If you want to sell your yacht, change your thinking

According to Edmiston partner, Bill Sanderson the landscape for the sale and purchase of superyachts has changed irreparably, and owners should equip themselves with a new outlook if they want to sell their vessel in what is an increasingly overburdened market.

“Anyone that thinks we’re going back to the good old days is being overly optimistic”, says Sanderson. Today’s buyers have to really want the yachting experience “because it’s like a car – the day you drive it out of the showroom it’s worth 20 per cent less than you paid for it.”

And his message to the market going into 2014… “I would tell buyers that now is the time to buy a boat. And if sellers aren’t realistic with their pricing they won’t sell their boat. It’s not like you can hold your boat for another year and it will become rosy again; it’s not going to happen.”

The resale market has indeed amassed an inventory that will probably never be cleared. For that reason owners looking to sell their vessels with any degree of urgency will have to be prepared to take a hit on its original value. Sanderson concedes that many brokers are pitching yachts at unsellable prices in a misled attempt at client retention. In reality, he says, “owners who know the market are selling their yachts at prices that are 50 cents to the dollar of a realistic asking price; not an inflated asking price, a realistic one.” The lesson here: if you really want to sell your yacht, be prepared to drop your asking price.

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