“Government Boat Auction Sales and Where You Should Really Look…
If you have been in the market for bargain boats at all online then you’re probably well aware of the often touted boat bargains available from Uncle Sam. Government sources 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.
One thing I’ve found is that many of the sources the Government uses to liquidate their assets are what I call ‘transparent’ markets. These types of markets unfortunately easily enable bidders to compare the particular asset with a similar asset and thereby ascertain very quickly about how much they will bid. And often times more than they should. For example one of the transparent websites you regularly find government boat auctions is bid4assets.com Since there are already hundreds of other non-Gov’t yet similar assets being auctioned away on this site to the general public it’s difficult to really get a worth while since everyone has clear view of the market.
What I’ve tried to do is to find state and local Government auction sales close to home that auction off boats Live, on site and with few bidders. These would include local Police and DEA auction events. The reality is that most don’t realize that each day across the U.S. a landlord, business owner, or some creditor is issued an order from the court directed to the local 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’ one-time auctions (and they come and go all the time) will typically have opportunity to walk away with an extremely cheap asset.
Now when it comes to finding these Government boat auction sales take a deep breath…it can be a real struggle to 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 regular basis. I’ve found them a real time saver. These sites offer members access to their regularly pruned auction data bases for a nominal, one-time fee.
I’ve subscribed to five of these sites since most tend to focus on a particular broad or deep range of assets. Alternatively, others focus on particular types of auction venues. 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.
The real key with any auction is to once and for all pick your particular asset, focus on it by regularly exposing yourself to listings so you can make suitable comparisons and offers. When it comes to finding a steal 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.