Guide to Preparing Your Boat For Sale

Okay, you’ve made the decision to sell your boat and have chosen Larsen Marine Yacht Sales to market it. All of the paperwork is complete and the listing is being processed. Now you might ask ”How can I improve the chances of selling my boat for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time?”

The Answer is Preparation
Assuming that your boat is fairly priced in the market and is easy to access, the clients will want to look over, under and through the vessel. This becomes the critical moment—the only chance for your vessel to make that extremely important first impression! If your boat isn’t ready, chances are your potential buyer is not going to give it serious consideration among all the choices available to them. So how do you get your boat ready to make the best possible first impression? Here are some helpful tips:

Remove Excess Gear from Cabins and Lockers
An uncluttered look shows organization, looks more spacious, and gives the prospective buyer the ability to see the storage compartments in their entirety. When it comes to storage spaces. . . . More and Bigger is always better! Also, if the gear is not included with the boat sale—Remove It!

Completely Clean and Organize the Boat
This adds greatly to that all important ‘1st—Impression’ . . . prospective owners will be impressed that, at least from a visual perspective, the boat is well cared for. If a boat’s cosmetic appearance is not in ‘Tip Top’ shape, buyers will assume other systems onboard have also not been maintained . . . NOT GOOD!

Disclose Major Repairs
Major structural or mechanical repairs should be disclosed up front so they don’t come back to haunt you later. If the buyer’s survey uncovers things that should have been mentioned up front—it will almost always kill the deal. Don’t take that chance!

Make Your Boat Easy to Survey
This may seem simple but the survey is a key to getting your boat sold. Make all documentation, manuals and other information on added equipment easy for the surveyor to find and use in his report. This includes information on structural repairs that have been made. The fewer questions there are in the surveyor’s mind . . . the fewer questions will come back to the seller after the survey.

Lastly . . . Utilize the expertise of our Brokers
They have all been certified as Professional Yacht Brokers through the Yacht Brokerage Association of America. Membership requires ongoing training and development . . . and our brokers are well trained professionals who are here to help. Put their many years of experience to work for you!