Interesting Topic....
...I have had our Hunter Legend 40.5 for seven or eight years now. I had a Hunter Vision 32 before that, purchasing it in 1990. We loved our Vision 32, but my wife said we should think about our daughter getting married & having kids, and the V-berth in the Vision was tough for our aged parents, so maybe something larger would be in order. One day we were on a Hunter rendezvous in Catalina Island. My wife is latin and we met a Cuban couple there who had the last 40.5 built we were told. My wife went aboard this well-decorated and equipped boat and fell in love with it.Some time later, we were on a YC cruise to Newport Beach. Our guest slip was next to a 40.5. The couple was preparing the boat for a cruise. I told the guy that my wife really loved his boat. He replied that was too bad since he had already traded it in on a 46 Hunter and they were off to San Diego to take delivery and leave the 40.5 with the dealer (H&S).A month later, my wife and I were in San Diego at a conference. During one of the more boring sessions (it was an insurance conference) I skipped out and drove over to H&S to kick tires. I found the 40.5 there for sale and took my wife there the next day. We picked the same broker who had been calling me for years for a sale. Figured if he worked that dilligently, he deserved the commission. The stars were aligned and the boat was ours. However, we had to sell our Vision. I wasn't in a rush since we were recommissioning the 40.5 and getting some new goodies on her. I advertised the Vision 32 locally and dropped by some of the brokerages to offer a brokers commission on a non-exclusive. Interesting, I had a lot of action that week, most of it from the Catalina broker! Then I remembered Sailboatowners.com, on the Hunter site. I placed an ad, got a contact in two days, and sold the boat directly.Of course, we now have a bigger boat and more expense and upkeep. However, we have a second private cabin with its own head. We use it to store the cushions. Our parents have never spent the night on the boat (and won't at their age) and our daughter has no kids nor husband. So, our justification of the 'need' for a larger boat didn't pan out, but we truely love this boat too and it is nice since it's our second home.That's my story and I'm sticking to it...Rick D.