Buying Guides
How to Make an Offer on a Yacht
$5
The offer is the moment a search becomes a transaction, and it is where an unprepared buyer gives away money. Price is only one of the terms you are negotiating.
This guide covers how to build a defensible number from comparable boats and market conditions, what to have ready financially before you submit, how the industry-standard purchase and sale agreement is structured, what happens to your deposit and when, and how to work a counteroffer without bidding against yourself. It also covers what an accepted offer sets in motion — the survey, the sea trial, and your room to renegotiate on what they find.
What's inside
- Building a target range from comparable boats, market direction and seasonal timing
- Positioning your financing and closing costs before you submit, not after
- Contingencies — financing, survey, sea trial — and the honest trade-off between protection and offer strength
- How the industry-standard purchase and sale agreement works, and when a letter of intent is used instead
- Submitting the offer with your pre-qualification letter attached
- The escrow deposit: 10% of the purchase price, due within 3 days, before any survey or sea trial takes place
- Working a counteroffer, and the terms beyond price worth fighting for — closing date, included equipment, repairs
- What acceptance triggers, and how survey findings reopen the negotiation
Who this is for
Buyers who have found the boat and are about to put a number on paper. Useful earlier too — knowing the escrow timing and the contingency trade-offs changes the way you shop.
$5 · Instant PDF download · Yours forever
2026 Minted Yachts | Fort Lauderdale, FL
For informational purposes only. Not legal, financial, or professional marine advice.