Why survey lists cost sellers money
A buyer's surveyor writes everything down. Most of the list is small: unlabeled breakers, a missing bonding wire, an expired flare. Those items cost a few hundred dollars total but they set the tone of the report — and the tone of the negotiation.
The expensive items behave differently. Blisters, tanks, repowers and standing rigging almost never return what they cost, because the buyer discounts on the category, not the invoice.
Fix it yourself
- Anything that is a label, a clamp, a fuse, a bulb, or a date sticker
- Anything a surveyor can photograph in ten seconds
- Anything that makes the boat look neglected in the narrative
Price it instead
- Structural work, tank replacement, repowers, full rig replacement
- Anything requiring a haul-out you were not already planning
- Anything over roughly $3,000
Run the checklist below before your broker photographs the boat. Every box you clear is a paragraph the surveyor does not get to write.