Once an offer goes in, the owner, the central agent, your broker, a surveyor and probably a yard all start spending time on your deal. The work that should happen before that point is short, and it changes the quality of everything that follows.
1. Confirm the brief still fits
Re-read the brief you wrote before the first viewing. Cruising region, range, guests, crew, charter or private use. The yacht should match the brief you set, not a version of it that has quietly drifted to fit the yacht you liked most.
2. Test the price against the segment
Look at current comparable listings and recent sales in the same length, year, builder and condition band. Your broker can help with sales figures that never reach the portals. The asking price should sit inside the band those comparables support. If it sits above, you need a reason, such as a recent refit or an unusual specification, before you accept it as the starting point.
3. Read the listing history
Days on market, earlier asking prices and reductions all tell you something about the owner's position. A long, reduced listing in a quiet segment tells a different story from a fresh listing in a busy one. Ask your broker to confirm the history with the central agent rather than relying on what a portal happens to show.
4. Map the competition
What else is available in the segment right now? If three comparable yachts are listed at similar money with similar specifications, you have more choice, and the owner will know it too. If this yacht is one of very few, the price may hold, and a fair offer will matter more than a clever one.
5. Identify visible condition and refit risk
Before any survey, you can already see much of the obvious risk: when the last refit was, paint condition, the age of the electronics, engine and generator hours, class status. These items shape the offer, not just the survey. A yacht with a major service due next winter is a different purchase from one that has just come out of the yard.
6. Ask for the documents
Ask the central agent, through your broker, for what you will need anyway: registration and flag details, builder's information, class status where relevant, maintenance records, the inventory and the GA plan. A seller with a complete file usually makes for a smoother closing. Gaps are better found now than in the week before completion.
7. Define the walk away point
The walk away point is the price above which your analysis no longer supports the deal. Write it down before the offer goes out and agree it with your broker. It should move only when new facts arrive, such as costed survey findings, and not during a counter-offer.
8. Decide the offer structure with your broker
Headline price, deposit, conditions, timeline to survey and timeline to closing all sit inside the offer. Each one matters to the owner. A clean structure, with clear conditions, realistic dates and proof of funds ready when asked, is often worth more to a seller than a slightly higher headline price with loose terms.
Talk it through with your broker before anything goes in writing. They know how offers are usually presented in that market, and they can often tell you, from the central agent, what the owner cares about beyond price. How to negotiate a yacht purchase picks up from here.