07/15/2023
In the boating industry, reputation is everything. The boating industry is small and people talk — particularly when we are talking about brokers who rely on relationships.
When I decided to sell my boat, I reached out to someone I had known through the industry for years and asked if they wanted to list. I specifically asked this question: My realtors only get 6% commission on a house when they sell it — and they typically have to split that with another agent and brokers. Why should you get 10% commission for selling my boat?
They gave me a ton of reasons why they do much more work than a realtor and at smaller numer of deals. My broker did do some work for me and I’ll state that up front. They said if I listed with them they would take my boat over to the mechanic to get it fixed. And they did that. But I also tried getting this thing on the market as early as June that year and they waited until my boat work was done before listing it. I gave them a big list of things that needed attention and I would pay if they could take care of that stuff while I was out of town. Nothing got done. My boat was never cleaned. after the work was completed my bilge looked aweful and the whole boat needed a cleaning. He took pictures as it was and listed it looking like a dejected boat. Anyone that knows me knows I’ve taken care of my boat and kept my bilge spotless and dry. Now it was a mess and listed for sale with pictures as such.
My broker then took my listing offline right as we approached the busy part of the year to sell my boat. He did so claiming I needed a new listing agreement. I was livid! It was the last straw and I changed brokers because of this. So what did my old broker do when I switched to the new broker? He marked the boat as “sold” on boatwizard (think of it as carfax for boats) for basically 2/3’s of my asking price — making this boat look like a “flip” rather than a well cared for one-owner boat.
I found this out because my new broker is a wizard. He not only had the boat cleaned but he did some of the work himself. He’s had boat captains working on the boat, he’s had new photos taken. He had a mobile machanic come over to look at one of the issues I had. He’s ready to schedule detailers and bottom cleaning as necessary after the mechanic is done. This guy is incredible! Compared to my last broker, this guy is simply the best! my new broker is reaching out to BoatWizard to get the report fixed.
I’ll be reaching out to an attorney and to the NYBA ethics board regarding my experience. Be careful who you chose as a broker!
