NADA and determining boat value

[robertsapp]

The other side of your argument is that you've been trying to buy a boat for a year using the NADA pricing and are still looking.

Would you sell your current boat for what NADA says it's worth?

I actually don't plan to pull the trigger until next spring. But I suspected that the best buys on boats next spring could very well be the ones that were listed six to 18 months prior, so I started compiling a list of boats that caught my eye as they came on the market to track them over time. That's when I noticed that if the boat came up for sale but was listed at something around the NADA value, it was gone in a week or two. If it was overpriced according to NADA, it's still on the market months later.

And yes, when I look up the value of my current boat on NADA, I believe it seems to be a perfectly fair price. Maybe the numbers are more accurate for Hunters because so many were made. I'll certainly listen to what my broker tells me would be a fair market price, but in the final analysis, when I consider my slip payment, insurance, bottom maintenance, utilities, etc., it costs me at least $500 to $600 a month to own the boat even if nothing breaks. So when I want to sell it, I'll want to SELL it, and not hold out for 18 to 24 months to get some price I know the boat is worth, but end up having to eat an additional $8K to $10K in monthly costs to do it. Listing at NADA and having it gone in a week or two works very nicely for me.

I value the opinions and discussion. I'm coming to suspect that there is more validity in looking at NADA values for some boats, not so much for others. I'm not in the Sabre/Caliber market. I'd love to be, but I also love not having to work for a living and being able to pay cash for everything. So I live in the Hunter/Catalina/Beneteau world, where it seems that my observation holds true that $NADA = Sold boat, >$NADA = Boat sits on market a long time.

It definitely sounds though like having access to this soldboats thing would be nice to have.

 

[robertsapp]

My final word on NADA and value

I've known for a long time that I'd someday write a blog post on this subject. Well, someday finally came. Here are my evolved thoughts on the subject. As you'll see, they haven't changed very much!

http://www.lifeonthehook.com/2014/06/06/broker-dilemma/

 

[vtsailguy]

So in related news, I have a "2% condition" Tartan 41 that will go on the market next summer

 

[justsomeguy]

2% meaning...?

 

[vtsailguy]

Boats maintained in tip top shape, or what I call 2 percenters, (the top 2% of boats) often sell in hours or days for top value but this is still a steal!

^^

 

[justsomeguy]

^^

Ah, thank you. I was searching robertsapp's blog post for the term, when all I really had to do was search this thread...

Tartan 41, eh?

 

[25yearslater]

I personally wouldn't put to much faith in an an automotive dealers book. My own case is peculiar in determining a value for a 1976 Oday 27. The original insurance value was placed at 1900.00 which for those aware relegates YOT to a museum. While this price would be reasonably accurate it doesn't reflect its' value as an operational museum piece in new or better condition. With a knowledgable agent the declared value was fixed at 19,000. While this is still below the total cost of the restoration which ran close to 26,000 with four new sails (Main, 100%, 140% and Asym) it is far from anything close to its' actual replacement value as would be determined by sweeping generalizations that mass market data would reflect.

 

[Maine Sail]

As I mentioned earlier I have sold three Catalina's all quickly and all at above Soldboats.com average values... We also sold a production diesel power boat at high average for Soldboats and did it quickly.. Those are the "real" values of those boats NADA was not even in the ball park.

We have had two boat loans, back when money was basically free and we were making more in the market, and both times the lender used surveyor/Soldboats.com for value determination. We no longer have a boat loan but last summer we were offered well above Soldboats.com for our current boat... This offer was more than 3X what the NADA value is. I have never seen a CS36 sell for even close to double what NADA has it at. If anyone knows of a CS36 selling at NADA let me know and I will snap it up for parts...

 

[robertsapp]

I thiink y'alll are getting a little too fixated on the whole "I don't agree with what NADA says" issue. As I mentioned in my blog post, free markets determine fair value. No matter what the guides say, if you quickly sold a boat at or near your asking price, it was fairly valued. I would wager though that for every such example, there are five to ten boats for sale that have been sitting on the market for a year or more. They are not selling because they are overpriced, and they are overpriced most likely because the seller is taking a broker's word for fair value based on something he/she saw on soldboats.com, without considering how long it took to sell. The main point of my blog post was that I don't think a lot of brokers are doing right by their customers by suggesting selling prices that don't result in a sale in a reasonable length of time.

I guess if there's a point I'd like to see discussed, it's not whether NADA is a good guide (actually, BUCValu seems to be preferred by banks), it's whether you truly should expect to have to spend one to two years trying to sell a boat as so many do, or if it isn't really just a reflection of the fact that so many brokered boats are just way overpriced.

 

[25yearslater]

I suppose we could get into topics of elastic and inelastic demand and a host of other economic terms which will lead us nowhere. At some point we will reach the intrinsic value where the material used in its' construction will exceed the workings of free market fairies when referred to as a boat. At this point it ceases value as a boat and gains value as a commodity. As with any open system quantifying value (an abstract term) is infinate in its' complexity.

 

[Chris Patterson]

I guess it all boils down to is 'what the market will bear'. It matters not what it is 'worth', and no such figure exists in reality.

But it sure takes a bonehead to sit on an overpriced boat, whilst it eats usually $300.00+ a month while waiting. It amazes me every day how some people seem to be unable to do simple forth grade math..

 

[THECUSCUS]

Here is a CS36 for you Maine

1979 CS 36T, shoal draft model. Already in paradise and docked in Roatan (2 hour flight from Houston). Live aboard in a tropical haven on the dock for $250 a month or cruise from here to Belize, Mexico or Panama. Delivery to the US or Canada an option.
Located in roatan honduras, Outside United States.
For information, call: 504-3211-9955
View Contact Information and Full Details »


Length: 36' Year: 1979 Asking: $24,900

 

[ifmdalvey]

Personally, i would not even waste time looking at NADA, unless i was in the market for a 18 foot dinghy on a trailer - i think they might just accurately reflect the trailer value.
Your broker is the answer, he has access to sold boat values, what they actually achieved, not what was being asked. I would listen to the professionals on this site, but there again, things might just be different down south.

 

[jssailem]

Getting a broker to tell you the sold prices of boats seems to be counter productive to the brokers interest and that of the boat owner he represents. There is no real easy way to gather that info. It is not like real estate where the numbers are public info when recorded with the local county office.

 

[jssailem]

Unless you wanted to pay the large fee to the Yacht Brokers for access to "Soldboat.com"

 

[Rich Stidger]

Soldboats.com is the industry pricing guide/datsabase.

Is there anyway for boat owners to see the data on this site or must you be a dealer?

 

[jssailem]

When I contacted Yachtworld a couple of years ago...
http://www.yachtworld.com/boat-content/media-kit/get-started/
I learned with enough $$$ you can get access. They have a pretty secure site. At onetime I heard there were some hacked passwords online but doubt they functioned for long.