To buy and run a ship
The reason for us to write this is not primarily to disclaim ourselves but to save future buyers a severe headache. Too many times over the last few years we have sold a vessel to buyers who later changed their minds. They realized that it will be too much work and too expensive to run a ship, which always leads to huge problems for both Seller and Buyer (except for lawyers). The vessels we accept to circulate are strictly vessels that we know we can find a buyer for. Therefore our interest is to find a Buyer that can handle the vessel. We can't forbid someone to buy a certain vessel, even though there have been times we wish we could.
All vessels on our website have been inspected by us onboard in order to get our own idea and understanding of the ship and current condition. All details on the website is forwarded from the Seller, manufacturer, yard, Classification society or national administrations and are supposed to be correct, but can not be guaranteed by us. Each Buyer, preferably together with a proficient surveyor, need to assure themselves about consumption, speed, hull thickness, condition of the hull and machinery, certificate status, draft and so on. Usually, if the Buyer have trouble recognizing the condition of the vessel, maybe he or she is not right for especially an old ship. Old ships always come with various hidden defects that not even the Seller or Shipsforsale staff knows about. A low price always means bad condition. The market for sale & purchase is not bigger than that most people in the business know all vessels that are for sale. It´s hard to make a good bargain, both in and outside of Sweden.
Previously we always let the Seller set the price level. We always try to act neutral between the Seller and the Buyer and did not necessarily agree on how much it was acually worth. Nowadays we need to be more restricted regarding the price. We spend so many days travelling and time for marketing so we need to see the vessel sold. Therefore we need to discuss an up-to date market price before we circulate on our website. Shipsforsale does not do valuations for the Buyer that we sell ourselves. If you are a Buyer, and not sure about the price level, you are asked to bring your own independent and skillfull surveyor.
One ship always have different values according to Buyer. For one it can have a very high value and to the other a complete disaster financially. An old wooden ship with a unique history can have a high value for the local county if she'll be brought back to the local town where she was built as a unemployment project. But the same vessel could ruin a single person who dream about sailing the seven seas. It depends on how much money can be made on that particular trade with that vessel, in that area. Shipsforsale usually do not assist in fund raising. If you need to borrow a lot of money to buy the vessel you need to think twice. There are always additional costs, even after you bought it that are hard to calculate for.
If you are looking for some place to live we suggest you look for a proper apartment instead of buying a ship. Many of the houseboats that are sold are in a such poor condition that they should not be let to leave the dock. In our opinion there are very few houseboats that are worth the prices they are sold for. What is usually called home decor are in our opinion more like a sauna than ship decor.
Maintenance costs for a family sized ship is very high. Most houseboats lack of gate-keepers and we strongly discourage buying this type of house if you don´t have a perverted interest in changing rotting planks, weld leaking plates, fixing heating systems when it´s -25°C degrees outside (like here in Sweden), try to get tax free diesel, mending sails or to watch you home dry-dock during the summer when everyone else is gone on holiday. Like it´s not enough, you´ll always smell of diesel.