Well, you've got a solid $12.37 worth of good advice here already but I'll throw in my $.02 anyway, mostly about buying a boat, not about the condition of this one. They're all boats, they all cost too much and all have problems, you just don't want to get taken advantage of.
My apologies in advance for using up all the remaining internets...
My recent journey was based on an obsession with the E38x models first (quality of construction, performance, single-handing, beam, headroom, layouts) and budget second: didn't want any other make or size but was willing to consider any E38x, from a project to a cream puff, with a preference for an E381 based on its layout (forward facing nav and 'U' shaped galley, quarter berth, starboard berth) as long as the price was 'right'. For me, being at the end of my income growth potential years, that meant it had to be a good value.
The price being 'right' is the hard part because, obsession. I fell in love with almost all of them and quite a few were 'the deal of a lifetime'. But I set pricing based on looking at everything listed online for several months, which established that a good/fair price on a clean, solid FSBO E38x that should not (by survey result) need any significant work for at least several years would be in the $50k-$60k range. Not a concours example or heavily upgraded one but well cared for and ready to sail, with little more required.
If not FSBO, add broker overpricing and markup, so another $10k for the ‘convenience’.
Add another $10k if not already in the PNW: anything south of Portland is going to have to be shipped, outfitted or abused for the long/risky slog north. I watched the weather patterns almost daily for about a year and I never saw a predicted low-pressure system that overrode the north pacific high long enough to make it a cheap/easy sail up the coast. Harbor hopping doesn’t work reliably. I also considered boats on the east coast, including taking 4-6 months to purchase, outfit and sail home as a great adventure.
Ericsons seem to be cheaper elsewhere, in general but the cost of getting them back up here is a fact of life. Obviously, shipping costs for an 11' wide, 38' boat are more than for a smaller one but the 11' beam and overall weight of an E38x puts them into the next level for road regulations. I also seriously considered buying distressed ones on trailers that I could fly to and rent a truck to pull home, even to the extent of buying two: one to get the trailer with which to haul another, better one home and have a project in the yard, a boat on the water, and a trailer to haul and store either.
The point being, if you only want to sail, buy the boat that someone else has already paid the price to make/keep good: they are going to take the discount in their 'investments'.
OTOH, if you like working on boats, buy the boat that is priced so you can factor in the work, still enjoy the working/sailing lifestyle and not worry about the sunk costs to get to the creampuff of your dreams.
With that criteria of a good value to you, we can shop.
We know there is opportunity out there with both motivated sellers and disinterested owners, people for whom money isn't the issue. Either of those may be willing to let their possession go (real estate, auto, boat, etc) for 25% or more below market.
The boat I bought had been given to the PO by a friend after health issues caused it to be neglected for several years. It needed significant but not major repairs and the guy wanted the boat he cared about to go to someone he cared about.
When I bought it, the PO had wanted to keep it but life changed his plans so it went on CL. After my initial look at it, I made a low ball offer based on my evaluation w/o survey; that for me it was a project boat that would take a significant amount of time/money to get to the market value he'd asked (~$50k), and as a project boat, which I’ve owned before, and because I have the time, tools, skills, interest and enjoyment of abuse needed for project boats, that was its value to me.
My offer was about half his ask and FWIW, half of asking price seems to be a rough starting point for these types negotiations, I guess based on ~25% off for their emotional attachment, 25% for things the PO is either ignorant of or hoping you'll overlook, and 25% because buying a boat is business and in business, you make your money when you buy. Somewhere in that is a reasonable justification for a ~50% initial offer but ask nicely and do be prepared to duck.
The point is, you're eliminating firm price sellers. Motivated sellers are out there but you have to work to find them and be first in line when the stars align. Sometimes it's a sleeper no one knew about you find through a friend. Sometimes you're first to respond to an ad or the first really serious person to call (there's a *LOT* time wasters out there). Sometimes, a holdout can’t wait any longer and you just happen to be the next caller.
Timing is everything if you're seeking opportunity. OTOH, for my last car purchase timing was not on my side, I needed a car quickly and couldn't wait for opportunity. I analyzed the market to determine a fair price including reasonable profit for the dealer, found the make/model I wanted nearby, told them I'd pay $X dollars out the door and not a penny more, listened to them whine for 20 minutes and drove the car away at my price. In negotiating, walk-away power is everything, and they who fall in love lose most.
You could also say that the year and a half I looked at boats before I found mine had a cost too, maybe $10k to get on the water a year earlier.
Everyone's already said all boats are likely to have some surprises, even after a quality survey, because some things you can't detect without unreasonable costs, so just don't put your last penny into the purchase. I don't think anyone has really mentioned a specific dollar amount of the annual cost of owning a boat, but a boat yard owner told me a long time ago to add $100 per foot per year to the cost of a cheap boat I wanted to buy, and when asking him what he thought about that this time, he laughed and said more like $1k per foot per year. As alarming as that sounds, TCO includes the lifecycle costs, including good years and bad, and $1k/ft/yr is probably not an unreasonable upper end number to try to beat.
Also, the first thing you need to know before buying a boat is where you're going to keep it.
Take a knowledgeable friend along, someone not wearing rose colored glasses. Among the best advice from my friend was, 'it's overbuilt, it’ll sail fine as is, don't go trying to make a fine yacht out of her, have fun, do what's needed as needed, be sure you spend more time sailing than working'. I tend to want to make everything perfect and he knows that. Every time I look at my boat, his words come to mind and I immediately have way more fun, which is after all the point.
Last note, when negotiating, I always start with conveying that I'm not trying to insult or offend, because many people are sensitive about money. I'm just conveying my budget, and if they happen to be at a point where they're be willing to consider something in that range, I'd love to see if we can work out something (indicating I'm not a hard ass about my offer). I usually close with that I'm serious, prepared, committed, won't dink around, and will care as much as they did about their baby. Remember, they're just words, people may or may not choose to be insulted but 'no' doesn't change anything.
The first response I got from the PO was literally, 'no', period. I let that sit for a week and followed up with a more detail about what I saw wrong with the boat and also that if he'd meet my price, I'd make it 100% easy for him, cash, fast, no questions, no survey. No response. I walked away. A month later, he pinged me back and said if I'd come up $2,700 on my offer, which would equal the price of another dive boat he wanted for his business, he'd sell it to me, "frankly, because you were the only person who I felt really understood what they were getting into". I was there the next day, cash in hand and drove it away without even raising the sails to look at them. I knew it was a neglected old boat with a ton of upgrades that would need work and have surprises but was at a price point where it wouldn't hurt, mostly because I trusted the Ericson quality for the good bones but also because he’d demonstrated his integrity. He cared more about the boat he loved, and had gotten from someone else who'd loved it enough to give it away, and wanted to see it go to someone who would make her lovable again.
It probably didn't hurt that in the fall, the fair-weather sailor market/season is over, and I believe many people are looking at renewing their annual slip agreement.
If you're looking for narrow criteria opportunity, prepare to spend as much time as it takes to get the timing right. If you just want to be a boat owner, remember, buying them is easy, getting rid of them is hard, unless you want to sell significantly below market price. That's a sword that can cut either way: it can be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on whether you’re the buyer or the seller and how long you can hold out for the right opportunity.
Just don't be someone else's low hanging fruit and you'll be fine.
HTH, I'll STFU now.
