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Time to buy a boat??

I am patiently waiting. Happy to see prices coming down but they are still high. I’m looking at a mid tier saltwater boat and msrp starts at $190k. It’s a 24’ boat!!! Ridiculous. I’ve been listening to the investor calls for the parent company and they are still in la-la land.
 
It’s all relative. Housing market (at least in Northeast) is doing same thing. Prices have risen so much people either A. Can’t afford or B. Can’t qualify to purchase. Used home prices have inflated and all you’re doing is selling overpriced used home to buy overpriced used or new home.
Some tract builders in our area are now turning new home (unsold) surplus into rentals. People can’t qualify for a loan but they can rent.
New “apartment's” right down the road from me start at $1600 month for the smallest unit!!!!! That’s insane for my area.
That’s more than my mortgage which includes taxes and insurance!!

My dealer is selling more Express fishing boats than pontoons, but he’s still moving probably 2-4 boats a week. People are traveling 500+ miles (and more) to buy from him too.
 
My LX 2021 $116K build is now $172K. Though when I built a similar M model, it was $155K! However, the build options were very different and it seemed the LX build had some premium features, though the M is classified as a premium. Did not have time for a full reconciliation, but an interesting observation. Of course I bought my last Benny First, so......
 
I think we all saw this coming as boat sales from 3 or 4 years ago could not be sustainable. Just read a couple articles yesterday talking about the over stock of boats now and the inability to sell them at any price. And used boat owners looking to sale are especially hard hit right now.
 
I believe it is part of the overbuying and price run up during COVID. Anything built was sold, marinas empty. Now, like RVs, many of those buyers decided the RVing or boating is not for them and more work than thought. Now they are on the market. But prices for any product that was run up for some reason or the other have never came all the way back down to what we thought was "normal" People proved they would buy at the higher price.
 
The model I am looking at there is still a new 2023 model, a lot of 24’s,25’s and the 2026’s are out soon. I called the dealer and they are taking 20% off the msrp is what he told me. No wonder they haven’t sold it!
 
Andy ,read the warranty. Now 2 year old unsold boats ,the warranty starts when the dealer took delivery
 
Dealers here (upstate SC) are still loaded with inventory and using lots of overflow space. Price adjustment has only just started. The value of my potential trade in might decline, but not much compared to newer markdowns. I will be doing some looking soon.
 
In this market, listing yourself is probably going to net much more than normal with loss on typical trade in differential. At least in our area it would.

I briefly put ours up for sale two weeks ago - don’t ask, long story with my medical issues and declining ability to use the boat.

Rash decision, and I pulled my FB marketplace add after 24 hours. Giving it another season, maybe 2 more seasons, to see if I can get any more improvement.

Anyway, in the first 12 hours I had 20 inquiries. All highly interested and asking great questions. 12 people wanted to check it out in person and water test it at our lake house asap, and were discussing timing of purchase/payment.

I had it listed for 60k, 4K less than I bought the boat for in 2017 (not counting added on Sea Legs in 2019). The purchase dealership offered 40k at start of season when I spit balled it. I feel like I could have listed mine MINIMALLY for what I purchase it for and had lots of interest still. I might have gotten away with listing it for its original purchase price + cost of Sea Legs. Frankly, in this market, and over inventory at local dealerships, I thought I was WAY over priced at 60k. I was wrong. My layout and options were super attractive apparently.
 
I checked mine on NADA last week ,2k less than I paid in 2022 , BUT , 76K more for an identical replacement. I'll be checking into getting it wrapped this winter.
 
Jack M said:
I checked mine on NADA last week ,2k less than I paid in 2022 , BUT , 76K more for an identical replacement. I'll be checking into getting it wrapped this winter.
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I’m about $40-50 k msrp for direct replacement. This one is my one and only if I can get back to using it more.
 
Using it is also an issue with us this year. We've only been out twice . A lot of days we didn't go out due to the Canadian wide fires . Again this weekend we can't even open our windows
 
Same for us on Houghton Lake with the wildfire smoke. Kinda hazy, but nothing like your pic of the bridge. Mainly just the smell in the air. Supposed to clear up going into Tuesday. Fingers crossed.
 
It's supposed to clear up here as well by noon tomorrow. I hope so It's also supposed to be 90 .
 
We dont mind the heat all :cool:. Our original plans were to retire in Florida ,but we have family members that have personally dealt with the hurricanes so we changed our minds .
 
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