Hi Ralph and Sue: A couple of thoughts from our experiences. Be careful. You said: "We have our brokers advice..." As you are the buyer, then the broker is working for the seller not for you. His paycheck will come from the sale of the boat as a part of the sales price. You keep saying "our broker". The buyer doesn't usually have a broker unless you are paying a broker to act as your representative. Do you mean that a broker found the boat for you? If so, he is probably splitting sales commissions with the original listing broker but he is NOT your broker. His motive is to sell that boat to you. Most brokers we have dealt with are very helpful and honest, but they ARE primarily salesmen. Our experience is that brokers will not usually volunteer negative information but will respond honestly if you have a specific question. The problem is, with an unfamiliar boat, it's impossible to know all the right questions to ask. Your first recourse is the surveyor whom you should choose yourself (and not automatically use the one recommended by the broker w/o checking.) Make sure the surveyor knows the type of boat to be surveyed. I have met some very flaky surveyors. If the surveyor is closely allied with the broker and the broker is working for the seller, you have the potential for problems. Another recourse is the yard where the boat was hauled for survey. Go back to the yard people after the broker and surveyor have departed and see if they will talk about "that model in general" and their experiences with that model. Get the boatyard's estimate for the repairs the surveyor is recommending so you have some concrete information to base your counter-offer upon. Don't use the surveyors figures (if he provides any.) I base my go or no-go decisions on the following criteria. I usually insist that the seller pay for 100% of those items that the surveyor deems essential repairs. These are the same repairs and fixes that your insurance company and your lender will mandate be done and inspected afterwards, so you have to do them to get insured and if it is not insurable you won't be able to borrow the money. The boat is usually technically deemed not seaworthy without these repairs. Your surveyor should clearly categorize these kinds of repairs for you (and for the insurance company.) There will sometimes be a re-inspection required of these types of repairs after the work, by the surveyor for the insurance company, so that the insurance company can bind the boat. You may have to pay for that. I lean heavily on the seller for compensation for chronic problems that I know I will have to fix soon, like leaks, dry-rot and blisters. It's negotiable, but not by much. Get the boatyard to estimate the prices for you to use as a negotiating point. The boatyard price will be high and that's good. You have the option to repair these or not at the time of sale. So get the cash in the form of a sales price reduction. If the seller tells you he will have it done, then beware. He is telling you this because he thinks he can do it cheaper than your estimates from the boatyard you chose. You will probably want to have another specific survey after these repairs, done by the seller, are finished. Part of the re-negotiation, if you agree to have the seller do the repairs, should be another survey of those specifically repaired items by the surveyor. And that the cost of that survey and any deficiencies still identified, be borne by the seller. This should be part of the sales contract. Otherwise, if the surveyor finds areas that are still deficient, the seller can bail out claiming that you and your surveyor are just too picky and the seller is then re-negotiating the whole deal. Not where you want to be at this stage. The trade-offs for the top two items are the cosmetic stuff which is highly negotiable IMO. Dulled paint and gelcoat, inoperable non-essential gear, poor mechanical items, etc. -----Original Message----- From: RDHMSH@aol.com [mailto:RDHMSH@aol.com] Sent: Friday, August 07, 1998 9:55 PM To: trawler-world-list@samurai.com Subject: How to handle Survey results We would appreciate some advice regarding how to handle the survey recommendations with the sellers. We have our brokers advice but we believe there is wisdom in an abundance of counselors -- thus this post to the list. <SNIP>