RE: Boat selling

[Pistol]

What's the best way to handle the sell of a boat to a person several states away? Specifically I'd like to know how to handle transfer of the title which the bank has because of my boat loan? I tried a doing a search but didn't come up with anything.
Thanks in advance

[Prior Engagement]

I did this last Summer and here's what we did.

The buyer wired the money to my bank that was holding the titles/mortgage. Once I had confirmed the wire was received and credited to my account, he picked up the boat and trailer. I wrote him a Bill of Sale for the trailer and one for the boat. Gave him my registration card for the boat and let him "borrow" the trailer tag (which never got returned , oh well). It took the bank almost a month to get me the titles, which I signed and immediately forwarded to the buyer who was quite anxious by that time. I had to hound the bank about the titles and they really should have been more responsive in releasing them.

It takes a good honest sales environment and a lot of trust to do this sort of transaction between private sellers. Especially when lots of money is exchanging hands. That is one advantage to using a broker (for selling or buying) or buying from a dealer.

Good luck,
Mike N.

[Pistol]

Mike
Thanks for the response

[feralcat]

Pistol:

Some thoughts...Could be wrong.

Is it possible to pay off the lien, yourself, even if you have to use another line of credit (like a credit card?). Makes things much smoother.

Otherwise, contact your lien-holder, and see how they recommend handling things. The buyer will want (or *should* want) to pay off the balance of the loan directly to the lien-holder. Say if you owe $20,000 and sell for $25,000 you should get one certified check for $5000 and the bank should get $20K.

There's some paperwork involved. It's handy if you can get all parties involved sitting down at the bank.

As Mike points out -- don't make his mistake and let the trailer leave with your plates. Some states don't even require them, on the trailer, and regardless -- that burden should be on the buyer. Have fun!

[yachtjim]

That is some of the best advice you will ever get regarding this subject. Wiring the money directly to the bank is the most desirable.

You should accompany the wire with a document called a request for lien release, or loan payoff authorization which simply states what account is being paid off and where the original title or lien release should be mailed.

If your state will allow a Power of Attorney, you can sign a power of attorney at closing, then have the lien release sent to whoever you gave power of attorney to, then they can sign the title to the buyer.

Even though I am a broker I hardly think a broker is needed in a FSBO situation. There are plenty of tools you can use to make the deal go smoothly w/out a broker.

[Enough Already]

yachtjim - just curious what those tools are and where I can find them. I'm moving toward a purchase decision and will most likely buy direct from a FSBO.

[Knot_Enuff]

Another thing that might help this process is ask your bank to have the title released and sent to your local branch. I did this and when I made the sale we went into my local branch and finalized the sale and the new owner got the title. I don't know if all banks will do this, but mine did.

[yachtjim]

quote:Originally posted by mph01:

yachtjim - just curious what those tools are and where I can find them. I'm moving toward a purchase decision and will most likely buy direct from a FSBO.

1.You can hire an attorney or marine title company for a small processing fee to manage th whole thing.

2. A third party escrow comapny can hold funds for a small fee - one we like is escrow.com

3. If the buyer will get financing usually the finance company will handle the entire closing and loan payoff.

4. The bank holding the lien sees these transactions daily and would proabbaly be more than willing to help or lend advice.

If you go about the whole thing carefully, and both buyer and seller are OK with proceding carefully - it can all be done safely and easily. The only thing a broker does is act as a drop off point between buyer and seller ( aplace for the title and money to pass each other). I would bet the bank holding the lien would act in this capacity if you asked them.