"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On 10 May 2007 08:15:41 -0700, "
wrote:

On May 9, 8:54 pm, Tom Francis wrote:
I'm in the process of selling the Halman and I had a guy who was
really interested in it. I spent four hours on the phone with him, I
took a ton of pictures and he made an unseen offer contingent on
viewing the boat. I explained to him exactly what the boat was and
what was wrong. He asked if he could being a surveyor along - fine,
no problem there.

I sent him a copy of the survey I had done this spring. The surveyor
basically said the same thing I did - the Halman needs some minor
cosmetic work (like the wood needs to be stripped and revarnished -
the hull could use a good compounding with Finesse It II, etc.) but
the basic boat is structurally sound, no leaks, no blisters, the
stainless is in amazing shape as are the sails and rigging. The cabin
doesn't leak anywhere, window seals are excellent - everything you
would want in a gunk holer type sailboat. The trailer needs a good
sandblast and paint job, but is servicable as a road trailer.

He came to see it this afternoon and brought a "surveyor" friend,
looked it over. I was a little suspicious as he kept calling it a
Nordic 20 - technically, I guess that is correct, but it's a Halman
Nordic 20 and in a lot of ways, a completely different boat. He kept
asking some really stupid questions like where the keel bolts were
(huh?) and the water tank (I understand that the Halman specs call for
one, but this doesn't have that option). He nitpicked the color -
apparently it's not a standard offered color (which may or may not be
true - I've seen pictures of a Halman in the same shade of brown in
Florida) insisting that the boat had been painted and that wasn't the
original color. He wanted to see where the blisters were - all these
boats according to him had blister problems. Made a big deal about
the bottom paint (which needs doing - I admitted that up front) and
the fact that there wasn't a barrier coat. According to the
"surveyor", water can creep into the keel and deform the lead over the
winter (the Halman doesn't have lead in it's keel - it's encapsulated
steel).

After an hour of this bull****, I was getting a little annoyed, but
kept cool. Finally, they left and the potential buyer said he'd get
back to me tonight.

I just got off the phone with him - he offered me $600 for the Halman
based on his "surveyor's" report.

I hung up on him.

Why not hire a broker and avoid all that agrivation?

Because I'd end up selling it for what I'm selling it for now -
assuming that the broker could sell it in the first place. And the
brokers I know don't like to handle small boats like this - not enough
money in it for them. And I don't blame them.

I'm so ****ed off now that I might just keep it and say to hell with
it.

How many responses have you gotten? Was this the only guy who spent any time
at all discussing it?

On Thu, 10 May 2007 15:28:36 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

I'm so ****ed off now that I might just keep it and say to hell with
it.

How many responses have you gotten? Was this the only guy who spent any time
at all discussing it?

About ten, but most are time wasters and wanting a deal right off the
bat. This was the first actual looker.

On Thu, 10 May 2007 20:49:55 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Thu, 10 May 2007 15:28:36 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

I'm so ****ed off now that I might just keep it and say to hell with
it.

How many responses have you gotten? Was this the only guy who spent any time
at all discussing it?

About ten, but most are time wasters and wanting a deal right off the
bat. This was the first actual looker.

A *good* looker?

Next time it happens, just quickly crank up the computer and tell us about
it. We'll commiserate, tell jokes, and make you feel great in no time.

You gotta love Karma.

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 May 2007 15:28:36 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

I'm so ****ed off now that I might just keep it and say to hell with
it.

How many responses have you gotten? Was this the only guy who spent any
time
at all discussing it?

About ten, but most are time wasters and wanting a deal right off the
bat. This was the first actual looker.


I think you should be patient, but make the process as painless as possible.
When I sold my Taurus, I had an accurate list of essential repairs it
needed, with prices from my mechanic. He'd also provided suggested time
frames for the repairs. The ad said it needed work. When people called, I
told them I wanted to make them aware of these things immediately, and
offered to mail/fax/e-mail the list. This shut down probably 8 of the 10
inquiries, especially since one of the items was the AC compressor, an
expensive item. So, I didn't have to waste much time on the phone. I finally
got a call from a woman who said her boyfriend liked working on cars. He
came with her to see the car, and spent a couple of hours looking it over.
They stopped back the next day with a check from her bank, and the car was
gone that day.