Yachtworld Listings

[dgurgel]

The buying season for northern regions draws to a close with 98 listing returned on Yachtworld for the search "Albin 28."

I certainly enjoyed my June - October search for an Albin with Yachtworld my best information source. The listings there are usually nicely done, and advertising does not get in the way. Every broker that I talked to (at least eight or nine) kept his Yachtworld listings up to date, and listings on the brokerages' websites only on rare occasions had additional info. The "advanced search" criteria permitted parsing the selection in many ways.

Electronics data was sometimes less detailed than I desired, but photos sometimes provideed additional info. Occasionally speed listings were unlabelled with kt or mph. Hull color was often a guess since Albin green and Albin blue appeared almost the same in many photos.

I still review Yachtworld daily, trying to spot the best three or four deals. I am tempted to post on this but realize that condition is very important in the valuation. And of course some group members have boats for sale and may be offended by any "best deals" list that does not include their boat. A total of 14 TEs show up today for 2001 with an asking price range of $69,900 - $100,000. (I have not included a 2001 bank repo in CA at $49,900.)

[OldDemps]

Buyer beware. The $49,000 28TE in So. Cal had a galley fire and that's why it's interior is not stock material, no stove Etc Etc (is White Vinyl). Of course now the "Bank" owns it they would not know that and disclose it at the sale as with other REPO BOATS. I considered that boat prior to it's repo when it was at the boat brokerage (Salvage shop) that rebuilt it. IMO, Yachtworld and some of the brokers on there are less then reliable, particularly in this market. If possible find / sell your boat on AOG and save 10% brokerage fee.

[powermax]

I recently saw this boat.

It blew an exhaust manifold and sprayed salt water diesel exhaust in the bilge, lots of rust.

Lots of corrosion including electrical connections, bow thruster not working.

There is an estimate for over $12000.00 to get it running.

[OldDemps]

Another note, I did one of those history check via http://www.boathistoryreport.com which cost $45 and it showed no history or insurance loss on that boat even though the then broker told me it was salvaged. So IMO that services is a rip off.
Again buy from the current owner with a documented history, hence the range of values between this $47K and ~$100K boats of similiar vintage.

[dgurgel]

I started my search on Yachtworld with no prior knowledge of the Albin 28. Within a month I was focused exclusively on Albin 28s. Yachtworld was a good resource for me with more than 95 Albin TEs listed each day from July - October. About 65% of the boats were within 500 miles of my NYC location. About half of these were within an age range to my liking. If the asking price appeared reasonable, I called the broker and discussed the boat. I made trips to look at eight from North Carolina to Rhode Island. There were one or two phantom listings where no contact could be made.

Five of the six brokers with whom I discussed offers used the Yacht Brokers Association of America standard purchase and sale agreement. The offers I made were 6% - 10% below the listed asking price. The standard agreement does a good job of protecting the buyer since the buyer can reject the deal without penalty if a survey, sea trial, or financing is not to buyer's liking. My first deal fell through on survey/seatrial results, and the depost was back to me from the broker within a week. Another deal offered directly to the owner was very difficult to move along and finally collapsed after a frustrating six weeks. My successful purchase took exactly two weeks from first look to delivery; and the broker was most helpful in epediting the transaction, which included a survey and seatrial. The out-of-state closing took ten minutes.

With the broker involved, I was confident that any title and sales tax issues would be properly addressed. Registration of the CT boat in NJ, my home state, took twenty minutes.

Albin owners might not need Yachtworld to buy another Albin; but it sure is a great way for newbies to learn about the brand. After a time I was very familiar with the standard configuration and the most common options.