Wednesday, October 31, 2018

What stuff costs...

Regarding Yutu, EBM with a couple of good points, and today's words for the day are Stochastic terrorism...

There's an interesting review of a boat you might want to check out but it left me puzzling over the fact that in 2018 a boat can be called inexpensive with a price tag of $165K (or $239K 'completely equipped'). It's not that I doubt the veracity of the pricing it's just that the words inexpensive and numbers in the hundreds of thousands of dollars seem like a contradiction in terminology.

I'm pretty sure the Bente 39 in question is actually a good deal and a lot of bang for the buck in comparison to other new boats of the same ilk but I'll draw the line as using the word at "inexpensive" to describe it.

That said, there is an old used boat that I have been keeping my eye on for the last few years with an asking price far in excess of it's value. Other examples of the same design and age in good condition tend to sell for between $15 - $18K with the the odd duck selling for a bit less or more but asking anything more  than $20K for such a beast is just nuts.

Which, I suspect, is why it has been for sale for the last three years or so at just a kiss less that $44K. At $20K it might actually sell but you'd have to have luck on your side as well as a buyer with rose-colored glasses, some impaired reasoning, and a big chunk of money burning a hole in his or her pocket.

Of course, you see a lot of silly over-priced boats for sale these days which will never sell but do have the problematic effect of distorting the perceived value of what a boat should sell for. Which is why whenever I try to sort out what a given design model is worth on the used market, the first thing I do is to look at how long various boats have been for sale. Factoring such beasts into the equation. Any boat that has been for sale for over a year is simply an over priced distortion on the market.

Which, as always, is just be sure to do your math.

Listening to Tony Joe White (who will be missed).

So it goes...