"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
ups.com...


It's very wise for the seller to remain out of the loop as much as
possible, particularly in the early stages. The entire personal
chemistry thing between broker and buyer is critically important, and
the fewer "personalities" a skittish buyer has to deal with immediately
after the first nibble on the hook the more likely things will come to
fruition.
The cleanest and easiest deals are those where the buyer and seller
*never* meet.


You'll get a kick out of this.

When we decided to sell our Egg Harbor a couple of years ago an interested
party contacted our broker and arranged to see the boat on a Monday morning.
He was traveling from out of state for the meeting.

Sunday afternoon ... the day before the showing ... the perspective buyer
showed up with his wife at the dock. They had driven up early and were
going to have lunch at the nearby restaurant before checking into a motel.

I was on the boat and heard him calling out ... "Hello". We introduced
ourselves and then had a somewhat awkward moment, both thinking the same
thing. Finally, I broke the ice and invited them to come aboard and take a
look. We ended up spending the entire afternoon going over the boat, stem
to stern with me answering his questions. (fortunately the boat was only a
year old, so there were no major modifications). He then asked if we could
all go for a short ride. This request I politely turned down and suggested
that we wait until the broker meets with him in the morning. He understood.

Anyway ... he gave the broker a deposit first thing in the morning which
made the broker's jaw drop until he heard the story. A survey was done a
couple of days later with me in attendance in which the boat was hauled and
then re-launched. (The buyer also stayed for it). We did a 1 hour sea
trial the same day, and the deal was done.

The broker who also sells used boats offered me a sales job. (kiddingly, of
course)

Eisboch