Shortage of Yachts? FLIBS

I agree there is a vast shortage in South Florida of used yachts. I have loaded 100's and 100's of them that foriegn owners have bought and shipped out of the country, never to return. I now see these buyers, buying them further and further away from where they are getting shipped out of. I see many of the smaller SF coming out of Destin-Alabama because there aren't any here for sale. I know one owner that bought a 50' trawler in Seattle, just to ship it to Ft. Lauderdale and run it to Texas. If you look at the marina's, up and down all of the canals, there are very very few boats around compared to before, and it's not because they're all up North for the summer.

The trend since 2008 has been that the local owners are selling their yachts and trading down to much smaller stuff like center consoles. None of the owners bought a new yacht or bigger yacht to replace the 40-70' they just sold.

I've even found that on a 60-70' you rarely even have to make dockage reservations ahead of time anywhere, unless it's one of the very busy holidays.

I also believe with the internet and worldwide availability of the internet, the show is not as necessary for used boats as it used to be. Buyers can look at boats from the privacy of their own home and see really good pictures of each boat inside and out and rule out many boats without leaving home and maybe narrow it down to 3 and go visit those.

I have noticed here in south Georgia & north Florida. There is nothing to brag about in quality or value in late model local listings. In a quick search on the popular yacht listing, there is not much quality listings out there. Bunch of #@$%%^ and old stuff the banks have not delivered yet and listings still near upside down mortgages.
AND from the crunch, lack of proper maintenance.
My thought is, maybe the ugly crunch is over, those with quality craft that could not sell, the owners have found a way to keep them.

This may be a good sign.

I'm thinking the same on the market. There may not be the quality/value this show to justify the show cost. Folks with quality may just hold/hang on a while longer. Mid elections in a few months and junk of like.

Still questioning if this is a good signal,,, other than the humming..
Ah, humming on the market,,, Ah the PIs...

Because what's left is close to junk at this point. It's been sitting since the crunch, not really maintained since the crunch, and well it's been 5 years since the crunch......Many many of the boats for sale that are left need LOTS of work, and were overpriced to begin with......There is a shortage of good boats on the market and when they pop up, price appropriately they sell fast.......

I have one I manage that the owner has not used the boat for 3 1/2 years. It's for sale at about 40% over market value. It's not a very big MY, an aft cabin MY. I'm guessing they owe close to what they're asking......The strataglass was so shot, the owner asked for quotes, then never wanted to replace. I threw the entire enclosure in the trash, there was only 1 piece out of about 20 that was good and see-through. The refrigerator broke "Ohhh, well wait on that, we aren't using the boat right now" ohhh this just broke "wait on that as well" and now you have 12 major items that need attention.......what do you do......count it as 1 of the 2600 in south florida that won't sell.....LOLOLOL

Brokerage inventory is dwindling. Markets are specific by region but I think the trend is relative overall.

Since 2008 the flow of new product into the market has slowed to a trickle. The direct effect is very few boats newer than six or seven years old being on the brokerage market today.

The U.S. pleasure boat fleet is aging rapidly. This will only continue to get worse as the influx of new product shows no signs of picking up.

Brokerage sales can't live forever off of selling 1992 to 2002 models. And powerboats from the 1970's and 1980's almost can't even be given away.

Today 'newer' in yacht brokerage terms can mean ten years old.

Despite these inventory problems prices remain flat as buyers are mostly lowballers looking for the deal of a lifetime and demand never gains any real momentum.

It's not simply a matter of numbers up or down. Compounding the problem is the aging inventory. Much of the older stuff is unsellable junk.

Many seller's are taking such a haircut they don't want to spend money on a boat show. Many don't want to spend money even to make the boat sellable.

I had a client selling a near new Sea Ray. Boat needed a buff and wax and Isinglass. He was going through a divorce and didn't want to spend the money ...maybe $2500. The boat sat on the market and when I finally sold it he probably took a $15K hit for not spending $2500.

Absolutely there are too many shows for the current state of the market. Can boat shows bring the market up? I don't think so. Shows don't create demand - they are a product of demand.