Yesterday’s post generated quite a few questions, with the largest number being why was I limiting my search to boats selling for $5000 dollars or fewer.
Well, for starters, I find boats in that price bracket a lot more interesting than more expensive ones. You’re more likely to find a deal at that price point since folks, selling boats at that price, have a good reason to be selling, which motivates them.
Talking to sellers, you’ll find good reasons for selling that have nothing to do with the boat being a dog. There are many reasons where the owner needs to move. They’ve bought another boat, or can’t justify spending money on marina fees for a boat that they seldom, if ever, use.
Since I expect any used boat will require some work and expense, so I’ll always add the cost of the boat to arrive at the overall budget. A $5k boat will have another $5k budgeted for any needful work and so on. Which doing the math equals a potential $10K boat.
When I look at a fixer upper, I budget what I think it will cost, then double the number just in case. Which, more often than not, is just around the purchase price. The goal is not to spend the entire budget but to have a refit fund to deal with expenses that the project generates.
Just to be clear; I’d never buy a $5K boat if I felt I was actually going to spend another $5K to sort out problems. It’s simply good practice to budget a safety factor. Keep in mind many project boats are being sold because the seller ran out of money and the project stalled.
More on the subject and an exception soonish…