What are boat loans at now anyway? It seams like at the boat show last year they were offering like 20 year loans at like 10 percent! I'm sure that isn't exactly what they were but it seamed like it was some crazy high percentage rate.
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anything over $50k can go to 20yr terms and Atlanta Marine was showing 4.99% rates at the show this weekend.
The high end market would be doomed if not for the long term loans. I think it moved the price of the boats up as it makes everything "look" more affordable and that is the selling point. It's not realistic and somewhere down the road someone is dishing off their boat at a price to pay off the loan but way over Blue Book. If you want something bad enough, you'll figure out a way to get it. At the same time, boat builders need to know the violatility of the market when the economy has any down turn with the prices that high.
I can remember getting a boat loan for 12 yrs and I thought that sounded like an eternity!!! But as it turned out, I kept the boat for about 11 yrs and still had quite a bit of equity (20-25%) when I traded on my OBV last year. I think the big thing is that boats cannot be used nearly as much as a car (at least not in the midwest) and if well taken care of during ownership (obviously the big "if" in this equation) can still retain much of its value near the end of a long-term loan.
Having said all that I'm not sure that I could take that boat loan at 20yrs when my home mortgage is only for 15yrs!!
Yup, a 10 year old boat in the midwest looks like a 3-4 year old boat in FL, generally speaking. We get a few more hours down here and a little more sun. I've always thought you could make money taking trucks north and bringing boats back.
Congrats. I bet that feels great.
Yes it is a good feeling to have it paid for. My last one didn't take too long to pay for and I kept it 10 yrs. Have had this one 6 yrs now , probably will be my last one. Either will give it up in a few years or sell then buy a pontoon ,LOL..
Nice having a $300+ raise.
Jim
Buy cars from the south and boats from the north.
...............and buy when the economy is tanking. 2009-2010 were excellent years for buying.