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Buying Broker

Get the best deal on a high quality boat, knowing that your investment is safe.

Why choose us as your buying broker?

 
 

Buying a boat is supposed to be a fun and exciting time. For most people, it is the second largest expenditure they will make in their lifetime, first one being their home. Now, did you buy your home without an agent? Most likely the answer is no. Did you pick any broker or did you get a referral? Now most important question, if you were doing it all over again, what would you change? In this case the list would grow to be fairly long, and while we could go in a great detail how to pick a great marine broker, we suggest you visit our Blog Archive for detailed articles on benefits and questions to ask when hiring a marine vessel broker.

What makes US different???

While all brokers will have similar access to listing services and sold vessel data, many don’t know what it is like to own and maintain a larger vessel. In our experience most brokers specialize in one brand, or certain type, or size of a vessel. And while specialization is great in some cases, it truly limits your chances of finding the best boat for your current and future needs. Just think about it, would you ever get a broker that only sells Farm Houses, or Town Homes, or Condos? Most likely no, you’d want someone who has deep understanding of all of the types and can use that knowledge to find you the best boat at a reasonable price.


Our Experience and Knowledge

We are yacht owners ourselves, and we have lived on our boats and have used them constantly for years. We have sailed to Alaska. We have sailed down the Pacific Coast to Panama and through Caribbean Islands. We have completed the American Great Loop, through the Great Lakes and the rivers.  We each have thousands of nautical miles of experience operating various types of vessels for long distances with our families and by ourselves, so we have a deep understanding how different boats might fit different needs.
 
 
We are ABYC Certified Electricians and Marine Electronics Installers, with extensive experience servicing, maintaining, and upgrading various marine systems. While some might see a small blemish and think nothing of it, we know if that blemish might be a small issue or if it leads to a bigger problem that might cost you thousands of dollars in repairs. While our Online Store provides great savings, when working with our brokerage clients we can often offer even better deals and often times great discounts on installs. As captains, we know and understand what equipment is crucial for safe and effective operation of a vessel, and what improvements will give you greatest benefit in your new vessel.
 
 

We are family people with passion for boating and the sea. We’ve grown up around boats, we’ve worked on commercial vessels, we have used our boats to do amazing adventures and make lifelong friends. Our children have grown around these boats doing the things we love the most and through that, they as well have developed the love for the sea. Because of this passion, we believe that anyone getting into this needs has to have a good experience and the key to that is having a great boat to enjoy. The saying “The two happiest days in boat owner’s life is the day they buy it and the day they sell it” is a fallacy in our view, brought on by the very things we are trying to eliminate with our approach.


Finally, because of our reputation and expertise, we have developed relationships with marinas, boat yards, and other marine professionals that can help us address any deficiencies your new vessel might have at a fraction of the cost that would be available to the general public.


Our Approach

Our approach is based on years of experience as captains and yacht owners, using and servicing our and our clients vessels.


  1.  Our first step is to get to know you and your wants, needs, desires and aspirations with regards to your new boat. Mainly we would focus on what your intended use is, do you plan on doing this solo, bringing family or friends with you, and how far you’re planning to venture. 
  2. After our initial discussion, we would discuss the budget for the purchase and, if you are new to boating, we’d walk you through what expenses you might expect when buying a vessel both immediate, short term, and long term.
  3. We will talk about your likes, dislikes, must haves, like to haves, and any other criteria you might have, or might not have, thought of while dreaming of owning your next boat.
  4. Finally, we would compile the list of all available vessels in the desired area fitting your criteria, and set up a weekly e-mail with any new vessels that are within the parameters.
 
At this point, you might be thinking “Hey, that doesn’t sound much different than any other broker” and you’d be absolutely right. The next steps are what really sets us apart.
 

Because of our extensive experience being boat owners, captains, and marine service providers, we can quickly eliminate vessels which don’t pass our high standards. Vessels that haven’t had proper maintenance, or lack service records, vessels that require significant repairs, or similar.

Every boat you want to see, we would accompany you to the viewing so that we can use our years of experience to gauge the condition of the vessel, and discuss it with you later.

Once you’ve decided to make an offer, our experience proves to be even more crucial. While the vast majority of vessels require sea trial and survey, many times those are done together. We ensure that the sea trial is done within the first 10 days of the offer being made where we together observe the performance of the vessel. This can save you THOUSANDS as surveys can be expensive.

During the survey, we work with the surveyor to address any of your concerns on the vessel, and understanding any additional deficiencies they might have come across while the vessel was out of water.

When you receive the survey, we can show you the exact costs of addressing the issues and either negotiating the appropriate purchase price, or working with the owner on having the issues resolved prior to the closing.

Finally, when you have closed on the vessel, we can work through our vast network of vendors, suppliers, and service providers, to make any necessary fixes right and make your boat ready to take you to the next grand adventure. 

 
We hold ourselves to highest standards, and we ensure that every vessel we buy and sell for our clients meets or exceeds those standards. This is what we believe is the key to The 3 Captains difference, and what makes us one of the best in the business.
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Let us be your brokerage team.

Contact us right now so we can be a part of your team.