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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Bank Repo Boats: Getting Boats At Auction

By Redd Templeton

If you've searched at any of the more visiteed boat classified sites it's not unheard of anymore to see up to 15% of the sites inventory displayed as 'bank owned' i.e bank repo boats. I personally like to peruse bass boats up for auction but all types of boats are liquidated. Repo auctions are significantly more evident with performance type boats. The question that frequently gets tossed around in boating blogs and forums is whether banks and credit unions are desperate enough to accept serious offers as low as 15 to 25% of their asking price. Anything less than that and you will not even get a bank to respond.

Making an all cash offer will typically give you more room to bid low. And your offer is reasonable you can expect the lender to entertain your offer and subsequently counter your offer or based upon on how prolonged the bank has been trying to liquidate the boat -- agree to it outright.

It's not the most efficient means but you can go directly to a local, regional, or national bank and ask them what boat repos they have for sale? But be prepared to wade through a lot of red tape, time, and an overall lack of response or help from bank supervisors. For the most part banks are busy lending and don't have time, authorization, or understanding to attend to a boat repo negotiation. However, a company called Boat Auctions Direct has aggregated and listed many sources including banks and credit unions within North America that do list repossessed boats, RV's, ATV's, marine equipment and accessories, etc.

The reality of approaching a bank to strike a deal on one of their owned assets is that often most lenders will not work directly with the public. They opt instead to utilize brokers and trusted repo auction houses or liquidation outfits for convenience sake. It's just more systematic and more importantly enables them to focus on their primary service: lending. Some banks have so many boats to manage that they are buying fleet insurance policies.

Understand that auction houses have a working agreement established with local and regional banks or credit unions. Often the terms are already set as to how much liquidation companies profit from the sale. The advantage for the lender is they are able to make use of a dependable name for marketing as well as rely upon their knowledge and expertise. And even more utilize their storage lot to efficiently re-market the boats. Something that's practically impossible for a bank to manage. The bank goal is to try to re-claim at least the defaulted loan amount once the hammer drops to end the boat auction.

One question I hear often is whether or not banks offer a list of bank repo boats going to auction? This may be valid for smaller sized community banks or credit unions however , most often the bigger lending institutions are contracted with larger auction houses or repo boat liquidation companies to efficiently repossess and remarket their collateral. In the latter case of smaller community banks you might make some headway if you ask to speak to the bank officer in charge of "special assets" department if they do not already have a dedicated page for the general public to view repos i.e. non-performing assets within their website.

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