Convoluted

[Light air]

My avatar and in my previous posts, I talked about the '85 Hunter 25.5 that I was getting ready to finish the deal on. Things have changed. It seems that the current owner had the boat for 12 years. The original owner signed the boat over to him and he never put it in his name. Now there is a problem. DNR wants to charge him back to when he first bought the boat - several hundred dollars worth and it's going to take some time to verify everything.
This is getting very convoluted and I'm pretty sure that I am going to back out of this deal. There are a lot of other boats out there without issues - including an '82 Catalina C22 that is in better shape than the Hunter.

 

[dmax]

Go for the boat in better shape, you won't regret it.

 

[Tally Ho]

Bummer. If the seller wants to sell her, he will need to fix the title issue (Or whatever it is).

May not require you to bail on the purchase if he can get things straightened out…

Good luck…nothing worse than getting a boat in your heart and head, and the losing her…happened to me once.

Found a boat I really liked, but waited to make an offer until my son picked his college…when I called to make the offer, the broker told me he sold it a week earlier.

The story did have a happy ending though, in that 4 years later, the guy who bought it emailed me that had moved and wondered if I wanted to make an offer! I still have her….my O’Day 322.

The only downside is that whenever I mention a bigger boat (I still think I have one more 37-38 footer in me), the Admiral reminds me that the O’Day ”is the boat of my dreams”…and that I whined for months about losing her…

I kinda shot myself in the foot…


Anyway, good luck. I hope it works out for you.

Greg

 

[sail sfbay]

So the Seller has not paid property tax and/or registration since he bought the boat? If it is the boat you want be patient and let the seller work out the details with the DNR to put it into his name. I feel your pain, as I have a similar situation with a RV I agreed to buy on Dec 15............seller has to clear the lein on it obtain a clear title and cannot do that until he returns from overseas on Jan 15.

 

[Light air]

There were a lot of other things that were adding up. In the 12 years that he owned her, he really only did the bare minimum of maintenance. He never pulled the boat out to clean the bottom, he never took care of the sails, and a bunch of other things that I was overlooking but glad it worked out like this.

 

[rgranger]

There are sooo many boats on the market this time of year. Use this time to make a spreadsheet of favorites and a point system (maybe 1-5) and have fun shopping while you wait.

you would have to have to make your own catagories but for me these are the things I look for in a used boat (I’ve bought and sold 9)

condition of the sails
Condition of the motor
Condition of the trailer
These first three have become the most important to me… other stuff is cheap to fix but these three are expensive.

Draft
Condition of the cushions
Condition of electronics
Cleanliness
Overall layout

 

[Joe]

The fact that the current seller never obtained clear title indicates a lot. None good. Move on. He is likely going to try getting you to cover the additional cost, which you won't, of course. Yep.... move on. Find a seller that is moving up to a larger boat and may offer your after-sale advice.

 

[Light air]

I did move on - to an '82 Catalina C22. I believe the Hunter owner did nothing in the last 12 years of ownership as far as maintenance. He just used the boat and when it started to show, he put it up for sale for the next owner to fix. I was blinded by the cheap price of a 26' boat and overlooked so many things. The last straw was when we were supposed to meet to complete the deal and he didn't have anything in order.

 

[Ward H]

Glad you moved on. I like @rgranger s idea of creating a spreadsheet to grade categories of potential boats when boat buying.

 

[jssailem]

Sounds like you were saved by disorganization. Who knew.

Moving on will prove to be a fortunate event.

 

[markwbird]

Bummer. You probably should walk. I doubt you're getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth on this.

 

[rgranger]

I did move on - to an '82 Catalina C22. I believe the Hunter owner did nothing in the last 12 years of ownership as far as maintenance. He just used the boat and when it started to show, he put it up for sale for the next owner to fix. I was blinded by the cheap price of a 26' boat and overlooked so many things. The last straw was when we were supposed to meet to complete the deal and he didn't have anything in order.

Nice! Have you closed the deal? Pics? We love pics.

 

[Light air]

The boat is being delivered tomorrow. The pics are from the seller taken this past summer

 

[rgranger]