I think that simple demographics dictate that boat prices *must* go
down. The majority of potential boat buyers...esp. distance
cruisers...are getting older fast, and while they may have the money,
they don't have the time or energy in many cases.

My wife was born in 1974 during the depths of the "baby bust". Despite
having a somewhat stale degree, she has been told that if she decides
to become a high-school science teacher at the age of 30, she will
have a job for life....because all the boomers are retiring, but few
are buying boats.

In many cases, it takes two incomes to live as well as our parents did
(I'm 42), and to own an urban house and a boat and a car and a
cottage...well, the boat goes first, unless you are dedicated to
upping anchor and becoming a live-aboard for years.

Few are.

This is bad news for the industry (which is locked into producing dock
jewelry anyway) and good news for the few people shopping for a
middle-aged, uncomplicated, bulletproof design.

Hang around Florida and scan the obits. in Ft. Lauderdale, etc. Grim
as it sounds, you'll soon find a widow motivated to sell quick. The
kids won't want to sail when it means their kids will miss Suzuki
Method, soccer practice, or the latest gangsta rap MP3.

R.


On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 21:50:27 GMT, "Paul L"
wrote:

I'm sure you've done a lot more research on this than I have, but my brief
look at prices over the last 2 years says they are down a fair amount.

Paul
"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
ink.net...
A while back there were several threads on values of used boats. It was
the
strong assertion of various posters that boats under 45' and of mature age
would be virtually worthless - to the effect that whatever you bought it
for, when you went to sell it, it would be worth half that.

I'm of very mixed mind on this matter, as I've found just the opposite.
Any
of you following my search know that I'm looking at that type of boat, and
in the 'do you know this boat' thread, I've received several replies which
have exposed us to boats we'd not known about.

In an effort to get to know these, all very minimally available in the
usual
YachtWorld universe, I've done a lot of searching, and unearthed various
reviews from '95 to '99 or so. Most of them were helpful in understanding
the type of boat, but very tellingly, and the point of this post, they
also
had "well equipped and good examples of this boat's selling prices range"s
quoted which were *under* any I'd found available today.

That suggests to me that either Cruising World, Good Old Boat, and the
like,
are badly misinformed (at the time) or that prices are actually rising,
rather than falling.

That's good news as a trend for when we eventually go to sell our boat
(presumably more than 20 years down the road, so I'm certain that the
20-30
year old boat we'll buy will be priced exclusively on condition and
equipment, the full normal depreciation having been achieved some time
before). I've even seen some of the boats we've been looking at in real
time (current experience) have price increases, and in one particular
case,
selling at the prior asking price. The bad news is the suggestion that
it's
going to cost more currently than, say, 4-8 years ago, for the same boat
type.

What's been everyone else' experience?? If we don't find a boat soon,
will
it cost us 10%, or something bigger, more, later?

L8R

Skip and Lydia, still looking, and appreciative of leads already and yet
to
be received!