One of the biggest misconceptions about buying a superyacht is that the process starts with looking at yachts.

In reality, it doesn’t.

The most successful yacht purchases begin by understanding the client, their requirements, their expectations and introducing ideas that they may have never considered. It’s why I never go to an initial meeting with a client considering purchase with any brochures or options for them to consider. I am there to listen, question, learn and then finally advise.

After more than twenty years in the industry, I have found that the perfect yacht for a client is often very different from the yacht they might have initially enquired about. 

Our job is not to sell a yacht. Our job is to understand the person sitting opposite us.

Only then can we begin identifying the right yacht for them and their family.

Start with the lifestyle, not the yacht

The first conversations I have with prospective buyers rarely focus on specific yachts at all. 

Specifically, we discuss their expectations and lifestyle.

How much time will you spend on board?

Where do you want to cruise?

Will the yacht be a dual-season operation? (usually this is Mediterranean in the summer and the Caribbean in the Winter)

Who will use the yacht?

Do you enjoy entertaining?

Will the yacht remain private or will it charter?

What experiences are you hoping to create?

At this stage, the answers to these questions are far more important than focusing on any specific yacht.

A client who dreams of spending extended periods exploring remote destinations or wants a dual-season boat, requires a very different yacht to somebody whose priority is only entertaining friends for short periods in the South of France or the Bahamas.

The yacht should be built around the owner’s lifestyle, not the other way around.

Most clients change their mind

One of the reasons I enjoy this process so much is that clients often surprise themselves.

Many start the journey of purchasing with a very clear picture of the yacht they think they want.

Sometimes they have admired a particular yacht for years. Sometimes they have become fixated on a specific shipyard, style or size.

Yet after exploring their actual requirements, they frequently end up purchasing something completely different.

That is not because their original choice was wrong.

It is because they had not yet fully considered how they wanted to use the yacht.

I remember one client who initially believed they wanted a sleek, high-performance motor yacht for Mediterranean cruising. They came with a specific brochure for this yacht and asked me to help them through the process of purchasing it.

After spending time discussing what experiences they hoped to create through yacht ownership, I questioned them as to why they would restrict themselves just to the Mediterranean. It became clear that an explorer yacht capable of global cruising was going to give them so many more special, unique memories. 

Fortunately, I had just travelled to an open day to see a few boats the week before we first met. As we talked, an explorer yacht that I had seen there seemed the perfect fit for this young family. To be clear, the boat was no beauty queen! She looked like a fishing trawler, but had been built to the highest yacht standards and finishes. When I first introduced the idea and showed them a photo of the boat, they literally thought I was crazy, but after persuading them (for over a week!) to come and see the boat with me, the penny dropped for them.

Several years later, they still tell me it was one of the best decisions they ever made. They have explored all corners of the world and experienced adventures that less than a hundred people probably have in their lifetimes. What a privileged luxury they have enjoyed because they bought the right boat for them, not the one that possibly looked a bit prettier on the water!

One of the most important jobs of a good broker is to challenge a client. Our role is not simply to find yachts. It is to help clients to understand what they truly need and to introduce new ideas they might not have even considered. More about selecting a broker in a future article!

Brokerage or New Build?

Once your requirements have been properly defined, we can begin exploring the available options.

For many clients buying a brokerage (existing) yacht provides the quickest and most cost-effective route into ownership.

A good, experienced broker will have access to the entire market, not just a selection of yachts that you can already see online yourself. Some of the best opportunities are not always publicly for sale. A thorough search should consider both publicly available yachts and off-market opportunities where appropriate, ensuring decisions are driven by the client’s requirements rather than what happens to be available in one broker’s inventory.

For some clients a new-build project is the only way to fulfil their requirements as there are simply no existing yachts for sale that meet what they want. Even with new build, one has the option of fully custom, semi-custom or production yachts (again more on that in a future article) with which comes a lot of new considerations.

There is no universally correct answer.

The right solution depends entirely on the individual’s circumstances, ambitions and expectations.

The role of a good broker is not to push one option over another.

It is to help the client understand the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Choosing The Right Broker

The quality of advice you receive will have a profound impact on the outcome of your purchase.

A good broker should not simply introduce yachts. They should challenge assumptions, help define your requirements, identify opportunities you may have overlooked and guide you through what is often a complex and highly nuanced process.

One of the biggest mistakes I see buyers make is focusing solely on the yacht itself. In reality, choosing the right adviser is the more important first step.

Buying a superyacht is frequently one of the largest discretionary purchases an individual will ever make. Experience, credibility, respect held with industry peers, judgement, market knowledge and trust all matter enormously.

How do you assess a broker’s experience? What questions should you ask? Should you evaluate the brokerage company or the individual broker? And what role should a broker actually play throughout the process? Is the broker going to really fight your corner in a negotiation and have the status, experience and respect of his counterparts to succeed for you?

These are important questions and ones that I will explore in more detail in a future article.

Inspecting Yachts

Only once the mission has been clearly defined does it make sense to begin inspecting a curated shortlist of yachts.

At this stage, the objective is not simply to find a yacht that just looks attractive. The objective is to find a yacht that fulfils your requirements. Design. Layout. Volume. Guest accommodation. Crew facilities. Tender and toy storage. Cruising capability. Operational practicality. Resale value.

All of these factors need to be considered.

A beautiful yacht that does not suit a client’s long-term expectations is simply not the right yacht.

Negotiation Is More Than Price

Many buyers assume negotiation is simply about achieving the lowest possible price. This is of course so important as the biggest cost of yachting (that most people don’t want to talk about!) is depreciation. You can mitigate this by a huge margin if you buy the right yacht, at the right price. I have negotiated purchases at less than half the original asking price, which demonstrates just how important buying correctly can be.

However, the negotiation process is far more nuanced than price alone. 

Value can be created through contract terms, technical due diligence, sea trials, survey findings, inventory inclusions and countless other details.

The right advice during this stage can save significant sums of money and prevent expensive mistakes.

Undertaking professional, in-depth due diligence is crucial. A good broker will introduce you to the very best legal experts and specialist maritime surveyors. Checking the condition of the yacht, that the boat complies with the correct certification / regulations and that you are buying a yacht with clear title, to name just a few things, are of huge importance. 

Conducting proper, in-depth due diligence is a small fraction of the cost of purchasing and operating a yacht. 

You should never cut corners or feel rushed into buying a yacht.

Ownership begins after completion

Another common misconception is that the purchase is the finish line.

In reality, it is the starting line.

Once ownership begins, there are decisions regarding management, charter, crewing, insurance, operational budgets, maintenance, technical support and long-term planning. Your broker will be able to introduce you to all the best experts in their respective fields.

I personally like independent yacht management companies where this is their core business, there is no conflict of interest, and you have their full attention on what is a hugely important aspect of the operation of your yacht.

A good broker’s involvement should not end at completion. They are always there for you to advise. Where they don’t offer a service themselves, a good broker will immediately know the best person that you should speak to. That ongoing service, at no cost, is the relationship you should expect with your broker throughout your ownership journey.

The most rewarding client relationships are often measured in decades, rather than transactions.

In Conclusion: The Best Yacht Is Not Always the One You Initially Think That You Want

The most successful yacht purchases rarely begin with a yacht.

They begin with a frank conversation.

Understanding how a client wants to live, travel and spend time with family and friends is far more important than discussing design, specifications or shipyards on day one.

Understanding everything you might want now and in the future is the harder challenge, but it is also the most important.

Before beginning the search process, prospective owners should first consider whether ownership is genuinely the right solution. Get that right and the chances of finding the perfect yacht and not suffering painful future depreciation increase dramatically.