scams are not just via email. there was one that I called on and it it came via text and you can see, ⁓ why don't you show that example right there, Marilyn, that the response was not ⁓ An automated email, it was actually a text. And you can see, ⁓ thanks. Is this vessel still available for sale? Yes, what would you like to know? I would like to know more about the yacht. they give you sophisticated language, right? Why are they selling? ⁓ The normal questions that you would

Maryline: ⁓ If you go to Yacht World right now and look to your boat, ⁓ it will actually prompt you to find a broker. That's makes because Yachtworld was developed to support broker sales. But if somebody is very encouraged to sell by owner, they have to read through this fine print, click this link, where they're passed on to Boat Trader. But something different is happening today.

Amanda Haley: So we see a lot of examples. I mean, I even called one of these leads. The leads answered with the name that was on there. And he had a very strong Nigerian accent, And he said, Yes, yes, ⁓ my wife is not with me in the car now. ⁓ Could you please join on a meet or a another meet? I will send you link. Now, as soon as you push back and you say, I'm sorry,

Maryline: Yeah, absolutely. There is a little bit more than just passing on a private seller to boat trader and that's the line that we learn is getting crossed. Amanda, do you want to share the example that came up this week?

Amanda Haley: Sure. And Marilyn, maybe you can show in the back end of what we see. You know, Yacht World and Boat Trader are the public-facing platforms. We pay for access to the back end of those two platforms in something called Boat Wizard, as you can see here. And there used to be a big disclaimer on Boat Wizard. And if you can show that verbiage there, Marilyn, it says Yacht World only accepts boats for sale advertised by brokers. would love to host a meeting with you, ⁓ you have to click on my link. ⁓ disappear. They know you're not going to get scammed and you never hear from them again.

Maryline: Right.

Amanda Haley: And dealers. Okay? That used to be the case, and it is still stated to us brokers on the back end of the platform that we pay for called Boat Wizard. we recently learned about this when a of ours who is under a buyer's representation agreement to help him find a boat through our services at current yachts, that he was specifically looking for in Nordhoven. And here you can see it listed on Yacht World for private sale. And that never was the case before. So here is also another example of a private listing on Yacht World. There are what, how many now, Marilyn,

Maryline: There's eighty-eight boats. ⁓ Boat Trader, when you do that same search for sale by owner has over ten thousand boats, so a very small subset of those boat trader listings are actually prompted to upgrade their listing to World. And you can see this is a small test. And of course, we actually talked to Boats Group about this. We called him out and said, wait a minute, what is happening here? And so when we asked They were actually bold enough to claim this practice would help us and be a funnel for us. But we actually kind of explained to them that's not a funnel because even in the back end of Yachtworld, again called Boat Wizard, if I search for these private listings, which I'll show you right here, you can't access the contact information. So we go to advanced search ⁓ and we unhide the private sellers. And I'll give you an example. It was ⁓ there was a saber. So let's look for that saber offered for sale. ⁓ it was backhoof.

Amanda Haley: I think it was a backcove. A back cove. Yep. A

Maryline: And the backcove listed privately is ⁓ in this case I was a 2014. So if I search for this boat in the back end, if this were a funnel, I would have their contact information. And as you can see, there's no contact button. ⁓ any other listing listed by a broker, you contact a broker. Here, there is no contact. to contact a private seller, so they're not really helping us.

Amanda Haley: So if it truly was a funnel, it then we would be able to call them and pitch our services as a broker. But we can't.

Maryline: So this is still being talked about with Boats Group. They are really assuring that they take our feedback in consideration. But the fact that this was kind of tested without even their client base being aware is it's not a great sign. Now, we understand that things can change, but we also understand that this is a huge threat to the brokerage community. And when other brokers find out that this is how this exclusive tool is being utilized, the Yacht World site namely, I don't think that they will give their marketing dollars to a firm that only generates spam leads that really is not trying to keep that as an exclusive tool for the brokerage community.

Amanda Haley: is it is no longer a place where dealers and brokers are licensed professionals will transact. It is now a mix of just everyday people selling their boat now ⁓ offered ⁓ on a dealer and only So ⁓ times are changing.

Maryline: And also these private sellers are exposing themselves to the spams and the scammers that you've just revealed earlier.

Amanda Haley: we're used to being able to weed out these scammers and recognize the signs. And some of these people ⁓ will now ⁓ have threat of And now Marilyn, you once tried to list your boat ⁓ on boat trader, correct? what happened with you with the scammers?

Maryline: Yeah, I was ⁓ prompted to go buy this report. ⁓ it's like a they wanted to sell me like a a Carfax for my boat. ⁓ there is no such thing. ⁓ I also got some calls of very aggressive brokers that were trying to get me to list with them, so that wasn't a good experience either. It's not it's not good. And again, Yachtworld being a partner of the brokerage community, the way to handle this is not that.

Amanda Haley: Yeah, absolutely. I I it's the death of of a brokerage

Maryline: Well, I don't want to spend too much time talking about the shortcomings of Boat Trader, but the one thing I will say is because we are helping our clients as well with private listings, every now and then we reach out to listings ⁓ from private sellers in Boat Trader. And when we do ⁓ it kind of looks this. You make your inquiry, you connect with somebody. ⁓ it's just really an and you can't even go back to the boat that's being Like you can't. And That's just not a great experience. So that together with no guidance actually offered and the exposure to and scammers, ⁓ there's actually an alternative. Current Yachts has helped develop a platform where buyers and sellers can transact safely if they prefer not to use a broker. And it starts with ID verification. So I'll share an invite link to the new FSBOAT platform. It will give you free trial access to test the platform, and so check the description and and tell us what you think. So It's time to move on and talk about the sold data black hole. ⁓ it's a big one, right? We had said this is how the conversation starts: whether you're a seller and want to know how to position your boat for sale, or you're a buyer and you're trying to make an offer that's fair and is in line with the market.

Amanda Haley: That's a big one.

Maryline: This is critical data, Amanda. You use it for sellers and you use it with buyers. Can you explain quickly why comps matter?

Amanda Haley: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when people come to me and they say, Well, how much is this worth? The first thing I go to is to check what's on the market currently, and then I also check sold boats data. And I'm not the only person that checks sold boats data. Customs checks sold boats data for trying to valuate your ⁓ import duties, and also surveyors, that's the only place they go to make their third-party valuation. And there's only one source for it. Yeah.

Maryline: Yeah, so I'm showing here an example of what the boat wizard, ⁓ the back end of yachtworld shows for sold boats. You can ⁓ drill into this data by year, you can search by manufacturer, and you can just really get a good sense for what boats are selling for for a particular brand or for a particular model. The challenge is we've noticed that a lot of the sales are no longer being reported. And that is a fact because When you are the listing broker, you turn off your inventory to signify that a boat has sold. And you do so by going to your existing ⁓ listings and you mark them as sold. And when you do, you will be prompted to share what the boat actually sold for. Okay. I acknowledge that this information is accurate and I understand the data will be part of Soul Boats.

Amanda Haley: Yeah, We recommend and ⁓ most brokers, ⁓ this is what we base our whole business on, is the truthfulness and the accuracy of this reporting.

Maryline: Yeah. So Amanda, what happens then when we click off the sold box here?

Amanda Haley: Yeah, so you have choices. ⁓ when a boat is sold, you have to go and take it out of your inventory. And oftentimes you might not click on the off sold. when a boat is sold, you have to go and take it out of your inventory. And oftentimes you might not click on the off sold.

Maryline: Here's an example of a boat currently listed by current yachts. ⁓ what does that all mean?

Amanda Haley: Yeah, so basically when a boat is sold, you can click on the down at the very bottom, off sold, okay, and you're prompted to enter when it's sold, how much it's sold for, those types of things. And that little box at the bottom basically is the disclosure that you're saying, yes, this is truthful information. So this is on the broker's honor to this out accurately. ⁓ I can tell you that oftentimes a broker ⁓ instead of clicking the off and sold button will just go to ⁓ ⁓ off inactive.

Maryline: So you're saying that a broker can just delete or turn it off and not provide the sales data. ⁓ And we've heard that this is because brokers are starting to get rebellious ⁓ against the Boats Group platform and true? So you're saying that a broker doesn't have to mark it as sold. They can just delete or turn it off and not provide the sales ⁓ And we've heard that this is happening because brokers are starting to get ⁓ against the Boats Group platform and Monopoly, true?

Amanda Haley: That is correct. That is correct. And I and we're not just speaking here saying what we've heard or hearsay. We have ⁓ real life that we can show you. And we know this because we aren't the listing brokers on these sales. We happen to represent buyers ⁓ on two very, very sales. One was a 2019 Leopard 45 that closed ⁓ on May 11th. ⁓ here is the

Maryline: It's not there. We

Amanda Haley: Okay, just example. ⁓ We sold another 2017 ⁓ Lagoon 42, closed on May 14th. And once again. ⁓ Plenty enough time for that brokerage firm to catch up, mark their inventory, sold and here's how we know this happens. The inventory is no longer on Yachtworld, okay? But there is Yeah, or deleted or whatever. They've chosen not to put this ⁓ information into the sold boats data report.

Maryline: So they've ⁓ s chosen the inactive option as opposed to sold. Very good. That's a big problem, Amanda. another thing I've caught too is on another boat that was just sold by Current Yachts where we brought the buyer, the boat actually was reported twice. Self-reported from the original listing and seemingly a duplicate. And it's not really clear why this is happening. I only saw this one example when I pulled up ⁓ this Sabre 40, but in most cases it's not duplicated. So Again, if the broker doesn't do it correctly or if they don't do it at all, ⁓ the data gets skewed and it's not it's not a good result for for everybody involved really.

Amanda Haley: the irony is Florida does collect accurate ⁓ sales data ⁓ on every yacht transaction. The knows, but guess The industry doesn't.

Maryline: yeah, and we can compare this to real estate where again the data is much more open and shared. It's public data. On boats it's not. And that's a real problem because we have major gaps and holes ⁓ and yacht sales have limited regulation. And there should be a way to get to this data and make sure it's available to everyone.

Amanda Haley: Yeah, and you know, it this is damage today, but it's also downstream damage that's not quite recognized right away. So you have inflated or uninformed valuations. You'll have survey disputes, right? You'll have customs problems of people saying, Well, my boat isn't valued at that anymore or my Boat is now taxed at a much higher rate when it's not worth that. And buyers and sellers are making decisions without real market data, and that is where we suffer the most. ⁓ Unfortunately, I was really rooting for the IYBA's platform, yachtter.com, to really come in and challenge this, but they have no ⁓ ⁓ boats history ⁓ data. ⁓ unfortunately, this is a lot of the reason ⁓ world is keeping a lot of us yacht brokers because that is the only place we can have ⁓ kind of history and data. ⁓

Maryline: Yeah, so we're we're definitely feeling a little stuck. ⁓ and it matters because again, buyers and sellers, your brokers' comps are based on incomplete or manipulated data. So definitely ask the questions. ⁓ in doubt if you become aware of a boat sold that's very similar to yours and it's not available in the sold boat report. Try to find out what that boat sold for. It's very hard to do. ⁓ and as Amena pointed out, this will impact the industry and other professionals, not just yacht brokers. But that effect will be more felt later. And that's why right now we're not doing anything about it, I guess. It's just not an easy problem to solve. But we wanted you to be aware of it. this one is pretty close my heart, and I'd like to make sure we address this third part of the conversation today about things that may affect a boat sale that you are not ⁓ perhaps familiar with and how co-brokerage impacts a sale. First of all, Amanda, what co-brokerage and why does it matter? Because some do not know. And we can show examples on the back end because it's not always visible to the public what is open for cobrokerage and what is not. So first off, what is co brokerage?

Amanda Haley: Co-brokerage is basically where two brokers work together. They share the commission that is set aside by the seller. And ⁓ they both share in that commission and they get the boat sold together. That's co-brokerage. Current yachts has ⁓ challenged the industry to the traditional co-brokerage terms, which are A 10% co-brokerage commission set at the time of listing with the listing broker or the listing agent, and then that is usually split 50-50 by each side. The buyer's broker or the what they call the selling broker, and then the listing broker. We have decided, current yachts, our model is different.

Maryline: So I'm gonna put on screen here the standard IYBA listing agreement for all to see. This is where the commission is set. And it's interesting because this is hard coded verbiage. This isn't just, hey, enter your number. The IYBA guides, I suppose, that the commission should be set at ten percent. Is that pretty much how you're reading this, Amanda?

Amanda Haley: Yeah. Yeah, there is really you have to manipulate the system. That is not a box for you to choose anything other than ten percent. It's very clear there. And it also says any cooperating or sublisted broker or brokerage called co-brokerage involved in the sale shall receive its fee from the brokerage. So it doesn't delineate what the terms of that split will be either. It's very vague in that. It's just a flat overall 10% commission that the seller will pay when the boat is sold.

Maryline: Yes. And it's up to that listing broker generally to establish a split and to have an agreement signed at a time an offer is made to confirm to the broker bringing the buyer, this is how this commission will be split. Correct? Now.

Amanda Haley: Yes, and this is not ⁓ usually signed by the seller at all. It is always signed between the two brokers.

Maryline: So the seller doesn't know how the commission is split, which is often the case too with real estate.

Amanda Haley: Not a

Maryline: Okay. Now, in the current yachts listing agreement, you will see different terms. We've actually adopted the IYBA agreement, made some revisions, and made sure to replace what is a guided commission of 10% with what we call our selling expense, which is a flat fee agreed upon at time of signing of the agreement. ⁓ And that is just compensate. Current yachts, because if there is no buyer side broker, the seller doesn't have to pay for it. But we separate out the agreement for co-brokerage at the seller level. So that's novelty. Nobody else that I know does this. We say, hey, for us listing and selling your boat at closing, you will pay the selling expense versus a 10%. ⁓ if a broker the buyer, You have to decide how much you're willing to compensate that broker. So that's a separate section of the agreement, which is spelled out later on. Now, Amanda, can you explain how reciprocal co-brokerage comes into play here? And it's been really difficult for us to make sure the industry understands we're not a standard split. There is no such thing as a 10% commission split in the middle. We let our sellers choose. And what have we noticed?

Amanda Haley: Yeah, I think we need to go back here and show how brokers work and give an example. when you're a broker, you have access to, like we said before, Boat Wizard. And the public-facing platform of Yacht World doesn't show this information. You can see it here in red on the screen. You we have access to something here ⁓ you don't get to see. We get to see how many days the boat has been on the market down there at the bottom circle. ⁓ can also see who the listing broker is, their contact information. But one key feature right here that you see is you can see that the boat is available for co-brokerage. ⁓ it doesn't set the terms of How much that split is going to be, but it tells the other broker that hey, there is room here for me to make some money. This boat is open or available to co-brokerage. So the next thing I would do as a broker is call listing broker and say, Hey, tell me about the boat. Are there any disclosures on this vessel? ⁓ anything I should be aware of. And at this point, they'll tell you what the co-brokerage terms are. And oftentimes ⁓ these will be reciprocal. So, what that means is if you offer a 60-40 split, when you're representing the opposite way, it'll be a 60-40 split. And brokerage houses got in these tussles back and forth. Well, you know, Dennison yachting gave a 60-40 split, but we're gonna give them a reciprocal 60-40 split when we're working on the other side. The traditional has been a 50-50 split. Sometimes it has been offset, but most of the time the requirement is that the broker, the buying broker, will do his part. He'll show up to the survey, he'll show up to the showings, and he'll do his part ⁓ in the escrow money and coordinating the closing. And that is what ⁓ is in order to have ⁓ full and that full 50-s50 split.

Maryline: Yeah, and I wanted to add that you're not going to have all listings on Yachtworld open to co-brokerage. For example, here we just pulled up the boat wizard for anything listed today without any filters applied. There's about 152,000 listings. If again, as a broker, I have access to this tool, I go in and I look for co-op, meaning boats available to co-brokerage. When I check this box, The search results now come down to 53,730. So roughly about a third of all listings are open to co-brokerage. That's pretty eye-opening, right? Now, knowing that about two thirds of all these listings are not open for co brokerage, what does that mean to you if a buyer brings you a listing and you find out there is no co brokerage offered? What does that mean?

Amanda Haley: Well it means that me as the broker, there's new room in that for me to get paid. that doesn't matter so much at current yachts because we have a buyer's representation agreement that says that the buyer will me for my services. If there is no room there ⁓ and is closed to co-brokerage, that's okay. I'm still gonna get paid, not by the seller, but by the buyer. So there's the difference at current yachts. most brokerage at this time ⁓ don't buyer representation agreements. ⁓ So they're tempted to do is then up some excuse on why that boat ⁓ shouldn't be to their client because they know and this client see the fact that this boat isn't open to co-brokerage. They just see it listed on Yacht World and then they wonder why is my broker not ⁓ showing me this most ⁓ brokerage houses ⁓ don't have representation ⁓ what they're tempted to do then make up some excuse why that boat ⁓ shouldn't be to their client because they know and this client can't the fact that this boat isn't open to co-brokerage. just see it listed on Yacht World and then they wonder why is my broker not ⁓ showing me this boat? Now we ran across. A very, very interesting thing that happened recently. We listed a boat for sale, it is for co-brokerage, broker from a certain company us and said, what are co-brokerage terms? So we therefore said, this seller has chosen to compensate you, the buyer's broker, 3% for this boat. And then we got this response from the broker.

Maryline: Good morning, Amanda and Marilyn. To keep things above board, I thought it best to ask you directly rather than reaching out to Blank, even though we were texting recently and he's an old client. If Blank would be willing to offer us a 5% co-brokerage commission on his Sauna, I would be happy to present it to three clients I'm currently working with. As you likely know, we have a fairly strict policy at this company, and I'm unable to promote, present, or represent any brokerage listing below a 5% commission structure for this company. Let me know your thoughts. Now, what happened then?

Amanda Haley: so we contacted the director of this company he was very forthcoming with us to say yes, this was something that was required in the past, but now ⁓ we willing and able to work with you. And came to an agreement with this firm that if they bring us a buyer that seller with permission and spelled out ⁓ very well would up ⁓ the regular commission was willing 4% instead of in this instance.

Maryline: So that's a really good point. So if you are a buyer and you're looking at a particular boat and it's not something that ⁓ is available for you to now you you know why. Now I always say, listen, at the end it's a math equation. Somebody is paying for the commission, and somebody is expecting to pay the commission, somebody is not. These are conversations you have up front with your clients. in the example of that particular firm, I simply suggested to the broker initially: well, if you feel like you must

Amanda Haley: Yeah.

Maryline: Earn your firm the 5%, that's a conversation you have with your buyer. It's just math. And his response was, that's just too much friction. That's fine, but this is just a change in how the industry is going to move forward we need to be creative. Boat math can be a little bit tricky, but I'm gonna share one example in regards to co-brokerage, because Amanda and I have discussed this many times. In the event that we are working to represent a buyer and Coron Yas, again, as you stated earlier, does all the things a buyer's broker is supposed to do, we are expecting, of course, to share evenly in the commission because we're doing our job there should be no change in co-brokerage term from the other side, depending on who brings the buyer. That's just not how the industry is supposed to work. And yet, ⁓ a ⁓ Brokerage firm decides to apply reciprocal co-brokerage because they inquired previously on a listing from Current Yachts where co-brokerage was only offered at 3 or 4% and they feel sour about it. I want to show you how this actually hurts the seller. So let me share my screen. In this example, we're looking at the impact of co-brokerage on the seller's bottom line. As you realize by now, a seller pays the buying broker's commission out of the proceeds from the buyer. So when the listing broker changes the commission split, say to 70%, it impacts the buyer's side commission due to current yachts. I will show you how the math works out. Let's imagine an offer $380,000 a boat where the commission Again, driven by the listing broker using a traditional 10% compensation structure would yield $38,000. Splitting the commission down the middle, 50-50, means that both sides of the deal will keep the same compensation. The buyer's side compensation, which again in our agreement may be set to 5%, means we're compensated directly from the compensation already set aside by the seller, if that makes sense. Now, the buyer Sign an agreement with us. Because co-brokerage is there to compensate us, the buyer net is simply their offer of 380. They don't have to pay current yachts extra. We're already paid for our services through co-brokerage. Now, what happens when a broker decides to offer a different split? This is where the math comes into it. When the listing broker decides to reciprocate a 3% commission to current yachts or 30% of the total commission, that means they are keeping 70%. And this will show you what happens to the net on the buyer and the seller side in this scenario. If our buyer has to come to their pocket to supplement the compensation offered to make 5%, which is our term in a buyer agreement. Then they owe us an extra $7,600. And so their net is upped by that amount and they're at a loss here. But what we do instead is we coach our buyers into making sure that their offer reflects the fact that they have to come to pocket to pay us and adjust the offer accordingly. When they adjust their offer as such, it actually comes down about 2% price reduction. And when they do so, They come to a buyer net that is about the same, $380,000. So we did the math for you. If a buyer wants to set aside the 5% for current yachts without having to come to their pocket and netting the same amount of money, guess what happens? The seller actually loses 2%, or in this case, $6,700. I this makes it clear that to maintain the same net, the buyer had decreased their offer, which hurts the seller, ⁓ all the listing broker didn't want to share the commission 50-50. And what we're trying to explain and show you here by example is that fair co-brokerage terms ⁓ are the business of buyers and sellers. So please ask questions and find out what is going on with your broker if you feel like something is being not shared with you or you feel like something is happening to the deal behind your back simply because the co-brokerage terms are not something you're normally privy to.

Amanda Haley: Yeah, and it comes to transparency, which we're all about in current yachts, is ask what are the co-brokerage terms? And does this vary between different brokerage companies? Denison or Galati or HMY brings me a buyer, what are the co-brokerage terms with them? If a smaller brokerage firm who does all of their part brings ⁓ buyer, are there different terms with them? ⁓ ⁓ it's transparency and it's arming you, the buyers and the sellers, with the knowledge of what What happens behind the scenes that you may not be aware of? And that's what we're all about here. And you can see here that that example actually affected the seller.

Maryline: And the other thing too is sometimes commission splits are not a result of reciprocal terms. They can be, as you just pointed out, some of those names, larger firms that feel that they're unlikely to have another deal with you in which do I this?

Amanda Haley: the fact that we weren't going to reciprocate as much business with them. So therefore they felt they were justified in keeping the majority of the ten percent or more of not the majority of, but more of

Maryline: So that's really taken advantage of the small brokers.

Amanda Haley: It is taking advantage of the small brokers and it is a smart business move when you're the bigger shark in the room. You get to eat more. It's very simple. and this is where the whole idea of reciprocal terms came to play because the big brokerage companies threw around weight ⁓ and said, ⁓ I'm gonna offer reciprocal brokerage terms. And the smaller companies felt and the companies kind of over each other. And the other companies just said, well, let's just do a 50-50 split down the middle so we don't have to get in this fight. But that is where reciprocal terms came to play. And here we're seeing it it's all across the board with current yachts because we don't decide what the split is. We put it in the hands of seller to decide. And so therefore we're taken out of the equation. The seller, if a buyer ⁓ is by another brokerage firm, the seller decides how much they're being compensated. ⁓ Us.

Maryline: ⁓ We really hope this episode helped open your eyes as to what is going on. It can be little complex, but I feel like the more people know, the better it's going to be ultimately for the industry. There's a lot of things going on. We just wanted to share in our world ⁓ of current yachts disrupting the brokerage industry and the aftermath and who it hurts in the end. So It is not an attack on individual brokers, not at all. It's really a call to raise the floor for the entire industry and find solutions, particularly for the sold boats reports. we're here to support you, buyers or sellers, if have any questions, you can reach out to us. Change is coming. We know our clients are demanding it. So we're here to help. If you have any questions, contact below. in the description and we'll see you on the next one. Fair wins.

Amanda Haley: Fair wins.

Maryline: Now we have a couple listings updates that Amana wants to share with us. Can we start with Encantada?

Amanda Haley: Yes, I am really excited about this vessel. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's a 2022 Beneto Swift Trawler 41 that's located up in Daytona Beach. It is a gorgeous, really well prepared boat that is ready to go to the islands tomorrow. Please check that one out.

Maryline: Okay. And what other recent listing are we particularly excited about?

Amanda Haley: Also the Siona forty seven, right on Fort Pierce, west coast of Florida. ⁓ is a beautiful boat, really well cared for by its owner, and it's the owner's version.

Maryline: Terrific And we have another listing that came to us recently called ⁓ escape. That's a Leopard 43 in my neck of the woods in Galesville. It's a really great starting cruiser for a family that's looking to sail away. offered at $250,000. That's also a new listing of current yachts. And then moving on to some recent price adjustments. Amanda, what can you call out for us?

Amanda Haley: Alright, a recent price reduction is on Rhapsody. This is a really phenomenal 2021 Lagoon 52 located in Grand Bahamas for under $800,000, $799K, and I can tell you this would be a charter machine.

Maryline: Beautiful bow the bottom actually was just redone and ⁓ it's awaiting your visit.

Amanda Haley: Here is also another price reduction ⁓ down in Placentia, Belize. This 2020 Lagoon 40 ⁓ is now under 400,000 at 399 This is an incredible boat in a great tropical location. ⁓ If you're ready to set sail and go to the Caribbean, you should consider this one.

Maryline: Alright, into Roundup Price Productions, we have this Oceanus 38.1. ⁓ it's located near me as well in ⁓ Harrington. And this is a beautiful boat, completely set up for cruising, almost offshore ready. It's not missing much. It's got the slab reefing that people love. It's got the two-cabin layout with a larger bathroom layout and separate shower stall. ⁓ a must-see if you're looking to buy a ready-to-go cruiser racer at $2.24. So check out current yachts. slash boats for more listings near you. And if you're looking to buy or sell a boat, make sure to check out the Kern Yacht resources. ⁓ go straight to the website, and then under free downloads, you'll get access to a ton of resources to help your next decision process to buy or sell. ⁓ And finally, check out the Marine Directory. This is where we share with you some of the best contacts in the marine business, whether you're looking for an insurance provider or perhaps a surveyor. The due diligence is on you, but we share our contacts that you can find the help you're looking for right here on the Coronel's website.