How to Prepare For The Sale of Your Yacht

If you’re under contract to sell your yacht, there a number of steps you can take now to ensure a (rather) seamless process ahead of your closing. Our team has put together a short checklist for the steps you’ll need to take and the documents you’ll need to have ready after vessel acceptance.

Ensure The Buyer Has Submitted The Deposit

The 10% deposit must be submitted into the buying broker’s escrow account within 72 hours or 3 business days of offer acceptance. Failure to do so will void the contract, open you to risk of losing the deal plus it can signal a weak or unorganized buyer.

Ensure Loan Payoff Statement Is Obtained

Loan payoff document generation can take time, so get started sooner. This information will be required to pay off your loan once you get to closing so being prepared and getting this to your broker can only help.

Prepare For Your Survey

You will be required to supply the fuel and have someone capable of operating the vessel for the survey and inspection. It’s ideal to have them conduct a dry run onboard if they haven’t already been sailing the vessel so they can be instrumental in helping overcome survey objections the day of survey.

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Ensure Your Material Damage Disclosure Statement Is Signed Off On

Ensure that any known damage is disclosed up front before spending time and money inspecting a vessel that may drastically change price or buying probability down the line. 

Ensure Your Exclusion List Is Signed Off On

If something isn’t being sold with the boat, make sure it’s known now so it doesn’t create friction or result in out of pocket costs for parties at the time of closing. 

Ensure The Boat Is Test & Prepped

A light sea trial and pre-purchase inspection can help set expectations for potential issues before they come up or can be resolved. It’s highly encouraged to take oil samples immediately upon acceptance to avoid worst case resolution quotes. Be sure to see our full preparation checklist here.

Provide Service Records

A surveyor and a buyer will likely take findings and extrapolate those findings out resulting in questionable remediation costs or quotes. The more documentation you can provide to show service history will solidify your negotiation while delivering greater peace of mind to your buyer.

Gather Official Documents

Provide ownership documents for vessel, tenders, trailers and jetskis so they can be properly conveyed at the time of sale.