Boat Loans are the difference from being a non-boat owner to a boat owner. They enable us normal, average paid workers get boats that were well out of our grasp. They help people who want to buy a new or second hand boat, but don’t have the money on them.
It is just like buying a house, except you are borrowing less money.
However before you get overly excited about the prospect of owning your own boat by taking out boat loans, first read this page that will give you useful and important information that will help you get the best deal and not get scammed out of loads of money.
The first thing to understand is that owning a boat is expensive. It is not just buying the boat that you need to take into account. There are many other costs such as accessories, marina fees and insurance.
These all add up and without having taken them into account when taking out a boat loan, you will end up with no cash to spend on them and have to keep you boat in your back garden.
Dinghies costs around £1500 for a second hand one and £8000 for a new one on average. Yachts can cost anything from £15000 for a second hand one to £200000 for a brand spanking new one with all the latest gadgets.
You shouldn’t get too tied up in the costs though (because you must have considered this when thinking about buying a boat), but it is important to understand that owning a boat is an investment and that you must commit to it or else it will be a waste of money.
Owning a boat is more fun and more of a privilege than hiring or renting one. You can even rent one out after you have bought a boat and make money out of it. Back to our property analogy, it is like renting out an apartment or house for a fee.
So you can use it as much as you want and whilst you don’t use it, it will act like a cash cow and make money for you as a charter boat. There are lots of companies that will take care of your boat whilst you are away and pay you for each customer that charters your boat.
So back to boat loans.
There is a huge boat loan market. So it pays to shop around. Even in the impending credit crunch, there will be lenders who will be selling very cheap loans, especially as the base rates around the world have gone down.
In the current climate, it should be very easy to find a good bargain for a boat loan and finally be able to relax with a relatively cheap debt burden on you that does not outweigh the enjoyment of having your own boat.
So where do most people who buy boat loans, get them from?
Well a lot of people don’t actually get the loan from banks (although you can if you want). A lot of people do a sharer deal with friends and family where they purchase a ‘share’ of the boat and are allowed to use it a certain number of times a year for a certain length of time a year.
For anyone who is in the aviation industry, this concept of ‘shares’ should be very familiar to you.
The downside of this is that there might be a major partner who owns more shares and starts to dictate the boat policy. Or there might be in fights and arguments between family members and friends (you might even no longer be friends with the people you bought the share with).
It can be risky, but you must make sure that you sign a contract rather than a verbal agreement else there will be no proof of any agreement and you could lose out.
Another alternative is to buy a boat from a charter company that will then charter it out to customers, whilst you are working. When you want to go on holiday, you have a certain number of times and number of weeks you can use the boat a year.
The great thing about this is that you can generate revenue from your boat when you are not using it, whilst using it when you want to.
Of course the downside of this is that other people will have been in your boat and it will start to deteriorate faster than if you left it alone. It may also be unclean and unkempt. Make sure you approach a charter company you trust to take care of your boat while you are at work.
So whatever you choose, make sure you shop around and use comparison sites like moneysupermarket.com to check if you are getting the best deal. Or you can use large well-known sailing companies that will help you make the best choice for your boat or future boat.