This blog is dedicated to yacht owners, actual or future ones, and sea lovers in general. If yacht brokers are part of this, it’s a pure coincidence. As a future yacht owner, I think that you can skip working with a broker, especially if you buy a new yacht. I have recently read an article of the “requirements” to be a yacht broker, in case you want to be one if you love yachts, can’t afford to buy one and want to work in the marine industry. It wasn’t very relevant, because it was superficially done.
The article dealt with various issues, which are to be considered only in a few American states. In those particular states, you have to be certified to own your professional brokerage business, and the certification exam or exams includes question about transaction processes, legal reports, ethics, and sales regulations.
The place like your home
[source: morguefiles.com]
Apart from these states, one future broker doesn’t need even a bachelor degree, he just has to have some experience in sales, and to know about specific legalities required when selling a yacht. If a broker operates abroad, let’s say in Turkey, the only requirement is to be alphabetized. I’m not joking, but this profession is not yet properly regulated by any law. Recently, in the last five years, Turkish Government started to organize some Real Estate courses, payed by the future realtors. They also payed for the final exam. The certification required basically the simple presence. So, it seems that in Turkey, to be a legal realtor, you need just to be a third grade graduate, and to pay the three hundred Turkish Lira courses fee. To be a broker is not specified, but as long as you pay some taxes from the transactions you made, you’ll be accepted. A lot more is required now, to receive a driving license, apart from the exams, one needs to be a high-school graduate.
Anyway, a successful Turkish yacht broker, can afford to buy his own yacht, and a great probability is that he will start to build it close to his location, in wood. If that’s the case, he becomes a yacht owner as well.
The referred article (I don’t remember on what site it was published, but by not exactly linking with it, I save you some time) apparently treated the future yacht broker like a car dealer, which is superficial. Talking about yachts and knowing the trends in yacht buying is exaggerate. It’s not like in the most often given example about starting a blog, “write about your passion, if it is cars, write about cars and your readers will come in no time, because you’re not alone”. This is a business, a very proficient one. It is harder to sell a yacht, because it’s not considered a necessary commodity, like a car. Besides, you don’t buy your car using a broker as an intermediary. You see the contradiction?
Buying even a second hand yacht, you don’t actually need a broker, but if you are lazy and you have to throw with money in someone potentially ready to cheat you, you’re welcome.
Wow, and you need a contact list with yacht owners and potential buyers… Well, this is essential, dear friends, and if you don’t have potential clients, knowing all the yacht owners in town won’t get you to be a real broker. To whom to sell? You’ll be just another wheel to be greased, an intermediary between the broker who works with the potential client and the yacht seller, your acquaintance.
The article was boring. The biggest joke was that to become a broker, knowing to work with a computer is a plus. Nice. As the article has been written in the early nineties, which is not true, I assure you.
If you don’t know how to use the internet for research and communication, you better wash cars instead of trying to sell or buy boats for other people, especially if your schooling is not over a three grader’s level.
There are former port authority officials who work as contacts between active port authorities and yacht owners. They can intermediate changing the boat’s flag and a lot of other interesting issues, parts of the legal process of yacht selling and buying. If you’re smart, you can do that on your own, even if this is another proficient business itself. These guys charge a significant commission on top of every operation they do for yacht buyers, but maybe you won’t have the physical time to manage all that if you’re alone.
As a successful broker, you need to already know at least one notary and some legal translators. You don’t have to wait dealing with them as well. You may have other situations when you and your client have to wait. The boat hasn’t arrived yet at the meeting point, for sample. If you can’t find a speed boat to go to it, improvise. Fill the client with joy, take him to a pub or a terrace, feed him, try to pamper him with some beer, and try discreetly to find out what’s happening with the delay. If you are the driver (which is not recommended, you better have a driver at your disposal), don’t drink in front of your client.
[to be continued…]
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