My wife & I were
very serious about buying a trawler that turned out to have
been sunk.


Wayne.B wrote:
And of course the seller just sort of forgot to tell you...


I don't think he forgot, but I think he didn't know the
whole story... in fact I think 'deliberate ignorance' would
cover his approach, since he is not required to disclose
what he doesn't "know."

Actually the shiftiness of the broker was already setting
off alarm bells.

This boat did sell, two or three years later. I sometimes
wonder who bought it.



My biggest concern is that the surveyor will miss a major problem that
doesn't surface until after the deal has closed. You really don't
have a lot of recourse other than suing the surveyor, seller and
broker but it will take a long time to resolve and in the end you may
collect nothing.


I don't think the surveyor is liable, quite frankly. If
there was something major and that would be extremely
obvious to a competent professional, you might take a swing
at it.

Another thing is, most people are already reluctant to pay a
surveyor for a full day of inspecting. And most people are
more interested in whether the hot water works. So if you
don't write a blank check & say, "take as much time as you
need to thoroughly inspect absolutely every single thing on
the boat," then the surveyor can rightfully say that the
buyer did not cover his bets.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King