A Boat Broker’s Ramblings
As of November of 2001, I am 56 years old, weigh 185-225 lbs., exercise reluctantly, fight a constant battle with cigarettes, and occasionally really, really enjoy more than one glass of red wine – preferably a good merlot. I am an amateur nutritionist, believe there is a lot to alternative medicine, and do most of the cooking for my family. (My wife handles the hammers and such but I know when to call a good boat mechanic). Hand me a book, let me lie down, particularly under sail, and I’m in 7th heaven. Born in Pittsburgh, PA on 8/6/45, the day they dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela as a “gringo”. My father was in the oil business with Standard Oil and then in the mineral consulting business. I was schooled at Campo Alegre in Caracas, then Phillips Exeter Academy, and, finally, Cornell. Proudly, I spent some time in the USMC, reaching Captain, spent my year in Vietnam, and was with the CIA for a while. In the mid 70s I thought I was getting rich in some mineral ventures. So I set out to find and buy the best go-round-the-world boat I could. I eventually moved from monohull sailboats to monohull, full displacement trawlers. But I soon learned that trawlers needed flopper-stoppers or stabilizers or something to keep them from rocking and rolling. Somebody, somewhere put me on to catamarans and, after a whole lot of research, I never looked back. I really didn’t want to give up sails either. And it quickly became apparent that sailing catamarans were the best of both worlds … trawler speeds on less horsepower, without the constant heeling and rocking, and I could still sail. I have been prejudiced, but not intolerant, ever since. As it turned out, I also didn’t get rich. In fact, I went broke in the coal business. So I didn’t end up heading out around the world. But I kept researching and sailing multihulls when I could. My wife, Linda, and I made the move to Florida. I decided to first try out the yacht brokerage business. I quickly found out that there was no broker in the established brokerage community concentrating on multihulls. So I did and haven’t had to look back since. I spent some time in a little brokerage and then was lucky enough to move to Luke Brown & Associates. And learned a lot from one of the princes of this business. If you are ever looking for a good monohull brokerage, LB&A can’t be beat. Then, in 1993, I formed 2Hulls, Inc. and have been at it’s helm ever since. While I worked at Luke Brown, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to do this brokerage business better for both myself and my clients. What I finally settled on was developing the best multihull service site, the best data base going, a year-round, in-the-water boat show, and a service department to help you with refitting and fixing your boat. It worked. Our web site gets + 2,000 visitors, looking at + 7,000 pages, causing + 54,000 hits and delivery of +430 MEG ... per day! For a specifically targeted marine market, nobody ... but nobody ... matches us. For even more web statistics and why they are important to multihull aficionados, please go to <http://www.2hulls.com/statistics.html>. As for our data base, it really helps us stay on top of things. It holds over 10,000 multihull prospects, a major E-mail list, and helps us do our job better than just about all the brokers out there.
And our boat show … nobody matches it. We have about 15 boats on our docks here in Fort Lauderdale at all times. About 20-40 groups of people show up every week to crawl all over the boats, get a feel for what’s on the market, talk to us. And some even buy a boat. The interesting part here is that more than 50% of the buyers who come to the docks buy a different boat than the one they came to see. Maps and directions are at http://www.2hulls.com/site/find2hulls.html. Our service department has greatly aided keeping your boat up-to-snuff for showing, doing any post-sale work necessary, and helping others with their re-fitting and repair needs. I don’t know another multihull brokerage with this service. Sure … we have some competitors. But I am sure that we sell more multihulls than anyone else out there. And, in most years, our dollar volume will put us in first or second place. We do about 30 boats in a bad year and 50 or so in a good year. And, something that I think is very important, have concentrated on selling cruising boats, not charter boats. Yes, we have sold charter boats and have recommended good charter fleets to put them into, but, overall, preferred to stay away from some fairly questionable income prognostications. It’s more fun to help and sell to cruisers anyway. Also important is that we don’t turn up our noses at the “little deals”. It’s amazing how many people is this industry think that $200,000 isn’t important … that they don’t want to waste their time on the low-end boat buyers. Well, they need to learn that low-end boats make high-end boats. I happen to think that $50,000 is a whole lot of money. And $1,000,000 or more is nice too. What am I like? Sometimes I am a little gruff. I always have an opinion, which, I hope, is well informed. Some in this industry have said that 60% of the people out there think a whole lot of me, 30% don’t know me, and the last 10% and I will never get along. I’ll tell you what … I really like those percentages! And I really do like to help you find the right multihull … not just the easiest or most lucrative one. At the end of the day I head home to my wife, Linda, and my 10-year-old daughter Alice. They keep me younger and steadier and out of the ditches. And they both need new shoes …………………… So … please read the following pitch. If you see other brokerage boats you are interested in ... don't call them ... call or E-mail me. If you do call them, it begins to gum up the works and they start digging in their heels about doing a deal with another broker. Furthermore, I will probably be told and know more about the true condition of the boat than you will know even after visiting the boat. Other brokers tend to respect us because we are known for dealing straight and, most of all, having far more product for them to sell than others! More often than not, we are going to get a more complete and accurate story.
The
other reasons you should be using me are that: Not experienced with brokerage? … any maybe even if you are … you ought to my article “What to Expect From A Brokerage Transaction" at <http://www.2hulls.com/archive/Gen%20Article/WhatToExpect.html>.
Considering a new boat, you are now entering a nautical minefield. You
really, really need help. And I’ll do so as your representative … your New
Boat Buyer’s Broker. Read more at: If you are looking at By-Owner-Boats, all of the reasons above, and even more reasons, apply to why you should probably be using me. Just one quick example is that all private sales...from a private seller to a private buyer...owe sales tax in Florida. If the boat is leaving Florida, and you use a good broker, the sales tax probably won't be due.
John Sykes
P.S.
What this all really means is that: |
