Broking a deal – not smooth sailing!

Following our rushed trip to France our mind was made up.  We had found our boat.  The more boats we saw, the more we were convinced the Seastream – Ceruleum – was the right boat for us.  However, with everything in chaos and countries closed, was it the right time to proceed?  

Once again, it was time for us to have a serious talk about our plans!  This seems to be a regular occurrence as everything is changing so quickly.   The outcome was that we would proceed with the purchase but for everything to be put on hold until after the lockdown, which at this point had not been announced yet but was obviously imminent. 

Our broker had remained in regular contact, although he was now in The British Virgin Isles overseeing a refit on a storm damaged boat.   He had previously sent us a contract which we had refused to sign as it contained deadlines which we felt were unreasonable in the changing environment we were now in.    We had chosen our broker due to a recommendation on a YouTube channel I had watched who said it was a good idea to employ a broker that works for you, not the vendor and they can navigate you through all the processes and legal requirements when purchasing a boat overseas.   This seemed like a good idea as we wanted someone on the ground, working for our best interest.  When the day came for us to start negotiating on the purchase for Ceruleum, he asked us for a price band to give him the freedom to start negotiating low and bargain hard for us.   A few days later he informed us that he had secured Ceruleum at our maximum price braclet.  We were not too concerned about this as we felt we were still getting a great boat at a good price. 

A few days later our broker called us and said he was sending the contract and invoice for a deposit.  He said the contract stated we were paying £4k less than he had told us as the selling broker would not split the commission with him.  He was therefore passing that cost onto us.   We were a bit confused but we had secured the boat for a price well within our budget and didn’t think too much about it – on reflection a silly mistake. 

We allowed the boat purchase to slow down as we were concerned about the changing effects of Covid-19 and how this was going to disrupt our plans.  We certainly didn’t want to commit to purchasing a boat and then discover we were unable to sail anywhere in her and be left with large marina fees in the process.  Once we heard that other people were viewing her, we needed to make a decision and asked our broker to arrange for the contract to be changed to reflect the current situation and adjust the length of time stated between signing the purchase agreement and arranging a survey/sea trial.  

Due to our broker being in the British Virgin Isles, we talked directly with Sam from Ancasta, the selling broker.  On the Monday, Sam arranged for a revised contract to be drawn up and we were happy with the wording.  I told Sam I was convinced we would go into lockdown by Wednesday so wanted to delay the surveyor inspection until later in the week.

We went into lockdown that night!

Tuesday morning we received a call from Mike, our broker’s boss.  He informed us that he had just fired our broker due to some discrepancies in accounting practices.  Basically, it transpired that our broker had asked us to pay all monies for the boat directly to him, and not Ancasta.  

Buying a boat is similar to buying property – you strike a deal, sign a contract, pay a deposit.  The deposit is held in a trust account, which the broker legally has to have to keep the money safe for both the purchaser and vendor.  It transpired that our broker was not using a trust account, but was asking us to pay the money into his newly formed company account.  As he was now in the British Virgin Isles, I shudder to think what could have happened if we had paid the deposit as he instructed.

Sam and Mike were both hugely apologetic and assured us everything could proceed as normal now, just not with the original broker involved.  Fortunately we had signed nothing and had no financial commitment to anyone at this stage.   We were then informed that, in fact, Ancasta had agreed to split the commission with the broker, so he was hoping to be paid twice!  The positive to all this is that the price we were now paying for the boat has reduced by £4k!

We felt a little bruised and gun-shy as we looked over the contract.  Was the universe trying to tell us something?!   We had another HandS downloading session and decided this was still the right boat, it was just the wrong man who had been involved.   It was time to move forward!