If you have done a search for used boats at all online then you’re probably well aware of the often touted boat liquidation sales available from Uncle Sam. Government agencies like the U.S. Marshals Service or the General Services Administration (GSA) regularly liquidate surplus or seized boats not to mention about any type of forfeited or surplus asset via. internet or via. state or local auctions houses.
What’s usually the case however, is that many of the sources the Government uses to sell off their assets are what I call ‘transparent’ markets. These types of markets unfortunately easily allow bidders to compare the particular asset with a similar asset and thereby decide very quickly about how much they will bid. And often times more than they should. For example one of the transparent sources you usually find government boat auctions is bid4assets.com Since there are already thousands 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. Especially local Police and DEA auction events. The reality is that most don’t realize that every day across the U.S. a landlord, business owner, or some creditor is issued an order from the court directed to the Police department, requiring him to seize the debtor’s asset or property so it can be promptly liquidated at auction. The intent of course for the proceeds isto pay down the creditors as much as possible. I’ve found that whoever attends these ‘must sell’ sales events (and they come and go all the time) will typically have opportunity to walk away with an extremely affordable asset.
Now when it comes to finding these Government boat auction sales take a deep breath…you can try and keep up with sales events on your own. Agency websites and newspapers advertise when they are scheduled to occur. However, there are really handy membership auction database sites that regularly keep you on the cutting edge on a daily. I’ve found them a significant 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 venues. For some reason most membership sites are strictly Government related ..which severely limits the variety of auctions available across the U.S..
Having said that the key, with any auction is to once and for all pick your particular asset, hone in on it by regularly exposing yourself to listings so you can make suitable comparisons and offers. When it comes to finding a diamond in the rough at any Government auction sale or repo boat auction event, you have to be able to really know when you’ve come across a super deal. And you can only do that by constantly comparing assets so as to recognize an undervalued asset when no one else can.
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