avoid bad sellers

[HappyFox]

My wife and I found what we thought was the deal of lifetime the other day on craigslist under the boats tab. The yacht was 2000 Silverton convertible with reasonable hours. She defiantly showed signs of neglect like it has not cleaned in years. I thought about hat thoroughly because we all know neglect to a yacht is normally expensive. As I studied the pics for hours it really appeared that 99% of the work will just be elbow grease to clean it up.
I reached out to the seller and made arrangements to buy the yacht for the asking price sight unseen, (which is a real gamble on my behalf) and even offered to put a large deposit on her until we arrived with final payment. We live in NC which is about a ten-hour drive to where she is located. We left the next morning with smiles on our faces so excited on purchasing our first yacht together to live out both of dreams to see this beautiful country together while we still had each other. (I am unfortunately fighting an illness I apparently got from serving multiple tours fighting terrorism overseas in the Marines from prolonged exposure to toxic fumes from burn pits). When we pulled up to the seller's residence, we could barely contain our joy, I had made arrangements for storage, towing and all prior to leaving. The seller opened the door and the look on their face immediately made think something was up! I told them who I was, and we have the money as agreed for the purchase, they then said Well I probably should have called but someone offered me $30k for the yacht and they toed it away this morning!!! My heart sank and my wife immediately burst into tears, and when I saw her tears I began to shake almost uncontrollably, all this happened in just seconds, the seller said I am sorry guys and I don't want any trouble, I just couldn't hold my feelings and told them what a wonderful person that they were and I should give them a hug.(replace a few words in that sentence I am sure you know what I actually said). We had just drove over 600 miles for nothing! They slammed the door and said they were calling the police if I didn't leave immediately. Now we are home safe, the wife has not come out of the bedroom since, back to the drawing board. I am going to stick to what we had planned for our first boat and approach everything way more cautions now. People today are definitely not like the people of the boomers and Gen Z that is for sure! Sorry for the long story just don't want to see anyone else have to deal with what we just did.
Happy Foxs

[DesertAlbin736]

First of all thank your for your service and sacrifice in the Marines. I know that often sounds trite but I am a Cold War era Navy veteran who never came close to being in harm's way compared to your tours of duty in Iraq. So I can barely begin to appreciate what you went through. That said the used boat market is approaching a full scale house of cards meltdown. I would suggest watching YouTube videos on the subject, especially channels like True Sailing Life and Sailing Spirit. They focus on sailboats but the market relates to power boats too.
Your big mistake was a) trusting FSBO Craigslist ads at face value, and b) getting emotinal over one particular boat. It's a buyer's market but at the same time minefields abound. Caveat Emptor! Don't be afraid to make a seriously low ball offer on a boat you decided is right for you. I'm talking 30% to 50% below asking price. Watch for how stale the listing is. Don't be afraid to walk away from a deal that smells fishy or a buyer who won't negotiate. Do due diligence on total costs of ownership. Don't underestimate costs of marina slips, insurance preniums, maintenance, parts & labor, loan interest rates if you plan to take out a loan. All those cost are going up significantly. Your illness and possible future disablity related to burn pit exposure is another wild card. What would happen if you got stuck with a boat you can't use due illness and can't sell due to soft boat market and high boat loan interest rates?