Think the bottom's fallen out

[BlkGS]

So we made the decision to sell the boat. It's just not easy to boat where we are now in life with two toddlers and no lake (we would be in the ocean here and the wife doesn't love that idea). Drug my feet on it from a time perspective, just been busy with other stuff.

Anyways, finally got it listed a few weeks ago. It's been crickets ever since. I might have priced it a little high, but not so much so that people wouldn't see it. I haven't gotten ANY interest on it at all. No trades for guns or woodchoppers or anything weird like that. No insulting low ball offers. Literally nothing.

So I reached out to a consignment lot that seemed to do a good amount of business about them listing it (I had not great pictures, a new Facebook account, etc). They were receptive but the guy was like "I just want to warn you... We've been having a hard time selling boats. I sold one yesterday, but it's been tough. We used to sell a boat every few days, it's been a few weeks now."

So maybe it's just here, but not a good sign I think.

 

[TeenGee]

Have you tried boating in the Indian River?

 

[BlkGS]

No, the wife is just not really on board with the idea. I think it'd be totally doable, it's just a lot more effort to get out there compared to when we were in NC.

Honestly keeping it might be the easy option lol.

 

[TeenGee]

Frigate's, Yellow Dog, Squid lips, Grills, River Rocks, Pineda Crossing all have docks.

 

[Neutron]

Same here. The selling of boats. Waverunners, motorcycles , atvs all took a major dive. Its a buyers market for sure.
Values are gonna tank. Just look at the new market and you can see the trend. There is still new 2024 inventory, i have seen 2023 new inventory. That tells a story in itself

 

[BlkGS]

Same here. The selling of boats. Waverunners, motorcycles , atvs all took a major dive. Its a buyers market for sure.
Values are gonna tank. Just look at the new market and you can see the trend. There is still new 2024 inventory, i have seen 2023 new inventory. That tells a story in itself

I had been watching values of some cars and noticed a lot of enthusiast cars not selling for prices I thought were too high. ad just sitting around. I am thinking it's more than just that though, I saw some Corvettes and things like that just not selling even with decent prices.

The consignment guy said he thought people were just out of money. I dunno, but feels like a sign of bad things to come.

 

[granpachuck]

I was looking recently at used Yamaha's , playing around with the idea of getting something newer, in the 25 ft variety. Noticed that the boats for sale have been listed for a while, and dropping the price. That means I would not get what I would like for mine. Definitely feel things are going to get rougher, and if there is a stock market correction, that will just add to it. I would not want to be trying to sell a relatively new boat with a heavy monthly payment right now.

 

[TeenGee]

Frigate's, Yellow Dog, Squid lips, Grills, River Rocks, Pineda Crossing all have docks.

I forgot to mention that the Keys are just a couple of hours away.
We're going there next Saturday.
The biggest problem I have around here are the manatee zones.

 

[Hot2Go]

When we sold the AR230, I looked around my area and compared prices of similar size and add-ons. Saw how long boats had been sitting on the market and got a little discouraged. Initially listed it high because you can always come down but never back up. After no interest for over 2 weeks I dropped it significantly and we got a ton of interest then. We ended up selling it for a decent chunk less than what we bought it for, even after adding a few things to the boat to raise its value. We bought it before the covid craziness too, but felt after owning it for 5 seasons it served us well.

I think people are willing to spend their money if it’s a really good deal, if not they’ll wait until it becomes a good deal or move on to the next.

 

[BlkGS]

Yeah, we're in a weird spot where the boat is paid for, but it's costing me to store it. Not a big deal if we would use it . Otherwise, I might just take it up to my family's land in NC and maybe use it on vacations.up there (we liked using it up there anyways).

The other option is to try to trade it for something arguably more liquid like a truck. The wife hates that idea and thinks I have too many cars already, whatever that means.

 

[Hot2Go]

Yeah, we're in a weird spot where the boat is paid for, but it's costing me to store it. Not a big deal if we would use it . Otherwise, I might just take it up to my family's land in NC and maybe use it on vacations.up there (we liked using it up there anyways).

The other option is to try to trade it for something arguably more liquid like a truck. The wife hates that idea and thinks I have too many cars already, whatever that means.

We really contemplated trading it in to a dealer for a Yamaha jet ski if we didn’t get at least the minimum we wanted, so I hear ya there about trading for an easier sell as well.

I do hope your boating days are just on hold for now! If we lived near the ocean I probably would’ve convinced the wife into a 255 FSH H.

 

[granpachuck]

Ha ! That reminds me of when I was picking something up at Triangle Shooting Academy a while back, and the guy at the counter says his wife gave him crap for having 11 guns in the home safe. She checks a year later and yells at him for having at least 15 guns now. He said, " honey , that can't be right. There are 22 in there atm. "

Yeah, we're in a weird spot where the boat is paid for, but it's costing me to store it. Not a big deal if we would use it . Otherwise, I might just take it up to my family's land in NC and maybe use it on vacations.up there (we liked using it up there anyways).

The other option is to try to trade it for something arguably more liquid like a truck. The wife hates that idea and thinks I have too many cars already, whatever that means.

 

[drewkaree]

Yeah, we're in a weird spot where the boat is paid for, but it's costing me to store it. Not a big deal if we would use it . Otherwise, I might just take it up to my family's land in NC and maybe use it on vacations.up there (we liked using it up there anyways).

The other option is to try to trade it for something arguably more liquid like a truck. The wife hates that idea and thinks I have too many cars already, whatever that means.

Have you considered trading her for a handful of beans? The boat, of course

 

[drewkaree]

@BlkGS what do you have it listed at, and what are your selling points (additions and whatnot)? I haven't looked in the Buy-Sell-Trade forum, so forgive me if it's listed, but link to it here if you've already listed it there. If you didn't list it there, that would be a great idea to consider, since this will probably be more in line with the target demographic you're trying to reach

 

[BlkGS]

@BlkGS what do you have it listed at, and what are your selling points (additions and whatnot)? I haven't looked in the Buy-Sell-Trade forum, so forgive me if it's listed, but link to it here if you've already listed it there. If you didn't list it there, that would be a great idea to consider, since this will probably be more in line with the target demographic you're trying to reach

I haven't listed it here yet. You're probably right I should.

In short, it's a low hours (sub 100) sx230 HO that runs great but needs a good cleaning and buffing, as well as some.love on the seats. Rebuilt the galvanized trailer a few years ago with 4 wheel disc brakes, new tires and such. Buncha life jackets, upgraded stereo, the usual I'd say.

I had thought it was a quick sale at $20k. But holy hell was I wrong, lol. Right now I have it at 17.5k and frankly, I think it won't sell for more than 15-16k. I just am getting the impression that there simply are not people out there with cash to buy stuff like this, and people who have the sort of credit to buy a 15-20 year old boat with a loan are likely buying a much newer and more expensive boat.

 

[drewkaree]

I haven't listed it here yet. You're probably right I should.

In short, it's a low hours (sub 100) sx230 HO that runs great but needs a good cleaning and buffing, as well as some.love on the seats. Rebuilt the galvanized trailer a few years ago with 4 wheel disc brakes, new tires and such. Buncha life jackets, upgraded stereo, the usual I'd say.

I had thought it was a quick sale at $20k. But holy hell was I wrong, lol. Right now I have it at 17.5k and frankly, I think it won't sell for more than 15-16k. I just am getting the impression that there simply are not people out there with cash to buy stuff like this, and people who have the sort of credit to buy a 15-20 year old boat with a loan are likely buying a much newer and more expensive boat.

Might be an issue with financing something of that age - banks might be reluctant, unless the terms were ridiculous for a buyer. Having a cash-in-hand buyer, they might be on the fence and would rather put it toward something newer with a small payment. I don't do finance stuff though, and I paid for mine outright, so I'm not really the best to judge that. Your info will help others here, and maybe chime in with some advice, or even better, a buyer looks at your threads and sees the work you put in, and they want to dip their toes in the water. @WiskyDan started with something older, and keeps trading up to newer, so that might be something for a prospective buyer here who wanted a Yamaha, but had to settle for something else, thinking they were priced out of the market. I wish you luck...keep those magic beans dry!

 

[2kwik4u]

I had thought it was a quick sale at $20k. But holy hell was I wrong, lol. Right now I have it at 17.5k and frankly, I think it won't sell for more than 15-16k. I just am getting the impression that there simply are not people out there with cash to buy stuff like this, and people who have the sort of credit to buy a 15-20 year old boat with a loan are likely buying a much newer and more expensive boat.

Taco in Chief and his never ending darting from one topic to another, and constant flipping on major policies has lead to a significant lack of confidence in pretty much every market. We're seeing it from our customers in a major way. Have had 4-5 major ($1mil+) capital equipment contracts stall at the "we're sending a PO soon" stage. They love us, the product, and even the timelines (which is weird), but won't pull the trigger due to uncertainty in the market. That's led us to lower sales, and lower shipments, which means lower profits. Our guys are paid decently, but we leverage profit sharing heavily. SO, I'm already telling my teams; "Likely no bonus this year due to slow sales and shipments". I'm sure they're taking that information and holding onto cash and not buying big ticket items. I'm just a small company with 33-ish employees. Imagine what a whole country of that looks like.

So, I don't think it's just an issue of people don't have cash. Those folks never have cash anyway. The people that do keep this kind of cash on hand, are likely holding it due to the uncertainty in the air.

Hell, even I did it personally. Went to the boat show with the intention of trading my '17 AR190 for a new AR250. After some time looking around and thinking about it. We came home with a patio umbrella instead. Went from a $75k purchase to a $750 purchase in a few hours. I'm sitting on the cash I have because I have no idea what next year is going to bring. While our 15yr loan on $30k boat seemed foolish to a lot of people, that tiny payment has let us hold onto through some thin times, and I can see those thin times coming again for many.

Best of luck with the sale. I saw that AR210 in Melbourne go for $15,500 the other day in the for sale section. They had to drop their price to get a sale, and likely had a better outfitted/condition boat than you do. It's tough out there.

 

[anmut]

Anecdotal experience from this past weekend: We were out Friday and Saturday at our normal sandbar. In the past three years, Friday would see a 1/2 to a dozen boats. There were none. Saturday would at least see a dozen boats. There were five, and two belonged to our group. Saturday was also a bit cooler in the afternoon and cloudy, so that could be the reason, but still, it seems that boating is trending down.

As for the OPs comments - I watch FB marketplace all the time. A lot of good deals on toys right now that haven't sold in months. Boats, bikes, quads, campers... all just sitting.

 

[BigN8]

A quick search and I read that many banks won't offer financing for boats older than 15-20 years. If they do offer financing for these boats they are very picky on the condition and when they do allow it they will require a much higher loan to value ratio, like 60%. I think here lies the problem. Most folks looking for a "deal" or a boat of that age will not have that kind of cash on hand, and if they do have the cash then they will be looking for a newer or nicer boat because they can afford it in the first place. Not nocking your boat, just an observation.

I think we're also in pre-recession mode. I'm in construction and I am seeing it in quote opportunities and contract closing on larger projects. There is a heavy "wait and see" mentality. I've also noticed triple the number of houses for sale around my town and around the golf course. Not that people are trying to sell at a higher level, but people are just not buying houses right now, so they are languishing on the market. My neighbor is one. House has been on the market for Months, they have dropped the price twice and have an open house about every weekend. Have had a lot of tire kickers. They are now thinking they will remove it from the market, buy out the 6 month contract with the realtor, and relish with a new realtor in a Month or 2.

 

[anmut]

A quick search and I read that many banks won't offer financing for boats older than 15-20 years. If they do offer financing for these boats they are very picky on the condition and when they do allow it they will require a much higher loan to value ratio, like 60%. I think here lies the problem. Most folks looking for a "deal" or a boat of that age will not have that kind of cash on hand, and if they do have the cash then they will be looking for a newer or nicer boat because they can afford it in the first place. Not nocking your boat, just an observation.

I think we're also in pre-recession mode. I'm in construction and I am seeing it in quote opportunities and contract closing on larger projects. There is a heavy "wait and see" mentality. I've also noticed triple the number of houses for sale around my town and around the golf course. Not that people are trying to sell at a higher level, but people are just not buying houses right now, so they are languishing on the market. My neighbor is one. House has been on the market for Months, they have dropped the price twice and have an open house about every weekend. Have had a lot of tire kickers. They are now thinking they will remove it from the market, buy out the 6 month contract with the realtor, and relish with a new realtor in a Month or 2.

I've seen the same thing in our neighborhood - it was like someone flipped a switch in April. The market was as crazy as it has been with houses selling for high prices quickly, and then just one day, all the houses that were for sale suddenly just sat.

We have two houses a block away from us, one's been on the market for an unheard-of month now, and the other's a newly built house, both still for sale. The used house has had two price drops.