I'll give you my perspective as someone who recently sold his 45C....
One of the problems with a central - or any other listing - is that there are so few REPUTABLE and GOOD brokers out there. There are a LOT of boat brokers, and the huge majority of them are unfit to sell you a pack of matches, say much less a boat. Some are lazy but even worse, some are actively dishonest (e.g. claiming a boat is being brokered when it is really THEIR TRADE-IN, etc)
Second, its quite hard to have a boat properly represented by a broker UNLESS they are local to the boat. Yes, there are a lot of centrals (and opens) where this is not the case, but how does a broker ACCURATELY represent your boat if they've never set foot on it? I argue that they CANNOT. I'd further argue that said broker REALLY ought to go out for an hour-long cruise (or better, a day of fishing!) with you on board BEFORE taking the listing, but I know that's going to draw guffaws. Nonetheless, how the boat runs, how it rides - what it IS - is best experienced IN PERSON.
Third, different brokers have different "niches". In the marketplace people have a "view" of what different brokerages represent. For instance, there's a brokerage here that is seen by most as being "focused" on the 2-3 year old (or brand new) larger fishing boat - the Cabos and Bertrams 2001-02 and newer. Will they accept a listing on something else? SURE! Are they the "right broker" for that listing? Quite possibly NOT, even if they're competent and honest - because it just isn't their specialty - they're not the "go to" people for that sort of sale.
So, with this in mind, you have a few problems - you need not only a GOOD broker, you need the RIGHT good broker for what you're selling. If you don't have that then you're going to get a less-than-great representation - and for 10%, by God, you ought to get full effort and the best representation possible.
IF you can sell it yourself - and put the effort into that - then you can consider this option as well. Realize that this will often lead to a low offer compared to a brokerage listing, BUT the final number will likely be the same - since there's no commission, and your marketing costs may be far lower.
If you don't have the time or desire to do it on your own, then you need to find someone you're COMFORTABLE with. There is one brokerage I know personally that I trust, and Eric seems like a good guy and knowledgeable too. Were I in either of those two people's neighborhoods, I'd be ok with them having a central on a boat I was selling.
Opens can work, but they can also be disasters. If you have ONE broker with an open, that can be ok - you have the ONE broker with an open BUT you do your own marketing as well, and whoever gets the buyer first does.
The trouble comes in when you have four or five brokers with opens on the same boat, there's 4 or 5 listings on YW, they're all obviously (if someone looks) the same boat, and now people get the feeling that you're in trouble - whether you are or not.
IMHO open listings have a purpose - to get you exposure you can't otherwise get with you running your own marketing campaign for the boat in parallel. If you're NOT going to do your own marketing of the boat on your own, then find someone who meets the criteria above - if you can - and do a central.
The other thing I've come to understand with boat sales in the "larger" (more than a 26' CC) arena is that basically one of two things happens:
1. You get an almost-immediate offer and activity after you list her. That means someone was looking for YOUR boat, and you happened to get lucky in that regard. That offer is likely to be lower than you'd like, BUT consider this - if you take it your carrying costs end RIGHT THERE. Many sellers turn that offer down flat, or counter only slightly off their original ask and the deal goes "boom" on the spot. Add back one full year of carrying cost (slip if applicable, insurance, maintenance, depreciation if a newer boat, etc) and figure out how much you're REALLY leaving on the table if you say "no.".
2. Your boat will take 6-12 months to sell. In today's market, it may take longer. Especially in the midrange, the market is quite soft. Its not disasterously bad, but its definitely not "hot" either.
If you've been at it for 12 months and still own her, I'd strongly consider where your asking price is. Normally, within a year, if you're asking price is within 10-20% of what someone is willing to pay, you will have drawn offers.....
At a glance I'd say the listing price you're at is reasonable, but I can't speak to local market conditions. Much depends on them - if a buyer, for example, can't find a place to keep the boat or can't get insurance at any rational price, then it doesn't matter what sort of price you put on it - he has to be able to solve those problems first, and that does severe damage to your effort to sell....
