Some deals are easy, some… not so much. In this case I represented a patient, knowledgeable, personable and reasonable buyer which went a long way to making this one of the easy ones. Another key ingredient to transactional happiness – the boat – was just about as good as it gets. Thanks to a very diligent seller, the survey punch list was one of the shortest I’ve seen in a long time.

That’s especially notable because the surveyor my buyer selected, one that I have worked with before, is extremely thorough. Not like some overly aggressive surveyors known as [first name] “torpedo the deal” [last name], but in this case, woe be to the boat that isn’t standing tall on survey day, because every discrepancy that can be found is going to see the light of day.

When a boat is sold in this condition, it sets the buyer up for success, because all he needs to do is keep up with the boat instead of first spending resources getting it back up to a suitable baseline. There’s a big difference. This Hylas will serve my buyer well in his coming cruising adventures.

After 20 years in this profession, I’m left with a handful of indelible impressions:

• Integrity will always matter. Yacht sales, like any other business, can be a cutthroat world. The pursuit of a dollar will always tempt some to take ethical shortcuts, to put it kindly.
• Relationships will always matter. At the core of any worthwhile venture, relationships will ultimately define its success or failure.
• Helping people create the best memories of their lives will always matter. That’s what happens when you put a buyer in the right boat, at the right time. That’s what keeps me in the game.