Curiouser and curiouser...
The world has kept turning since this original post a week ago, and there
have been some developments.
"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
message hlink.net...
Well, as those following the saga know, we've settled on a Morgan 46,
whether shoal, deep, ketch, sloop, inner forestay or other configuration,
as
the layout and other specs so nearly meet our direct design parameters.
(clip)
So, at about 4:30 PM on 2 January, we made our third boat offer (the first
died on the vine, the second was the subject of a post about buying a boat
but giving it back).
The owner, apparently, is currently out of town, so we have no word yet on
our offer. Like every other offer, much can happen between offer and
closing, so we're not yet getting our hopes up - but from what we've heard
from the listing broker, this certainly looks like it will be our boat...
They came back with a slightly more than 10% reduction, which is still about
that much away from what we're comfortable to pay for that boat, so, I asked
for some more information and followup from our broker. That didn't happen
in the week or so since I sent it off, so...
Yesterday, the broker on the extensively rehabbed boat - "Miss Munley" -
http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...60&slim=quick& -
which started this process (put us back into M46s) called and said that,
yet again, the listing broker had called him soliciting *any* offer.
Supposedly, the seller calls *her* every day wanting to know about what's
happening. He sez, pushing, make an offer, saying - "I asked her, even a
really low offer? - She sez, Yes!" so I asked what he'd recommend. It was a
third off. Of course, I knew it would never fly, but we did it, anyway. In
between, I'd asked him to send me a copy of the sold M46s from YachtWorld's
Boat Wizard that the brokers can see but we can't. By looking at the raw
data, I was able to track down the selling broker and the listing number,
and have compiled a spreadsheet of 23 boats sold in the last 4 years. Both
these boats (the first one being High Time and the next being Miss Munley)
are way in the high end of the curve of boats offered for sale in that time.
The offers we're making are in the high end of the average selling prices,
about 10% higher than average.
We gave a 24 hour window, since the communication between the broker and
seller seemed to be constant and therefore would not be a problem to get an
answer. Sure enough, it came back quickly, with about a 4% reduction. It
was about as I'd have expected (not a serious counter), so I don't expect
we'll follow up on it.
However, my broker recommended countering at a level we know we can buy High
Time for, and I mentioned that, along with that I hadn't responded to *that*
counter, either. Panic set it :{)) (He hadn't known we had offered on
another boat.) However it happened, whoever was called, he and his listing
broker now think that *we* seatrialed High Time, that "nothing worked" and
that we rejected the boat...
So, I went back to my broker on High Time, telling him the story. Some more
is coming to light. First, he said, "I just spoke to the listing broker for
High Time. He said High Time had been sea trialed about two months ago, and
due to a broken belt the engine overheated and he didn't go further with
survey." This from the broker who said that there had only been "one offer,
not serious" on this boat...
He went on to say that the broker, "did tell me that the person who sea
trialed High Time has been looking for a boat for about three years, and he
won't have anything to do with him." Ya gotta wonder just how serious a
buyer one has to be (or how serious an offer has to be) in order to get an
offer accepted, pehaps incur travel expenses (don't have a clue about
whether the guy's local) engage a surveyor, and go to sea trial...
Put that together with the broker (HT lister, not mine) saying that at 20k
more than we offered, he'd "take an offer" to the seller (with the
implication that he wouldn't if it weren't that high), and that he's
"getting really tired of cleaning the boat" (topsides guano scrub once in a
while - it's obvious nobody's done anything below), I wonder if he's
independently wealthy, that he can afford to turn away folks with money in
their hands. (He won't have anything to do with a guy who apparently had an
offer accepted, and won't present any offer that doesn't meet his client's
[only] counter - sounds like a good way to drive off business...)
It gets better. Followers of this saga know that an attorney owns the boat,
and there's thought to be some connection to an estate, as the boat was
listed that way, initially. The web site and the YachtWorld listing sez, "
'High Time' is an estate sale. She is a very special Morgan 46' with custom
features and equipment that justify the asking price. The owner bought this
boat for its strength and spaciousness and then set about making it
everything he wanted in his ideal boat." That's an obvious implication that
the owner died either after, or during, his changes, and the estate is
selling it.
So, my broker talks to him again, and gets this: "Could have been from
before the guy died. According to listing broker High Time is definitely not
an estate sale."
Hm. You'd think the listing broker might know a bit about his own listing,
wouldn't you??
So, here we are, with two open counters, neither of which pleases us much,
but the most achievable one is most likely High Time. Except that the
engine room didn't look *AT ALL* the same standard as the rest of the boat,
and with a relatively high-hours engine, plus the most recent experience,
we're a bit gunshy on that point. In addition, just as we can reject a boat
on the survey results and offer a lower price, the seller can reject our
post-survey offer and stick fast to his number. So, in addition to the
possibility that it will take rather more than we're able to pay comfortably
just to get started, we already know about some things which will require
attention, even before the survey, as well as some things we know we'd like
to do (more significant bux). *I* think we have to be prepared to take the
boat at the price agreed upon, given the history so far, and so we're
looking at some significant potential increase in an already uncomfortable
price.
So, we're thinking... We'll talk with our broker again tomorrow and see
what might be appropriate. I still don't like that the listing and the
reality, at least as presented, don't match. Unlike the 'cruising' or
'project' boat on which we'd gotten the repair/upgrade estimates, and which
I was able to find in my sold listings, so I have some history on it,
getting the facts on this boat has resolutely been stymied so far...
Of course, we still have the other backups - the several in the Virgins
which our broker over there's checking out, and the one which needs a lot of
work on which we have estimates but which Lydia really would prefer not even
to discuss - and more will come on the market as time goes by.
We still think we'll buy this boat - but it sure is more difficult than just
a bit of money negotiation!
L8R
Skip and Lydia
--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin