Getting a new boat can be quite a frustration, especially when you need to get a loan for that boat, which nowadays is almost a necessity. You must go through a lot of steps in order to acquire your desired boat.

Here we will list them all, and guide you through getting a loan and purchasing your boat.

First things first, you should pre-qualify. This means to, before you go anywhere else, go to the financial institution that you wish to lend the money form and see how much money they are offering to lend you (or, in other words, how much money can you afford to lend). Also, you should check what part of the boat’s value they are willing to finance. Most of the money lending institutions will not cover the full value of the boat but only a great part of the projected price of the boat.

The next thing you should do, naturally, is to go and find the perfect boat for you. When thinking about a perfect boat, you have to consider what it will be used for, how often will it be used, and how affordable for you their use will be. You don’t want to end up buying a boat just to never use it, or encounter that the using of the boat is very costly.

When you have found the boats that will suit your needs perfectly, and have rounded them up to a group of a few potential candidates, you should go see each boat and write down all the specifications that you can find. Anything you can write down about your boat, like engine numbers, boat identification numbers, etc. should be written down to help you better understand the boat in question. It is not just about looking nice.

It will also help you with the next step, which is to take into account all of the accessories that the boat is equipped with, since they add up a lot of money to the projected value of the boat. So, all the add-ons and seemingly trivial modifications can add a lot to the base value of the boat, which can then put the boat out of your price range, and your loan will not be approved.

With all this information in your notebook, you should then do researching online or any other way, in order to check thoroughly everything there is to know about your boat. To this end, you will also need to learn to understand the model numbers. The model numbers, actually, contain basic info for your boat, and since they are made of abbreviations, they can get a little difficult to wrap your head around. This is important, because one letter in the model name can add up to $1000 to the projected value of the boat.

When you have seen the projected prices of the accessories and the boat, and everything else that may add to the value of the boat, you should add those sums up. This will give you the idea of how much the boat will be valued by the bank. If it is close to the asking price, it is a good find, as you will have to pay everything that is higher than the projected value by yourself.

You should find the seller again, and get into the negotiations over the boat. This includes checking again for the asking price, and valuing whether the asking price is near the range of what the bank will cover. If it is, don’t bother to take it down even more, because the seller may lose patience, since he may already be going through some pains, if he or she has to sell it for less money than it should be. If the asking price is good, agree to it immediately, because in the short time that you are thinking, another buyer may offer a better price.

After you have agreed on a price for the boat, next step is to take your evaluation of a boat, and go to your bank again. Go to a boat loan consultant, and speak with him about the terms of the loan agreement. It is recommended to compare your evaluation with the financial institution’s projections and try to make an agreement over any discrepancies that may exist.

Again, this is important to stress, you should try to close the deal as soon as possible. This is very important, because your dream boat, if the asking price is anywhere near the projected value, that boat will not be available for long. If you think too much, someone else might come and scoop it up, and you will be left to regret for not doing anything.