How do I choose a yacht broker to sell my vessel? How do I come across the correct yacht broker to sell my yacht? These are questions that you as a vessel owner might ask when it is time to sell your boat. In my transactions with sellers, I find that most, if not all of them had no idea when deciding on the brokerage to represent them. Their preference was made arbitrarily it seems. When you are ready, you need to find a decent yacht brokerage that you can trust. Some of the points that you should ponder are honesty, value and ability.

A yacht is a huge expenditure and numerous people prefer to buy one from a yacht brokerage. A brokerage sells boats to interested parties for a commission. Clearly, before you consider which one to go with when selling, you will need to be familiar with the commission amount that they charge; it is a standard 10% in the business.

Obviously, you want to look for honesty in a yacht broker. No one desires to do business with a dishonest person in any manner, but some people are extremely dishonest without seeming to be. Investigate the history of the brokerage and ensure that there are no complaints filed against them. The brokerage should be competent when it comes to knowing how to price your yacht. Your yacht brokerage should have a good feel of the market and how much to value your boat.

Always look for skill in a yacht brokerage. They should have been in the industry for some time. The longer, the better, clearly as this indicates they're able to stay in business. They will not only have the ability to sell your boat at a decent price, but also have the ability to come across the perfect yacht if you are looking to acquire another one from a broker.

In order to find the top yacht brokerage, you must shop around. Speak to several people until you get at ease with one. Request and call up references. Never do business with a brokerage that is assertive or insists that you sign a contract that you do not comprehend. These legal documents are binding. If you do not understand the listing agreement, seek legal counsel. In addition remember that buying a vessel is similar to purchasing a home. You will want to screen the organization as you would a home brokerage firm.

Here are some questions to pose while searching for the best yacht brokerage. Use this list to establish which Broker is best for you. I have included my answers to each question.

Do you co-broke with other Brokers who might have a buyer that could purchase my boat? Can I obtain it in writing? It is in our listing agreement; we constantly co-broke with other Brokers. If you cannot get it in writing the broker is more worried about his commission; you could potentially lose out on a deal.

How accessible are you going to be to me, buyers and other Brokers? We make phone calls regularly to other Brokers and wait to hear back from them. My Blackberry and laptop are at all times on; you can contact me if you need to; buyers can too!

Does your company sell vessels full time or is brokerage just a past time? A lot of Brokers do it in their spare time like a hobby. If your Broker will not act for you full-time, 7 days per week, and holidays if needed, you need to pick another firm.

How long does your listing agreement last? Can I cancel if I wish to? Our listing agreement lasts an initial 6 months. Our policy is that if you are not pleased with our services, we will release you at any time at your request following that initial period. Many brokerage listing agreements have a notification clause in small print that says you are obligated to give them a 90-120 day written notification before you will be released.

How do you market my vessel? Promoting yachts is all about exposure. It's a well-known reality that boat buyers of today shop the world wide web almost solely for their boats. Actually statistics illustrate that about ninety-eight percent of all yacht sales take place as a result of world wide web exposure. Inquire about the web sites the brokerage utilizes to promote boats and yachts. Having your vessel on ten little known sites nobody can locate is of no use. Ask how the brokerage has completed SEO and what percent of visitors come to their web sites monthly via search engines. About sixty-three percent of our visitors reach us because of a search engine. Our website has been indexed by all of the major search engines including Google, Yahoo, Bing, Dogpile, and others.

Inquire what terminology the site is ranked for; our site can be Googled and found on page 1 for "used trawlers", "used motor yachts", "used cruisers", and numerous other search terms.

Can your chosen brokerage promise that your boat will be seen on Google page one? At our brokerage, we will guarantee it with each vessel listed.

How many visitors come to your site seeking yachts? We often experience over 18,000 visits to our web site monthly, thousands more than the Yachtworld web site.

Ask if the brokerage makes use of the Yachtworld website, the international multiple listing service site. This web site is the multiple listing website where we share boat listings with other Brokers. And yes, every one of our vessels is on there.

Global marketing and advertising is a large issue to us; it produces purchasers. Do you realize that we have had site visitors from as many as seventy eight nations in 2010 from countries such as Australia, Norway, Canada, France, Finland, New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, and Germany on this website, just to mention a couple? We sold about six vessels to foreign purchasers in 2010. Ask to see how a brokerage markets globally.

Does the brokerage use direct email advertising and marketing? We keep an email marketing list of several thousand boaters, many of whom are purchasers. On a bi-monthly basis we email these people with a newsletter about new yachts on the market, price modifications, boating headlines and other matters of marine relevance. Your boat will be marketed here. It drives customers to the internet website.

Does the brokerage maintain a blog? We maintain a blog to help educate new shoppers to the boating community; your vessel will be featured there too. It is also indexed by Google on a daily basis and creates hundreds of visitors daily. We post to the blog twice weekly. We additionally keep a Paradise Yachts existence on Face Book, the social media web site where we interact with other boaters; many of our fans are boat buyers wanting to locate the right yacht.

We are one of a few brokerages that use You Tube to promote your boat via narrated videos recounting her features. Your vessel will be posted here also.

What's more, we also take part in sixty one other social bookmarking websites with the single purpose of bringing the purchasing traffic to your boat.

How do you keep me up to date of the progress of your advertising and marketing?

At Paradise Yachts we often hear how other Brokers get a listing and never let customers know how things are progressing. You will hear from us on a regular basis; about every 6 weeks. I like sending you an email outlining how I view the universal market, how many boats similar to yours have been sold and at what value, what the prices are with yachts like yours on the market, if any yachts similar to yours have entered the market and what if any suggestions I have to enhance our internet marketing.

How many boats do you keep in inventory?

I prefer to keep from 25-35 boats in my selling inventory. With this quantity, I am able to keep track of each boat's monthly progress, assess the website traffic each yacht receives, examine what other vessels similar to yours are selling for and keep you well-versed on her progress. If I kept more boats in inventory, and you could turn into just another number.

What do you truly comprehend about vessels; have you ever owned one? I have sold a lot more than one vessel because the purchaser completed his research and sought me out because he recognized I myself own a trawler. The buyer found me as a result of my trawler ownership and know-how. I could talk the talk with him.

And finally, ask your broker for a list of yachts that have sold in the past year. Has he sold any vessels similar to yours?

In summary, don't just select the Broker that happens to be down by the local marina. He may spend more time on the golf course than you do. Do some Internet investigation and ask a number of questions to recognize you are getting the Broker that has your best interests in mind.