Financing

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
I'm surprised so many people finance older boats. It makes me think more people finance than I assumed.
 

ezmobee

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
23,767
I'm surprised so many people finance older boats. It makes me think more people finance than I assumed.

I financed my '02 Hydra-Sports for $16k for 10 years. Bought it the end of '15. It had very low hours on the motor. Payment is under $200 a month. Was it the smartest most frugal thing we could do? No, but really neither is owning a boat at all. We'd been fighting engine problems with the old boat for 2 years and were tired of dealing with it and also wanted a larger deeper hull to better handle the large wakes on our lake. Saltwater boats such as mine hold their value pretty well and with the age mine is at further depreciation will be gradual. I should be able to sell it at any point for at least what I owe on it. The worst case scenario would be if my motor blew. However that would be just about as terrible if the boat was paid for as well. We are committed to boating so we'd be fixing it regardless. With such a low payment repairs on top of the payment wouldn't be unmanageable. My mother died when she was in her 50's from cancer. She never got to retire. That made a big impression on how I live my life. I'm not going to be reckless but I'm also aware that saving everything for a time that may never come isn't how I want to live. We have a seasonal camp site at a lake and we spent nearly every weekend there for half the year. The whole family loves the "new" boat so I consider the low payment well worth it. Now our camper is paid for and although we'd like to have a newer, bigger one, I have no intention of having a boat and camper payment at the same time.
 

boatman37

Lieutenant
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
1,273
^ ditto. my payment is only $142/month for 7 years. i waste that much on frivolous junk each month so i didn't see that as a big hit and i knew that if i didn't get a boat when i did then i may never get one (or not be able to get one). i had student loans coming due that i knew were going to hit my credit for 10 years and if i didn't get the boat before that then i might not be able to get approved after they hit. it wasn't that i couldn't afford the payments, it was more my income to debt ratio that i was worried about. i have excellent credit (we just bought a new car and our score was 778) i just wasn't sure i could get a loan for a 'toy' with my income to debt ratio and to save up enough to pay cash would have taken several years. i'm 48 now and didn't want to wait till i was 55 to buy a boat.
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
I financed my '02 Hydra-Sports for $16k for 10 years. Bought it the end of '15. It had very low hours on the motor. Payment is under $200 a month. Was it the smartest most frugal thing we could do? No, but really neither is owning a boat at all. We'd been fighting engine problems with the old boat for 2 years and were tired of dealing with it and also wanted a larger deeper hull to better handle the large wakes on our lake. Saltwater boats such as mine hold their value pretty well and with the age mine is at further depreciation will be gradual. I should be able to sell it at any point for at least what I owe on it. The worst case scenario would be if my motor blew. However that would be just about as terrible if the boat was paid for as well. We are committed to boating so we'd be fixing it regardless. With such a low payment repairs on top of the payment wouldn't be unmanageable. My mother died when she was in her 50's from cancer. She never got to retire. That made a big impression on how I live my life. I'm not going to be reckless but I'm also aware that saving everything for a time that may never come isn't how I want to live. We have a seasonal camp site at a lake and we spent nearly every weekend there for half the year. The whole family loves the "new" boat so I consider the low payment well worth it. Now our camper is paid for and although we'd like to have a newer, bigger one, I have no intention of having a boat and camper payment at the same time.

When I bought my sig boat last year, I was surprised the owner said he still owed money on it. He must've refinanced it or something. weve got a family friend who's parents both passed away unexpectedly when the friend was young and they live as though there is tomorrow....no savings and all spending. The literally live as though each day is their last but are both healthy and young.
 

Maclin

Admiral
Joined
May 27, 2007
Messages
6,761
I usually finance but my amounts are way way below the OP's amount needed. Kinda like boatman's deal, I keep the payment around the amount that I goof off in a month, then try to frugalize my way through for a few years. For the "down payment" I get the value the CU will loan then work on the buyer until their price is below the CU loan amount, then work in titling and registration and first year's insurance (req'd when financed) into the loan. Another factor is keeping the purchase price close to what the next buyer would pay in a fire sale situation if it goes south.

I am 63 and counting, getting close to no more boats age with arthritis, hips acting up, etc etc etc :fish2:
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
I usually finance but my amounts are way way below the OP's amount needed. Kinda like boatman's deal, I keep the payment around the amount that I goof off in a month, then try to frugalize my way through for a few years. For the "down payment" I get the value the CU will loan then work on the buyer until their price is below the CU loan amount, then work in titling and registration and first year's insurance (req'd when financed) into the loan. Another factor is keeping the purchase price close to what the next buyer would pay in a fire sale situation if it goes south.

We are fortunate enough to be in ultra high income careers. My wife is a ceo and I am an executive level sales person in a high flying sector of the Financial world. Different companies though she also is the founder of hers. We just live way below our means and pay cash for stuff and save a lot. My 2002 boat is good enough for us and was less than 25k last year. We could really live high on the hog if we financed stuff and didn't save. Maybe some day we will.
 

boatman37

Lieutenant
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
1,273
i am working on getting everything paid off but had to get the boat first. i have a pretty good income (work in cyber security) but i have my student loans that i owe 4 more years on (graduated at 41 years old) and had to sign parent plus loans for my kids that they started paying on last year. they pay for them but they are in my name (which kills my income to debt ratio). once my student loans are paid for in 4 years we will have quite a bit of disposable income and me still being pretty new to the cyber security sector i should be able to double my income in the next 5 years. this was another reason i decided to jump in now knowing my income will continue to increase the rest of my career. i worked in a mill for 10 years and was injured to the point i could no longer do that job, which is why i went back to school and why i am 48 and financing (went into debt finishing school and burned my savings paying bills during that time. so it was now or never for me
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
i am working on getting everything paid off but had to get the boat first. i have a pretty good income (work in cyber security) but i have my student loans that i owe 4 more years on (graduated at 41 years old) and had to sign parent plus loans for my kids that they started paying on last year. they pay for them but they are in my name (which kills my income to debt ratio). once my student loans are paid for in 4 years we will have quite a bit of disposable income and me still being pretty new to the cyber security sector i should be able to double my income in the next 5 years. this was another reason i decided to jump in now knowing my income will continue to increase the rest of my career. i worked in a mill for 10 years and was injured to the point i could no longer do that job, which is why i went back to school and why i am 48 and financing (went into debt finishing school and burned my savings paying bills during that time. so it was now or never for me

I hear you, my wife and I racked up way over 100k in student loans 20 years ago...much of it private loans with high interest. We sacrificed a lot to get here for sure. College was the great equalizer as both she and I were as poor as can begrowing up. Now my oldest will be in college in a couple years but I saved for it. I'd love live at our means for a couple years and really live it up but can't get myself to take on debt again.
 

WaterDR

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 8, 2012
Messages
730
I get loans for boats whenever I have bought one. It's just a personal preference and we are high wage earners with large portfolios.

The specific terms are dependent on many factors which including your existing credit and financial situation so there is really no fair way to compare what one person gets compared to another.
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
I get loans for boats whenever I have bought one. It's just a personal preference and we are high wage earners with large portfolios.

The specific terms are dependent on many factors which including your existing credit and financial situation so there is really no fair way to compare what one person gets compared to another.

Agreed..all of our houses and other real estate in our portfolio are paid for in cash as well as every other thing we own. We just sort of skimp on the boat to the extent it has everything a new boat has but is two models old. I can't see paying 70k for a boat we use 3 months of each year in as much as I realize even 70k is entry level as I sit here on the Caribbean and there is no boat going by that costs anywhere near as little as 70k compared to lake boats. 70k is our equivalent boat cost if we bought the new version. Of course 70k is barely a mid level pontoon on our lake these days as they get more and more popular. You need at least 100k to pick up a new tow sports boat as well. I just don't jive with the whole borrowing money in general but I know most of the people on our lake are taking long loans out for their boats. Boats aren't cheap. Of course a 500k+ tax bill tends to take a bit of your purchasing power as well so high income just means you lose a tremendous amount of money each year to just income taxes ignoring all of our property taxes on our portfolio of properties. I think we buy the equivalent to the largest chaparral model each year right around mid April as well...ha ha. The property taxes buy us a pretry nice bow rider each year as well. My friend in my business has a 30 million dollar tax bill this year so I learned not to complain.
 
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