Sorry for the late reply, everyone, I've been a little tied up with other important things (wife, kids, Easter visits, etc). There seem to be a number of remarkably different views on this topic, I guess people's own experiences have influenced their positions. You're going to laugh at this, but this morning I called my bank (the Royal Bank of Canada, which is Canada's main bank), and I asked for information on their escrow services, and the rep I was speaking with said "what do you mean by escrow, can you spell that for me?"! Even after explaining the entire process of buying a boat with an escrow account, the rep didn't seem to know what I was talking about!
I guess I will use common sense and do things carefully:
1) start with a first visit to visually inspect a potential purchase
2) discuss with the seller to see if a sea trial can be done otherwise a detailed inspection by a boat inspector, either of which I will pay for myself. I only have experience sailing a very small and simple dinghy, so I'll need to ask the seller to show me how to raise the mast, set up rigging, set up sails, launch and retrieve using trailer, etc.
3) completion of a bill of sale and transfer of ownership
4) visit by the seller and myself to my bank in order to sign the bill of sale and transfer the money to the seller's account.
It's still pretty cool here in Montreal and the boating season hasn't quite started yet (it'll probably start around the beginning of May as the temperature gets milder). I'll keep you posted on my progress! Thanks again everyone!
Alex
I guess I will use common sense and do things carefully:
1) start with a first visit to visually inspect a potential purchase
2) discuss with the seller to see if a sea trial can be done otherwise a detailed inspection by a boat inspector, either of which I will pay for myself. I only have experience sailing a very small and simple dinghy, so I'll need to ask the seller to show me how to raise the mast, set up rigging, set up sails, launch and retrieve using trailer, etc.
3) completion of a bill of sale and transfer of ownership
4) visit by the seller and myself to my bank in order to sign the bill of sale and transfer the money to the seller's account.
It's still pretty cool here in Montreal and the boating season hasn't quite started yet (it'll probably start around the beginning of May as the temperature gets milder). I'll keep you posted on my progress! Thanks again everyone!
Alex