When a boat changes hands, many parties are involved: the seller, the seller's broker, the surveyor, the engineers, the registry and the bank. The broker keeps the information, the paperwork and the timetable together between them. We work with buyers and with sellers, and the job is a little different on each side.
When we work with a buyer
The job starts with understanding what you are looking for. Then we go through the market and find the boats that fit. For each one we ask the seller's broker whether it is still for sale, when it was last serviced and whether its papers are complete. We compare what comes back with the listing. If the year, the length or the engine hours don't match, we talk about that before any offer is made.
We also gather what the listing doesn't say. How long has the boat been for sale? Why is the owner selling? Who has maintained it, and has it been surveyed before? The answers affect how we build the offer, too.
We arrange the viewing of the boat you like. When you have decided, we write the offer and prepare the sale agreement. We organise the survey and the sea trial. At completion we check that the documents arrive in full, and we plan the handover with you.
When we work with a seller
With an owner, we look first at the boat and its papers. We discuss a price based on how similar boats are doing on the market. We prepare the listing with accurate information, answer enquiries and pick out the serious buyers, so the owner's time goes to people who are really interested. When an offer comes in, we look at the deposit, the dates and the conditions as well as the price. We cover the selling side in more detail in a separate article.
Two brokers in one sale
Most sales involve two brokers, one representing the seller and one the buyer. When the buyer's broker finds the right boat on another broker's list, the two meet on the same deal. You speak only to your own broker. Correspondence, appointments and the exchange of documents with the other side run between the brokers.
When you take an interest in a boat, we register you by name with the seller's broker. That record shows both sides plainly who is handling the purchase of that boat for you.
Keeping track of the dates
A purchase has many dates: how long the offer stays open, the last day for the survey, the time you have to give your decision, the day the balance is due, the handover. They are linked, and if one slips the others are affected. We tell you in advance which date is coming up, and we set the days with the surveyor, the engineers and the other broker to match.
Commission
A broker earns commission, and it is paid when the sale completes. On the international market it is most often paid by the seller out of the sale price, and where two brokers are involved they share it. There are also deals in which the buyer agrees a separate fee with their own broker. Who pays, and when, is set down in writing at the start, and commission is paid against an invoice.
What a broker doesn't do
A broker doesn't take the place of a lawyer or a tax adviser, and doesn't inspect the boat personally. The legal review of the agreement is for your lawyer, and questions of tax and flag are for your tax adviser. An independent surveyor inspects the boat; we organise the survey. Keeping these roles apart means your decision rests on impartial opinions. On insurance and finance, too, the decision is yours, taken with a specialist in that field. Our part is to put the information and documents those specialists need in front of them in time.
The decision is yours, and the broker's job is to see that the right information is in front of you when you make it.
