Class-action lawsuit against IYBA & YachtWorld...

A few yacht broker musings
As far as the real estate complaint goes, I have tried to understand the point. It sounds as if buyers will benefit because home owners will sell cheaper. Ha! The home value remains the same determined by the buyers offers. Seller may "net" more.

On the yacht brokerage side, this is a non starter. 10% is a bargain for the sellers. The commissions are often negotiated down as you get up in the $5M and up zone.
I have a $1M boat under contract now that has been a long, complicated deal for my $100K commission. Boat buyers expect the brokers to drive Porsches and wear a Rolex. They ain't cheap .
In 2009-2011 the boat sales market was so weak that sellers were offering more than 10%, including bonuses, hookers and automatic weapons... the good ole days
2021-2022 even a cave man could do the deals. Some did

Any questions? Wait I have a story.
Way back... maybe 2002-2004 there was a beautiful 78' Hatteras CMY that the owner wanted to sell. Godspeed, Karl and Nancy, He was a tough nut, insurance guy that was well known. A new car dealer in VA Beach was looking for such a boat but again a tough nut. I hooked the two of them up to do a direct deal. They each called me back and said that the other was unreasonable, bottom feeder... I jumped in the middle and sold the boat to the car dealer for a 75K commission.

I consumed no adult beverages before this post.

I bet you have got some stories to tell. I can only imagine. I am in commercial real estate so I have some broker experiences. A good broker earns his/her keep. I bad one can and does ruin deals. Just like any profession some good some bad.

In simple terms I would describe the job mostly as keeping the buyer and seller from trashing the deal.

Sales commissions for boats and real estate have always been negotiable. Set your asking price accordingly. And I think you get what you pay for in most cases. As far as any windfall for buyers and sellers this is a nothing-burger like so much in the “news” these days.

Captains make WAY too much money!
I was showing a Intermarine in Savannah and the captain walks in and says, "All evidence of the fire has been dealt with". WHAT? Then he went into the details of a fire tug spraying water into the pilothouse. Pretty funny. The buyers were convinced they could smell the strong odor of mold and mustiness after hearing the story.
There are many boats out there with a history of significant incidents. There is a time and place to reveal the details and back it up with documents and an abstract.

Lawyers deserve 1/3 of a clients proceeds.

In RE one has to have a broker to get one’s home, building, what have you on the MLS. Being on the MLS for residential RE is almost a must have. In commercial not to the same extent. If access is allowed to the MLS without running it through the brokerages that will be an impactful change. Don’t know how this works with boats. I think good Brokers will still exist because some of the deals get complex and the broker becomes a deal manager keeping his clients on schedule meeting contractual demands at the contracted time.

I didn’t know this. Thanks for correcting.

Still trying to figure out the legaleeze. The plaintif feels because both, buying, and selling brokers, are from the same company, the 10% commission is illegal?

Can you comment;
Is that from a real & legit attorney firm or some sleazy ambulance & hearse chaser?