If you have done a search for used boats at all online then you’re probably well aware of the often touted boat bargains available from Uncle Sam. Government agencies like the U.S. Marshals Service or the General Services Administration (GSA) regularly inventory only to quickly liquidate surplus or seized boats along with about any type of forfeited or surplus asset via. internet or via. state or local auctions houses.
One thing I’ve found is that many of the sources the Government uses to liquidate their assets are what I call ‘transparent’ market places. These types of markets unfortunately easily allow bidders to compare the seized asset with a similar one and thereby decide very quickly about how much they should bid. And often times too much. For example one of the transparent websites you frequently find government boat auctions is bid4assets.com Since there are already hundreds of other non-government yet similar assets being auctioned off on this site to the general public it’s difficult to really get a legitimate bargain since everyone has clear view of the market.
What I’ve tried to do is to identify state and local Government sales events close to home that auction off boats Live, on site and with few bidders. In particular local Police and DEA auction events. The reality is that most don’t realize that daily across the U.S. a landlord, business owner, or some creditor is awarded an order from the court directed to the sheriff, requiring him to seize the debtor’s asset or property so it can be promptly liquidated at auction. The proceeds of course are used to pay down the creditors as much as possible. Surprisingly whoever attends these ‘must sell’ sales events (and they come and go all the time) will frequently have opportunity to walk away with an extremely discounted asset.
If you need help finding these Gov’t boat auction sales take a deep breath…you can attempt to keep up with sales events on your own. Agency websites and newspapers advertise when they are scheduled to occur. However, there are legitimate membership auction database sites that keep up with that on a regular basis. I’ve found them a big time saver. These sites offer members access to their regularly pruned auction sales data banks for a nominal, one-time fee.
I have signed on to several of these sites since most tend to focus on a particularwide or deep range of assets. Alternatively, others focus on particular types of auction sources. For some reason most membership sites are simply Government related ..which in my opinion is too limiting since there are so many other types of auction venues to take advantage of.
Having said that the key, with any auction is to once and for all pick your particular asset, hone in on it by consistently exposing yourself to listings so you can make suitable comparisons and offers. When it comes to finding a true bargain at any Government auction sale or repo boat auction event, you have to be able to really know when you’ve come across a a great offer. And you can only do that by constantly comparing assets so as to recognize an undervalued asset when no one else can.