Sea Ray Sport Yacht/Yacht Division

[Diversion]

From a thread from Yachtforum:

Sea Ray Sport Yacht / Yacht Division
I probably wouldn't consider this a rumor given my source but apparently Sea Ray is shutting down the production of the Sport Yacht and Yacht Division in the next few weeks until the 1st or after the 1st of the year due to lack of dealer orders, etc. I don't find this amazing by any means given the current market situation, but found it rather interesting.

 

[Steve36]

I am sure people who want to buy a boat cant get financing.

 

[Larry&Leisa]

I am sure people who want to buy a boat cant get financing.

not true at all... in some instances yes.. but there is money to loan out there.. not every bank relies on wall street for funding. The federal home loan banks have had a window to borrow from the Feds if they need to for some time.

 

[efizjb]

I believe it is incorrect, they are furloughing the sport boat and cruisers in Tennessee, saw it somewhere today (yahoo maybe?).

 

[Red Stripe]

Brunswick temporarily closing Knoxville plants, furloughing workers
The plant closings were announced earlier this year and were originally scheduled to take place in early 2009. However, the rapid decline in consumer demand forced the company to accelerate its time line.

 

[Robski97]

As a side note just want to wish all the SEARAY employee's the best. Hope things turn around soon!!! Special attention to the Customer serivce guys ... THANK YOU

Rob

 

[promocop]

You guys talking about the 'media' (whoever that IS...
Rush Limbaugh is in the 'media' and just did a $100m deal...duh does he count?) saying that there IS no money to be loaned are nuts. The 'media' is correct!!! GM won't loan on a freaking car loan unless you have a 720 FICA score (read the WSJ) so just WHO is loaning on boats/RVS's? No one that I know, so stop BLAMING the media. It's true, credit is tight and its not just a 'media' ploy. I have near a 780 and cant get a loan from my bank on a used 48 SR after putting down 50%!!!!

 

[Cocktail Time]

Key Bank- still financing boats, big boats small boats, rates are good...

 

[fwebster]

Credit score loan underwriting was designed to de-skill the underwriting process so a chimpanzee in a cubical could make a loan decision. Any lender still making loan decisions based on credit scores is already gun-shy and is not going to take any chances on a loan. Try going to specialty lenders or banks who do manual loan underwriting and if they have funds available, you can finance a boat if you meet their lending guidelines. Many buyers are finding that a good credit score isn't enough if there are questionable areas in their financial picture like being self employed, having off the books loans from a business, family, friends, etc. or high debt ot equity situations on other assets.

 

[Woody]

Just this week one of the local banks put up signs saying WE HAVE MONEY. They felt the consumers are misled/confused and assumed banks had no money to lend and if they did standards would be so high they wouldn't qualify anyway.

 

[Groucho]

Just tried to refinance today...
Loans only to low book value
rate is 7.25%

 

[tobnpr]

Key Bank- still financing boats, big boats small boats, rates are good...

According to their website, Key Bank only does boat loans in a dozen states (most of which aren't coastal) and GA isn't one of them...(?)

 

[highslice]

B of A is still lending on boats. Rates are pretty high though.

 

[marqbloq]

I find this hard to believe when on the front page of USA Today that yacht sales are up, way up over the past ten years. The rich always have money and they always will buy what they want to buy. The west coast dealers I talk to say the segment that is dying is not sport cruisers, sport yachts or yachts, it is sport boats. The evidence is clear, the wealthy are doing fine, the middle class are having the challenges.

 

[Larry&Leisa]

Checked with my bank today (local mutual bank) ..used boat loan.. 7% for 10 years and 7.25 for 15 years.. 10 % down.

I know that they also do not consider credit scores to any real extent. And I might add to Franks comment, that a somewhat low score might not totally jeopardize a loan either if there are extenuating circumstances.

 

[sbw1]

I find this hard to believe when on the front page of USA Today that yacht sales are up, way up over the past ten years. The rich always have money and they always will buy what they want to buy. The west coast dealers I talk to say the segment that is dying is not sport cruisers, sport yachts or yachts, it is sport boats. The evidence is clear, the wealthy are doing fine, the middle class are having the challenges.

Actually this makes perfect sense. The rich are not stupid. When prices soften, the deals are better. Even in the Great Depression some people made lots of money in the stock market. Folks who had little or no debt and strong balance sheets lived more cheaply than would have otherwise been the case. Middle class folks who are fiscally conservative are doing just fine today, even in Michigan. As far as sales being way up----if a builder only builds 100 boats a year, revenues could be up by 10% by selling only 5 more boats.