What a Market Evaluation Tells You, and What It Doesn’t

A market evaluation is one of the most useful documents a seller can have. It is also one of the most often mistaken for something it isn’t.

When I prepare one, I’m answering a practical question: if this boat came to market now, in front of the buyers who look in South Florida — Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and those who fly in to see boats here — how should she be positioned and priced? That is a lot of value in a few pages. It is also a specific job, with limits worth understanding before you rely on it. Two things an evaluation tells you, and two things it doesn’t.

It tells you where your boat actually sits

The core of a good evaluation is comparables: similar boats by builder, model, size, and vintage, and wherever possible what they actually sold for, not just what was asked. Asking prices tell you what owners hope. Completed sales tell you what buyers paid. Then come the adjustments, which is where experience matters: refits and when they were done, engine hours in the context of maintenance, electronics, soft goods, where the boat has lived, and how she has been kept. Two boats with the same model name can be very different boats. A written evaluation shows that reasoning, so you can see how we arrived at a range rather than taking a number on faith.

It tells you how to position her

A number alone isn’t a strategy. The evaluation should also tell you who the likely buyer is, what they will compare your boat against, and what will matter to them when they step aboard. That shapes the asking price, the presentation priorities, and whether a public listing, a quieter approach through the Luke Brown Yachts network, or a combination makes the most sense. Sometimes the most valuable line in an evaluation is the one that says: fix these two things before photography, and leave the rest alone.

It doesn’t tell you the boat’s condition

An evaluation is not a survey. I walk the boat when it’s practical, and a captain’s eye catches a good deal, but I am not opening up engines, testing for moisture, or pulling fluid samples. That is the work of an independent marine surveyor — and often a separate engine surveyor — usually commissioned by the buyer once there is an accepted offer. An evaluation is also not a formal appraisal for a lender, an insurer, or a court; if you need one of those, you’ll want a qualified marine surveyor or appraiser. An evaluation assumes the condition we can see and what you’ve told me. If survey finds something different, the market will notice too.

It doesn’t promise a price or a timeline

An evaluation is a professional read of the market on the day it is written. It is not a guarantee of what a buyer will pay or how long the sale will take. Markets move, the comparable set changes as boats sell or come to market, and the right buyer may be weeks or months away. Treat it as a starting position. Plan to revisit it if the boat hasn’t found her buyer, or if something meaningful changes: a refit, a new comparable sale, a shift in the season.

Used well, an evaluation gives you something better than a number. It gives you a clear basis for a decision: list now or wait, fix this or price it in, go public or start quietly. For trustees, executors, and families, it is also a written rationale you can put in the file and share with counsel or co-owners. Mine is complimentary, it is written, and it doesn’t commit you to listing.

Want an honest read on your boat? Request a complimentary market evaluation. Tell me about the boat, where she’s kept, and your timing — or message me on WhatsApp at +1-305-741-0240. English or Spanish, and no pressure to list.

— Enrique Dillon
Dillon Yachts · Partnering with Luke Brown Yachts