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|  How can you give free dockage? Bradford Marine Yacht Sales is a subsidiary of the world's largest undercover yacht repair facility. We have extensive dockage located on the New River in Fort Lauderdale and can offer this free dockage when we have a central listing. The normal rate for dockage is $1.25 per foot, per day, this rate is waived, the dockage is free. There is no charge for dockside services, including water, trash pick up, and 24 hour security. There is a charge for electricity, but even that is reduced by 50%. Our 24 hour watchmen are trained to listen for bilge alarms, and to check the waterline of all yachts stored here, besides controlling access to the docks. This is a great deal for a seller who wants to keep a boat for sale in the Yachting Capital of the U.S. At $12.50 per day for electricity, that means it is only around $400 per month to keep a yacht with 50 amp power, undercover on Fort Lauderdale's Marina Mile. **************************************************************** Working with Brokers What is a Buyer's Broker? Most yacht brokers work like real estate brokers, we sell each others listings on a co-brokerage basis. When a boat buyer finds a broker who they feel is knowledgeable, honest, enthusiastic, and understands the buyer, they often want that broker to act as a buyer's broker. A buyer and the broker can build a relationship so the broker knows what to look for when searching for his client. The broker has no vested interest in getting any one boat sold and will try to find the boat that fits the buyer's needs. What is a Seller's Broker? The broker represents the seller, plans the marketing to achieve a sale, advises the seller on what needs to be done to make the boat in saleable condition. The broker will deal with all other brokers in giving information about location, condition, price changes and more. When an offer is made the broker will negotiate for the seller. The listing broker will prepare bills of sale and will assist in sea trials,surveys and all peperwork for a closing. Is a broker required to be licensed? At the present time only California and Florida have license requirements for yacht brokers. Both states require a background check, mandate the use of seperate escrow accounts, and require that brokers be bonded. Who can be a Certified Professional Yacht Broker ? The Certified Professional Yacht Broker program was inititiated with the assistance of the major yacht brokers professional associations throughout the US and Canada, consisting of the Florida Yacht Brokers Association , The California Yacht Brokers Association, The Pacific Northwest Yacht Brokers Association, the Yacht Brokers Association of America, and the Ontario Yacht Brokers Association. The program was designed to allow the boat buying public an easier way of finding a broker who has had a certain number of years experience, and has passed a test on transactions, state and federal laws, international broke,erage laws, and technical knowledge. As of June 1, 2008 there are only 474 Certified Professional Yacht Brokers. I became Certified in April of 2008, to let my clients know that I have strived to increase my own professionalism. In Broward County, FL, the area around Fort Lauderdale, there were 1100 licensed yacht salepeople and brokers, and only 25 were Certified Professional Yacht Brokers. What types of listings are common? An OPEN listing is one that allows the seller to list the boat with other brokers and reserves the right to sell the boat himself, without any obligation to the listing broker. With an open listing, the broker may work or not work on a co-brokerage basis. The owner does not make a committment to a single broker, and the broker does not make a committminet to the owner. If an owner lists his boat with many brokers, and the prices or information are not the same on all of the listings, then buyers might wonder about the credibility of the seller and brokers. An EXCLUSIVE OPEN is when the seller lists the vessel with a single broker, but reserves the right to sell it himself.The broker can place the boat on many of the internet multible listing services but not all. The broker can make the boat available to other brokers for a co-brokerage sale. A CENTRAL or EXCLUSIVE listing is when the seller has an agreement with a single broker to represent the vessel. Most often the vessel is available for co-brokerage and the listing broker will deal with all other brokers in the seller's behalf. A very high percentage of sales is by co-brokerage. The owner has thousands of brokers who may sell the boat but only has to deal with his listing broker. Should I contact the listing broker directly? Many buyers want to contact the listing broker directly. That broker should have the best information about the boat, should have personal knowledge of the boat, know its condition and the motivation of the seller. However many buyers want a broker to represent them in the purchase. If you are working with a buyer's broker to represent you, it is best if that broker contacts the listing broker first, and often can get information that may not be given over the phone or internet to a stranger. Another way is for the buyer to tell the listing broker immediately that they are working with their own broker, and the listing broker knows that he will be dealing with a professional. I live outside of Florida, how can a Florida buyer's broker work for me? Most of my clients live outside of Florida. Many times a client will contact me and we will discuss by phone and email many of the clients needs for a yacht. I want to know how the yacht will be used, how often it will be used, how many people will often be on board, what areas will be the regular cruising grounds and more. We discuss this and more, to narrow the choices that will best fit those client needs. I can then inspect some of these yachts, what we call a broker preview, to find out the true condition of the yacht. I can contact the listing broker and find out the motivation of the seller and other information. This way when the client comes to Florida we do not have to waste time on yachts that do not fit the clients needs. What about my deposit? To make an offer that a seller takes seriously, the buyer needs to make a deposit and sign a purchase agreement. The deposit is held and not deposited into our escrow account until there is agreement between the buyer and seller. The escrow account is seperate from all other accounts of The Shipyard Group and is regulated by Florida law, The Shipyard Group and all of our brokers are bonded and licensed by the state. Since the The Shipyard group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bradford Marine, the buyer has the assurance that the deposit is secure. Bradford Marine is a multi-million dollar international company with close to 200 employees and was founded in 1966. **************************************************************** Where can I do some online research? There are some boat related chat forums online that have a lot of information. I participate in a few of them, answering questions from boat owners and would be boat owners. My username for these sites is YACHTBROKERGUY, that's how the name of this website came about. Some of the forums are geared towards smaller boats, but the three that I suggest are: **************************************************************** Surveys and sea trials, who pays for what? The buyer pays for all of it, except the cost of a captain if the seller can not be there. The seller must get the vessel ready for sea trial with enough fuel on board, charged batteries, dinghy motor operational, all options on board and everything working. The buyer pays for a surveyor and with larger boats should have an engine survey done also. The vessel needs to be hauled out of the water and usually the surveyor wants to have the bottom pressure washed, to be able to determine if the vessel gets to the proper top RPM. If the propellers are covered with barnacles or other growth, the seller might pay to remove them. The cost of all of this varies with your location, and is best determined with local surveyors and boatyards. How do I find a surveyor? There are two organizations of Marine Surveyors, NAMS and SAMS, and they both have websites. Boat US also has a list of surveyors accessed through their website. I suggest talking to a few surveyors and asking them the types of vessels they survey, how long they have been doing surveys, if they are an associate surveyor or acreddited, how much they charge, how soon will they have a written report for you. Ask the surveyor to send to you a survey that he or she has done on a similar boat so that you can see what the report will look like. *************************************************************** What taxes do I pay? I am not a tax accountant or attorney, so I can not advise on tax matters, but I can write about the State of Florida. Florida has a program for non resident buyers who do not intend to keep their vessel in Florida. No tax is due if the vessel is removed from Florida within 10 days, and a $20 decal allows the vessel to stay for 90 days. As off July 2009 the laws have been changed to allow a new owner to stay for for an additional 90 days with an additional $425 fee. Forida needs proof that the vessel is documented or registered in another state, but does need proof that any taxes were paid there. The vessel may return to Florida after 180 days. Shall I do a foreign flag? There are too many variables here to give a short answer, but the main considerations by some buyers may be to avoid sales tax, others want limits to liability, or want the privacy of an offshore corporation. One of the main things for buyers to consider when concerned about sales tax is to compare it with the long term costs of foreign registration and restrictions on having the vessel for sale in the US. A good maritime attorney will be able to advise a new owner what will work best. | |
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