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Buying a boat.


HBROK

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Well, isn't this fun, just a few observations from a first time buyer

Of course when you are buying second hand it is highly likely it will not be exactly what you want, but with a few alterations or even living with someone elses design is I guess the norm.

If you went to buy a car and I mean a 2/3K car I would say 99% of the time, the salesman would want to talk to you (well of course he would) and the car would be spotless inside and out but people who want to buy a narrow boat I would assume want to spend, for arguments sake upwards of 20,30,40k. I am gobsmacked at the state of some of these boats or at least the state at which people advertise them in, rubbish all over, no order, pots in the sink, unmade beds, dirt outside, bilges swimming in water or oil, electrical  wiring that looks unfinished, do they not realize people want to part with hard earned cash, there just seems to be no effort, you'd think the broker would advise them surely -Although it does appears to be a sellers market at the moment, so I guess if they are moving why bother??

I am new to this but it astonishes me what some people are asking, for what seems to me akin to a 1974 caravan :D I am sure it is a smaller market than the caravan market but the manufacturers are leaving the boat builders standing with interiors.

Appolloduck, is this site ok? In the sense that it is the slowest internet site I have ever had the pleasure of using on three different computers in very different places, it is always slow, painfully slow!

Broker websites, what a joke they are (the majority), I have been looking around for a few months now, I am not in any hurry but these people just never get back to you. They also constantly leave boats up on their sites that were sold ages ago, why?

I have contacted three brokers just this week to ask them if I could visit to see their stock, only one got back to me and said he 'has no stock really' (but loads are displayed on his site, the other two, well you guessed have not got back to me.

It's absolutely amazing, I am still smiling which is slowly changing to a grimace, but I am sure I will get there in the end..................:banghead:

:)

Edited by HBROK
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1 minute ago, alan_fincher said:

I have never found apollo Duck to be a slow website.  I was looking at it not an hour ago, and it seemed fine.

Are you on a very slow connection?

No Al, my connection at work is fine, and home is better and my pals in a big city is even better but it really lags, oh and the filtering system seems to be useless, maybe its just me :)

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7 minutes ago, HBROK said:

Well, isn't this fun, just a few observations from a first time buyer

Of course when you are buying second hand it is highly likely it will not be exactly what you want, but with a few alterations or even living with someone elses design is I guess the norm.

If you went to buy a car and I mean a 2/3K car I would say 99% of the time, the salesman would want to talk to you (well of course he would) and the car would be spotless inside and out but people who want to buy a narrow boat I would assume want to spend, for arguments sake upwards of 20,30,40k. I am gobsmacked at the state of some of these boats or at least the state at which people advertise them in, rubbish all over, no order, pots in the sink, unmade beds, dirt outside, bilges swimming in water or oil, electrical  wiring that looks unfinished, do they not realize people want to part with hard earned cash, there just seems to be no effort, you'd think the broker would advise them surely -Although it does appears to be a sellers market at the moment, so I guess if they are moving why bother??

I am new to this but it astonishes me what some people are asking, for what seems to me akin to a 1974 caravan :D I am sure it is a smaller market than the caravan market but the manufacturers are leaving the boat builders standing with interiors.

Appolloduck, is this site ok? In the sense that it is the slowest internet site I have ever had the pleasure of using on three different computers in very different places, it is always slow, painfully slow!

Broker websites, what a joke they are (the majority), I have been looking around for a few months now, I am not in any hurry but these people just never get back to you. They also constantly leave boats up on their sites that were sold ages ago, why?

I have contacted three brokers just this week to ask them if I could visit to see their stock, only one got back to me and said he 'has no stock really' (but loads are displayed on his site, the other two, well you guessed have not got back to me.

It's absolutely amazing, I am still smiling which is slowly changing to a grimace, but I am sure I will get there in the end..................:banghead:

:)

Its probably because you are like many thousands of people brokers get who are tyre kickers just looking at boats not realy a serious buyer as of yet? When I bought my present boat through a broker I said I was going to buy a boat that day and asked what price in cash I would have to give for it and the brokerage contacted the owner and they rang me back and gave me the price and I went and looked and paid for it twenty min utes later without the wife even seeing it, job done. I suppose it gets very wearing when people turn up on sunny days obviously not intent on realy spending money. However I too am amazed when I see the boats with stuff strewn about on the add pictures!!

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5 minutes ago, HBROK said:

 it really lags, oh and the filtering system seems to be useless, maybe its just me :)

I have just visited it, applied a quite strict set of filters, and within seconds it gave me 46 boats to look at. I live in the country and my service provider tells me that my computer speed is probably slower than it would be if I was in a town.

So yes, I think it's probably just you.

1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

 I too am amazed when I see the boats with stuff strewn about on the add pictures!!

Yes, though some of the boats will be people's homes, so a moderate amount of clutter is perhaps inevitable. Some such sellers, I would guess, leave a few books etc. scattered around to show that it's a home, not an exhibit.

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4 minutes ago, Athy said:

I have just visited it, applied a quite strict set of filters, and within seconds it gave me 46 boats to look at. I live in the country and my service provider tells me that my computer speed is probably slower than it would be if I was in a town.

So yes, I think it's probably just you.

Yes, though some of the boats will be people's homes, so a moderate amount of clutter is perhaps inevitable. Some such sellers, I would guess, leave a few books etc. scattered around to show that it's a home, not an exhibit.

My boats my home but when we sell we hide stuff from the pics just out of sight :D

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6 minutes ago, Athy said:

I have just visited it, applied a quite strict set of filters, and within seconds it gave me 46 boats to look at. I live in the country and my service provider tells me that my computer speed is probably slower than it would be if I was in a town.

So yes, I think it's probably just you.

Or maybe just my connection as opposed to been me. I am at work at  the moment and and I just clicked 'narrow boats' and it took over a minute to upload, no big deal I suppose just needed a whinge.

 

Edit to add, I have just logged on to a couple of forums, facebook, ebay and now watching a video on youtube and Appolloduck is still thinking about it :D

Edited by HBROK
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2 minutes ago, HBROK said:

Or maybe just my connection as opposed to been me. I am at work at  the moment and and I just clicked 'narrow boats' and it took over a minute to upload, no big deal I suppose just needed a whinge.

I did, of course, mean "you" in the sense of "your computer", as I assumed that you did.

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You're not wrong about the state of some boats that are up for sale. We've viewed a couple that looked OK in the photos but were very tatty and dirty once you got inside. And they're not all selling regardless - we viewed one where the broker has tried to persuade the owner to clean up and make it more appealing, but he's just not interested and apparently would rather see it sit around for months on end with the price falling and looking more sorry for itself by the week.

 

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Just as in house hunting it's common to be told that you will 'just know' when you walk on to your boat. With this in mind we always gave boats we viewed a 'wow factor' when considering them. Sellers seem to forget that there is also a 'yuk factor' and it stopped us in our tracks on more than one boat. I know some people have the gift of seeing past that first impression but most don't. Half an hour tidying up might result in a second look rather than dismissal.

As for brokers, I do understand that they must get loads of time wasters but we were made to feel like second class citizens by some of them whilst others treated us like customers when our circumstances were exactly the same. You can guess which ones we have recommended to others. 

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On 07/09/2017 at 13:14, HBROK said:

Or maybe just my connection as opposed to been me. I am at work at  the moment and and I just clicked 'narrow boats' and it took over a minute to upload, no big deal I suppose just needed a whinge.

 

Edit to add, I have just logged on to a couple of forums, facebook, ebay and now watching a video on youtube and Appolloduck is still thinking about it :D

I have rubbish sky internet at home.

I just went on  and clicked narrowboats , it loaded up in around three seconds.

 

I'll agree that some are awful. I can understand visiting a lived in boat to expect a dirty cup.

 

but photos. now there is no excuse. even of they dump it off camera. 

 

I've seen dirty cloths on a bed. I mean really.

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1 hour ago, toekneep said:

 

As for brokers, I do understand that they must get loads of time wasters but we were made to feel like second class citizens by some of them whilst others treated us like customers when our circumstances were exactly the same. You can guess which ones we have recommended to others. 

Fine if you are recommending a broker to someone selling, but for buyers the boat that just clicks might be with a crap broker.

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27 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Fine if you are recommending a broker to someone selling, but for buyers the boat that just clicks might be with a crap broker.

Very true and it was a dilemma we discussed. When we found boats that we liked, usually on Apolloduck, we would take into account how far away they were but also which broker they were with. As for recommendation, we simply told people what we experienced. We were always up front with brokers about our financial position (we had a property up for sale but with no firm offers) and the responses we got were very varied. One broker couldn't be more positive and helpful, one was indifferent and one made us feel really uncomfortable just for asking to view a boat. I'm pleased to say that we found 'our' boat for sale privately in the end and hope to pick up the keys next week. I would say that the process of finding the right boat involves many different emotions, some good, some not so good.

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On ‎07‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 12:56, HBROK said:

Well, isn't this fun, just a few observations from a first time buyer

Of course when you are buying second hand it is highly likely it will not be exactly what you want, but with a few alterations or even living with someone elses design is I guess the norm.

If you went to buy a car and I mean a 2/3K car I would say 99% of the time, the salesman would want to talk to you (well of course he would) and the car would be spotless inside and out but people who want to buy a narrow boat I would assume want to spend, for arguments sake upwards of 20,30,40k. I am gobsmacked at the state of some of these boats or at least the state at which people advertise them in, rubbish all over, no order, pots in the sink, unmade beds, dirt outside, bilges swimming in water or oil, electrical  wiring that looks unfinished, do they not realize people want to part with hard earned cash, there just seems to be no effort, you'd think the broker would advise them surely -Although it does appears to be a sellers market at the moment, so I guess if they are moving why bother??

I am new to this but it astonishes me what some people are asking, for what seems to me akin to a 1974 caravan :D I am sure it is a smaller market than the caravan market but the manufacturers are leaving the boat builders standing with interiors.

Appolloduck, is this site ok? In the sense that it is the slowest internet site I have ever had the pleasure of using on three different computers in very different places, it is always slow, painfully slow!

Broker websites, what a joke they are (the majority), I have been looking around for a few months now, I am not in any hurry but these people just never get back to you. They also constantly leave boats up on their sites that were sold ages ago, why?

I have contacted three brokers just this week to ask them if I could visit to see their stock, only one got back to me and said he 'has no stock really' (but loads are displayed on his site, the other two, well you guessed have not got back to me.

It's absolutely amazing, I am still smiling which is slowly changing to a grimace, but I am sure I will get there in the end..................:banghead:

:)

Ah welcome to the world of boating, as I found when I entered this strange world 11yrs ago, what you must not do is be in a hurry[god forbid], there is a culture called 'canal time' which once you recognize and embrace it it's slow progress but progress.:rolleyes:

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