Easy, call me……Kidding. But in actuality if I told you that “price” is the absolute last thing you look for when looking at a boat, most people would say, “that is crazy, isn’t it the most important part?”. But its not. Price is that last thing you look at. Let me explain, what I call “Billy’s 3 step boat buying breakdown”. This is an easy guide that I try to pass along to all my customers when we first meet.

Step one: Which type of boat? Basically the boating world only offers 3 types of layouts for boats with tons of variances. Walk Around, Center Console, and Dual Console. Each one of these have tons of variances, Pilot houses and sport fish boats all share attributes, same as a classic walk around and a cruiser type boat. Point being is that you first have to determine what works best for you and the family (which leads me to step two).

Step Two: What are you going to actually do with the boat? As opposed to what you think you are going to do. Let me explain. So many times I hear people say, we want to sleep over at the beach, or , we want to go tuna fishing. Statements like these hold great expectations, but when you think about it, are you really going to sleep over on the boat, or how many times are you really going to go tuna fishing. If you are honest with yourself, you may find you aren’t really going to do the things that you think you are going to do. Are you a die hard fisherman, do you want to catch the fall run, and continue to fish into December? Or, Are you a fair weather boater? Have you ever actually slept on a boat? believe me it sounds silly but sleeping on a boat isn’t for everyone, you may want to check if everyone in the family can handle it, some people feel queasy when the boat is still and rocks just a little.  All these things are important Which in turn may affect budget, which brings me to the last step, monies!

Step Three: Money and Budget. If you get to this part you can now find any and all above boats in a price range you are comfortable with. 5K or 500K. (Just know what you are getting into) Now determine what you want to spend, whether you want used or new. The best advice I give people at this part is “you have two paths, and the type of person you are determines what path you choose” Financing path or Buy outright path”. Are you an end the month person or a person who is just concerned at the over all total cost. I can give you pretty good arguments for both sides. But, if you notices the whole article is about what you think. Not what I think. Keep in mind, most banks like to see some money down and usually have a cut off in age, (usually). There is always exceptions to the rules.

Granted there may be a little more to it but this is a great starting point!!

Regards,

Billy Sorrese