Typical Cost of Cruising

[Doug Burton]

Walter

Clearly you are making it, but another get rich, buy a house no money down and flip it for twice what you paid thing? Maybe that's how you did it, maybe it's real, but it looks pretty suspicious. Anyway , back to the topic. I'm planning on moving aboard this spring and selling the house. I'll keep my job till I have enough commercial rental property income and secure CD intrest to give me at least $1,000 a week ($700 after taxes) to live on. The big fear is cooling it in a cool tropical place, loving life, then finding out health ins is going to $1,000 a month and moorage the same in US dollars. Insecurities, YES, I got em. But once I quit I ain't going back. I've been a trucker/diesel mechanic 30 years and know I could make money fixing peoples broken stuff, but I don't want to. The point is to start something different, live. God bless you but how some of you cruise for 6 months and work for the next 6 months gives me chills thinking about it. This may have just turned into therapy on how much I hate my job and why I only run the diesel two minutes to get out of the slip.

 

[Larry14223]

Doug

I appreciate your feedback but I'm not too sure what you mean by "suspicious," Doug. I'm on your side, brother!The used sailboat market is an unregulated mess (aka "opportunity") and always has been - Prices are all over the charts, sellers get frustrated and dump their boats like unwanted stepchildren, and buyers have a really tough time financing anything over 15 years old. And those are just some of the highlights! We consider too that1) Ownership and maintenance costs are sharply on the rise2) Slips are at a premium in many of the more populated areas3) Surveyors are private contractors at the mercy of brokers (clearly a conflict of interest) Here's a not-so-tricky question:When a sailboat has been on the market awhile (3-12 months is the average) and a Seller becomes frustrated... What are the first 2 things they usually do?Lower the price and cut back on the advertising budget, right? When we put it that way, it seems like the wrong thing to do - and it is - but that's the reality for most sellers nonetheless.So if all you did was buy 'that' boat and bump the price back up, except this time you market it correctly - and make sure you connect with the qualified prospects who are actually willing, able and serious about purchasing 'that' type of boat, then you can pocket the difference. Let's turn the same question inside out:When a Buyer is looking at a boat but the price is too low, or less than what they would expect, what's the first thing that comes to mind (typically)? What's wrong with THIS boat? So right off the bat, you can see there are two (2) sides to each transaction. For the investor, it presents two 'ends' of a deal, both ends of which can literally be 'stretched' into an optimum Return. Often, that's enough right there to create something close to 100% ROI. There is nowhere near enough space here to cover the subject in detail. But as the old saying goes, "Opportunities are simply Problems turned inside out." Fact is, once we learned the ropes we discovered there are a lot more profitable boats available than there is time to flip them. And we're not talking about beat-up project boats either. You're up on the Chesapeake I presume - it's one of the best places in the world to find and flip boats. If all we did was buy boats in Annapolis/Solomons and sail them down to Deltaville, VA or Norfolk to resell them, it would be like a full time job.I know this to be the case because I did just that for many years before the cold winters finally got to me and I moved my business further south.Yes, what we do can be very similar to real estate investing, but one huge difference is that almost nobody else is doing it. Flipping sailboats has its own set of rules and idiosynchrocies that 'joe blow' or even 'joe yachtbroker' will probably never take the time to learn and apply. They could of course, but they won't. Plus, I'd rather outfit and deliver a sailboat than fix drywall or deal with contractors & subs anyday. But hey that's just me. I'm not out to convert you. The important thing is that you have a desire and a plan to make cruising work for you. I'm all for that! Commercial RE, boats, bank CD's or whatever else can be converted back into the kitty for provisions, equipment, entertainment and spares. Originally I didn't get into flipping sailboats as a way to make money - I started off just trying to find a solid cruising boat that I could afford and then work my way up from there. I knew if I 'waited' until I had all my ducks in a row, I'd never leave the dock. And then what it evolved into from there is what I'd hoped to share on this post, for those who are of a similar mindset and want the info. Because yes, if you want to go cruising and you don't want to wait, it can be done. Fair winds and much success to you,Walter ParhamAt Anchor... Dinner KeyiBuySailboats.com

 

[sailortonyb Allied Mis]

What Hype

I looked at 'iBuySailboats.com', didnt see anywhere anyone was buying anything, I certainly didnt buy into it. All you do is sell books.

 

[Larry14223]

Oops!

Tony - I must have really offended you in order to receive such a hostile reply to my post. Clearly I struck a nerve. Sorry about that! Are you a yacht broker or something? I never said I was selling boats on THAT website... it's just for info. We use numerous other sites (with their own domains) to sell our boats. Flipping boats is not for everyone - It's just another way to afford cruising without having to wait. Just this afternoon I saw a beautiful Baltic 33 on eBay... It's down in Puerto Rico and the current bid is 10K. I'm guessing it'll finish at $14 or $15K. Somebody's going to fly down there, sail her back up to the states and double their money. Better still, they'll have a terrific cruising adventure, perhaps a month or two or three, and the whole deal will be expense paid... Compliments of their business venture... and with a little help from Uncle Sam as well. There are a lot of folks who want to know more about how to do this sort of thing, minus unnecessary mistakes and tough lessons we call 'experience.' That's why we publish the info - it's a unique investment niche for those who are passionate about their boats and want to earn a living doing something they enjoy. Fair enough? I hope so.Sincerely,Walter Parham1-800-814-8865www.iBuySailboats.com