Janice Marois wrote me off-list asking for the details on the difficulties we just went through purchasing our trawler. Here's the story, but warning...it's long! And with this, I'm off to the boat! On May 16, after looking at a lot of boats and inspecting this boat twice, we decided to make an offer. She'd been on the market for at least six months, so we decided to make our offer a little on the low side, knowing that we'd have to come up some to actually make a deal. Our initial offer was rejected, of course, but the seller countered with exactly the amount we'd had in mind as a comfortable purchase price. But he had one condition: he wanted to close on July 9th and this was May 22! His reason was that the boat had belonged to his father who had passed away last year, and he wanted to take his mother on one last overnight cruise. This is where the warning bells should have started going off. (Actually, they probably were going off, but I wasn't listening!) Anyway, we counter-offered, reducing the sale price by $2000 and compromising on a closing date of June 15. He accepted that, and we had a valid purchase and sale agreement, with close pending the usual survey, sea trial, and financing. I hired a surveyor (Steve Bunnell, Bunnell Marine Consulting in Camden, Maine, www.bunnellmarineconsulting.com) and a few days later, he surveyed the boat and we did the sea trial. Both were satisfactory...we only found one mechanical issue (the bottom of the exhaust hose at one point where it passed through the lazarette was deteriorated and needed replacing) and two small areas of rot in the deck underlayment...both of which are easily repaired (and work that I'm used to doing). Our broker (Annie Gray, Gray & Gray, Inc., www.grayandgrayyachts.com) recommended that we offer to split the repairs; have the seller replace the exhaust hose, and we would take care of the rot. Both parties agreed to that. At this point, the boat was on its mooring, when it was struck by lightning! She took a direct hit to the tip of the 8' VHF antenna mounted on the side of the flybridge. The seller had the boat hauled immediately, and thoroughly inspected. Fortunately, there was no structural damage whatsoever, however all of the electronics were toast...VHF, depth sounders, radar, gps, battery charger and some of the attendant wiring. (We're fortunate that this ol' GB has a pretty simple and basic electrical system...no generator or inverter, or digital equipment or controls other than the nav stuff.) According to maritime law, once the yard hauled the boat and money was owned the yard for these services, there is a lien on the vessel. If for some reason the insurance company or the seller didn't pay the repair bill, the yard could go after the boat even after the sale. (In maritime law, debts are attached to the vessel, rather than the owner...and they stay with the boat until resolved, regardless of the chain of ownership!) In short, it put the deal in limbo, even though the clock that started ticking with our signing of the purchase and sale agreement continued to tick. The good news is, she's at a reputable yard, and once the yard prepared a detailed repair estimate, the insurance company sent an adjuster down (who actually added a few more repair items "just in case") and they approved full slate of repairs. At about this same time, the finance company came back to me with a problem. It turns out that unbeknownst to the broker or to me, the boat wasn't owned by the son, but in fact was still tied up in his late father's estate. In order to proceed with the documentation and title transfer, the seller had to provide a certified death certificate and a certified letter of administration for the estate. This should have been an easy task, however it took them weeks to provide the documents. Part of the problem was that at this stage, other family members became "involved" (you'll have to read between the lines on this one!). Back on the repair front, the broker came up with a solution...that was to go ahead with the close, putting $10,000 into escrow to cover the on-going repair work. The yard was willing to put us at the head of their work list to get the job done quickly. Seemed like a great plan. But one of the family members refused to escrow any money. So the broker worked out a deal with the insurance company's rep, the yard, and the seller, whereby the insurance company would cut the check directly to the yard, the yard was willing to wait the several weeks after the repair for the insurance company to process the check while effectively marking the bill "paid in full" so we could close, and that the broker would pay the seller's $1000 deductible directly to the yard out of the seller's proceeds. We were thinking everything was coming together finally, when I received another call from my contact at the finance company. Because this whole process with the estate paperwork had taken so long, the loan documentation had expired, and we were required to execute another set of loan documents. And they still hadn't received the estate paperwork yet! The finance company (Intercoastal Financial Group...Gerald Kraaz...great guy, excellent service, competitive rates, www.boatloans.net) is located in Fort Pierce, FL, and we're up in Portland, Maine. For the second time, they had to overnight the package up, we had to track down a notary, and my wife and I had to leave work to go sign them...again! The finance company provided a UPS overnight return service envelope, and at 2pm on a Thursday I dropped the package off at UPS. The plan was that as soon as the finance company received the newly signed forms Friday morning, they would wire the money to the broker that day and we could close. Friday morning, I received another call from my man Gerald at Intercoastal. The estate paperwork had arrived. But our loan documentation package had not! I tracked the package, only to find that the UPS plane had had a mechanical problem, and the package was "enroute" with no other ETA or information. So it was another long weekend while we waited to see if it ever showed up. In the end, it arrived about 3pm Monday afternoon, and they wired the money to the broker on Tuesday. We did have an early out on this whole mess. As soon as the closing date passed, the seller had breeched the contract. We could have gotten out of the deal and had our deposit returned, and the seller would have been on the hook for our survey fees, the yard costs for hauling the boat for survey, and for any non-refundable financing fees that we had incurred. However, we really wanted this boat...she's in excellent structural and mechanical shape (and now even has brand new electronics!), and we feel we paid significantly less than she's worth. That's important to us, because we hope to move up again in a few years when our daughter graduates from college, and we're going to want to be able to sell her quickly when the time comes without taking a bath. So what are the lessons? >From a buyer's point of view: 1) Make sure you know who has title to the boat you're buying and that if it's a unique situation like ours, that the seller is prepared to work quickly to execute the sale. 2) Work with a good broker...Annie Gray was worth her weight in gold throughout this ordeal. 3) Hire a good surveyor...'nuff said! 4) Be willing to negotiate and compromise during the deal to overcome any obstacles that crop up along the way. >From a seller's point of view: 1) Be totally forthcoming with ALL pertinent information with your broker and potential sellers from the onset. 2) Make sure you have everything you need to close the sale before you list the boat. Once you have an accepted offer, you have to move quickly; failing to do so could cost you the sale, as well as the buyer's pre-purchase expenses. 3) As soon as you have a signed purchase and sale agreement, close as quickly as possible, lest lightning strikes! I wouldn't use the boat after that point, either...if you damage the boat after the agreement and before the close, you're on the hook to make the boat right for buyer! By waiting for one more ride for mom, it cost my seller his $1000 insurance deductible, plus weeks of aggravation and grief trying to close the deal. Sorry to take so long, but it's a long story. Well, I'm outta here...I'm heading to the boat! Ted Hugger Seguin, GB32 #126 > -----Original Message----- > From: Janice Marois [mailto:janice@janice142.com] > Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 1:04 PM > To: Ted Hugger > Subject: RE: Finally! > > Please tell all. We're still in the process of selling our albatross > (okay, the house!) then get to do the fun stuff -- find/buy "the one" > Special concentration on what went wrong, how it was resolved, and how > you'd have done it if you'd known then what you know now. > > Thank you!