The CRAZY Used Boat Market

[D&P Powell]

I know this topic has been discussed ad nauseum on here and other social media posts, but I thought I would open up a thread with further evidence.

We purchased a 2015 Z3 in May of 2018 for 78k, and thought it was a good deal at the time (brand new vinyl included). We completed a few upgrades including GSA, tinted windows, etc.

We traded/upgraded in late April of 2020 to a 2020 23ZX. NADA was showing 77k at the time, we traded it in so received a little less. The market had not exploded yet.

The new owner had it for 6 months and traded it in... heard his family decided they didn't want a wakeboard/wakesurf boat after all.

Another owner bought it 6 months ago for approximately 75k (from what I heard).

He posted it for sale on social media today for $98,500. That's certainly not to say he will get it, but just the fact that he's asking that much blows my mind!

[BCRider]

Up here in BC and Alberta the used boat prices are way up as well. It's ridiculous but, we have a very limited pool of inventory to pull from so if you want a boat then you have to pay to play. Between COVID demand and the increasing cost of these new boats the used market value keeps going up. I paid $44k CDN in 2014 for my 09 be. I could probably get anywhere from $50-55k for it right now. The boat was around $53k brand new! The only thing that would really hurt me is my hours as I'll roll 800 before the season is out. I see 04's-06's that are asking that or more as well. It's crazy!

I wish I could sell now while boat prices are high, then hopefully wait a couple years for the market to flood with used boat sales to upgrade but, even then I'm not sure that would happen locally anyway....there's also now way I could be off the water for a few years waiting.lol.

[retox1]

Up here in BC and Alberta the used boat prices are way up as well. It's ridiculous but, we have a very limited pool of inventory to pull from so if you want a boat then you have to pay to play. Between COVID demand and the increasing cost of these new boats the used market value keeps going up. I paid $44k CDN in 2014 for my 09 be. I could probably get anywhere from $50-55k for it right now. The boat was around $53k brand new! The only thing that would really hurt me is my hours as I'll roll 800 before the season is out. I see 04's-06's that are asking that or more as well. It's crazy!

I wish I could sell now while boat prices are high, then hopefully wait a couple years for the market to flood with used boat sales to upgrade but, even then I'm not sure that would happen locally anyway....there's also now way I could be off the water for a few years waiting.lol.

If you asked 55k for your boat it would probably sell in a week. I’ve been starting to watch used prices here in Sask and sadly I’m starting to consider selling. I have a friend who has repeatedly offered me 50k no questions asked for my 07 RZ2. And from what I see selling I think I might be able to get more if I tried real hard. I payed 40 for it 6 or 7 years ago. Yesterday was the first time my boat saw the water this year and nobody even boarded, so ya it would be nice to sell now while prices are insane and buy again in a few years when things settle down. I just don’t know if/when prices will ever go back to realistic. I might end up being priced out of the market.

edit: all the prices I’m talking here are in Canadian $$. If someone offered me 50k US for my boat it would be gone already.

[SONIC]

^ Awesome!

It is pretty crazy. My SA is worth at least 10k more than I paid for it after putting 100 more hours on it this year so far.

I was talking about it with a buddy and the consensus we came to is that it's just all new buyers. They don't know what they *should* cost they only know what they *do* cost.
When they started shopping last month prices were this high so it's normal to them. When they see one for sale a little under what they are used to (with their one month looking experience) they jump on it as a "deal" because in relative terms it is a deal.
Crazy world.

The crash will be fun though, tons of people financed to the eyeballs with a boat that's worth a lot less than they paid for it and no way out.

[Grebva3]

^ Awesome!

It is pretty crazy. My SA is worth at least 10k more than I paid for it after putting 100 more hours on it this year so far.

I was talking about it with a buddy and the consensus we came to is that it's just all new buyers. They don't know what they *should* cost they only know what they *do* cost.
When they started shopping last month prices were this high so it's normal to them. When they see one for sale a little under what they are used to (with their one month looking experience) they jump on it as a "deal" because in relative terms it is a deal.
Crazy world.

The crash will be fun though, tons of people financed to the eyeballs with a boat that's worth a lot less than they paid for it and no way out.

and if/when this happens I just may get me a "real" good deal on a newer Tige than my 2006!

[SONIC]

I agree, it's got me scratching my head where everyone is suddenly coming up with so much more money for everything.
Houses are up hugely and people somehow still buy them, same with cars and trucks, boats etc.
Worries me that we may see another 08 and find out the banks have been giving a lot of people money who can't pay it back.
We all know how that went.

[BCRider]

Don't come to BC Unstuck.lol. I bought my house in 2013 for $ 570k and it's now worth around $ 1.3 mil. You can't get in to a house for under $800k within an hour of Vancouver. I don't see real estate going through the same correction. At least not up here anyway.

I somewhat agree with you Sonic. The prices have become the new normal as the people getting in to the boat market don't have the track record of what these used boats used to be worth. Then again, if everyone prices high that then sets the new trend.

[Grebva3]

My folks sold their retirement real estate and moved to an area that had a MUCH lower cost of living as compared to where they originally planned to retire initially. The profit they just made in their real estate was substantial...obviously, timing has a role and what you can do and when. My Dad was able to move to a larger home, buy his dream boat, stay near a reliable water source and make a profit Just all worked out for them with this craZy market.

[Zackdogg]

I think a huge part of it is people pulling equity out of their houses, and buying toys. The number of cash-out refis we were signing until the last couple of months was insane. I had days where I was signing 9 or 10 a day, most of the week. The combo of house prices doubling over TGIF last few years, here, and rates on the mid to high 2% range. Throw in the government just handing out free money to people to not go to work. We’ll have to see a market correction, at some point, but hopefully it won’t be as bad, since they got rid of the terrible loans they were handing out for a few years, around 2008.

The houses you get here for $500k, now, are garbage. We also have, and I’m sure Utah is seeing some of the same, Californians leaving in droves, and coming here, buying million dollar houses with cash. It definitely has the potential to get pretty sketchy in the future.


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[Zackdogg]

Actually, I'm thinking a little further north and a little further west.

Trip must have been pretty awesome then! I’ll be coming to visit you, because I plan on doing that trip every year or 2, now that I’ve done it. It’s killer!!


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[sandm]

I don't get a sense we will see what happened in '08 again on the housing side but tough to say on the toys/cars side. there is most definitely a market correction coming for all tho. back in the mid '00's banks were giving money away like candy but go try and buy a house today and there are some pretty solid income/credit/debt-income ratio rules in place so it feels like banks learned from the last crash on the housing front. once evictions start up again full force, a lot of landlords will take advantage of this market and try to dump rentals. my gut says a 10% correction by end of year/into first of next but not much more. when the free govt gravy train dries up in september that will push a lot of construction workers back and allow pulte/dr/richmond to start really cranking out houses which will help push down pricing and demand.

toys/cars on the other hand, there are going to be a LOT of people upside down in their purchases over the next couple of years but I think most will try to weather it out or sell and eat the hit. some will dump but seems like a lot getting into the activities are or will stay.

out west tho, water is going to drive the market over the next few years and if we don't see a great snow/rain for a few seasons OR lighten the load on water for irrigation/power boating in the southwest is going to be a mess.

all imo and IF any of this comes true, I hope it's the end of the gravy train for the lazy and forced back to a productive member of society- whatever that role may be.

[D&P Powell]

...I hope it's the end of the gravy train for the lazy and forced back to a productive member of society- whatever that role may be.

AMEN!

[D&P Powell]

@D&PPowell and sandm I couldn't agree more BUT those gravy people are not buying 100K- 150K boats.

Good point!

[sandm]

@D&PPowell and sandm I couldn't agree more BUT those gravy people are not buying 100K- 150K boats.

you are correct. they are tho NOT working on building houses in the construction/electrical/plumbing trades keeping builders from popping up houses. they are NOT returning to work in manufacturing to build the pieces/parts going into wakeboats, they are NOT paying rent and keeping a landlord from being able to evict them and sell his house. And. And. And.

I will say with one caveat that I understand there are some jobs are not going to come back. I think cirque du soele performers as some shows are gone forever. going back many years, the gov't has not been in a position to pay those to sit at home, they expected you to find a different line of work and move on and collect some unemployment during that transition time. transition time is over and time to stare in the mirror and be honest with life.

[bsreid]

Prices are only going up and I don’t see them coming down any time soon. Especially with the supply right now being so backed up, boats that were supposed to be here for May are just arriving now.
Had our RZX for 3 years and lost very little trading it in this spring. See how things go this summer already have people wanting to snag my 25ZX at the end of the season.

I work with a surf school and I’ve done 300 hours in the last few weeks, the demand for being on the lake is insane. A large portion of the people coming out are also coming out because they can’t find a boat right now.

Also not sure where are the money is coming from in BC, especially in Okanagan. The normal price of a lake house went from 1.5million to 5million, been seeing more paragons on the lake than nearly any other nautique, or just the amount of super cars that are selling right now. Lamborghini’s and boats for 2021