How to Buy Your Multihull

My name is Phillip Berman. I am the president of the Multihull Company and a lifetime catamaran sailor and racer. I grew up racing Hobie Cats in California in the late 1960's and published my first book on catamaran racing at the age of seventeen, MULTIHULL RACING THE HOBIE CATS (Sea Publications, NY.). I went on to write many more books on the subject including the best-selling catamaran training manual of all time, CATAMARAN SAILING FROM START TO FINISH (W. W. Norton, NY.). As a graduate student at Harvard, I represented the U.S. in numerous international sailing races and was the Hobie Cat World Champion in 1979 and 1980. In addition to racing small catamarans I have raced and cruised much larger multihulls all over the world, including my own 41-foot offshore racing catamaran, Spectris, and, more recently, my custom Farrier 44 catamaran, Wake Up.

What many of my sailing buddies don't know is that for many years I've lived a double life as the author of several books on philosophy including THE COURAGE OF CONVICTION (Ballantine, 1986) which was nominated for the Kennedy Book Award and THE SEARCH FOR MEANING (Ballantine, 1990) which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction. Most recently, I co-wrote The New York Times Bestseller, REASON FOR HOPE (Warner Books, 1999), with Dr. Jane Goodall. I have also produced documentaries for PBS.

I created THE MULTIHULL COMPANY in 1999 for a very simple reason: I love, absolutely love, sailing, racing, and cruising multihulls. I like hanging out at boatyards, talking with sailors, designers, boat builders, etc. More than anything, I enjoy shopping for multihulls. And this, for the most part, is what we do at THE MULTIHULL COMPANY.

We find clients great catamarans and trimarans everyday. And we are better at it than most because we only focus on the boats we know well - catamarans and trimarans. The great news is that you can put my company to work for you and it won't cost you a penny. We will search the seven seas to find you the perfect multihull at the right price. If we don't save you thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of time we haven't done our job.

However, we won't go to work for everyone. Due to the growing volume of multihull searches we are asked to make and the enormous amount of time we devote to the process we are forced to limit our searches to multihulls priced above $100,000. We also ask that you appoint us as your exclusive Buyer's agent meaning that you will be loyal to our brokerage. This way we can focus on the multihulls we know best and help the truly serious buyer by providing a wide array of consultation and services beyond the initial search. Still, we do this all for you for free.

Here at The Multihull Company we take a very different approach to serving our customers. All of our brokers work together as a team. Any client of our company is able to consult with our entire team of expert multihull sailors, and each member of our team is committed to assisting our buyers and sellers. Our Florida agent cooperates with our Annapolis agent, our Tortola agent, and our agent in Trinidad. We do not "fight over" customers - we work as a team to provide world class service. Most often, our customers will chose to work with one specific agent, but all of our customers are free to speak with Phillip Berman for advice, as well as any of our other expert brokers.
Yes, our multihull search and the complete follow-up services we provide are totally free to you. And they will save you thousands of dollars, months of time, and many, many headaches you don't need.

As you probably know by now, searching for catamarans and trimarans isn't easy. You can't just walk down to the local harbor and find the perfect 40 footer as you often can with monohulls. There simply are not that many quality catamarans and trimarans around. As such, getting the right one usually requires a lot of searching - often, all over the world. A truly thorough search for a catamaran or trimaran takes a long time.

For one thing, not all of them are listed on the yacht brokerage MLS listings. And not all of them are listed on the Internet, either. Many of the brokers who claim to be listing a given multihull are operating on a bait and switch tactic. Some of the listings are not for sale. Some of the boats were long ago sold. Some of them are not even close to what is advertised. In this sense, the internet has seriously degraded the quality of information and created a complex or complicated problem for a buyer who does not know the players in the industry or the true value of a given yacht. When we search for you we search the same way we'd search for ourselves - in every corner and under every rock, by digging into dozens of web sites, publications, brokerage contacts, etc. We make all the calls and send all the email requests to get the specs and photos you need to help you make an informed decision. Then we present them to you with our comments and personal notes. Together we slowly narrow the search until we've pinpointed the right boat.

Once we've found you the right catamaran or trimaran, we have her pre-inspected before you waste time flying or driving a long distance. CONDITION IS EVERYTHING. We want you to know exactly what condition she is in. If it turns out she passes all our tests she passes your final inspection, we present your offer to buy her. But we first have a long discussion on current market values and what we feel is the right price to offer. We then work to negotiate a rock-bottom price for you, hold your deposit safely in escrow, help you secure a first-rate marine surveyor who knows multihulls, and arrange to have the yacht hauled. We also schedule a sea trial so you and the surveyor can check the yacht underway. If you like, we also help you obtain marine finance, insurance, delivery, or anything else you might need. Any of the time we spend on these matters is time you save.
An added bonus is that our brokers always try to spend a day or two with you on your new catamaran or trimaran to tune your rig and offer advice on handling, docking, sail trim, etc.

How much do these services cost you? Again, not a penny. Our search service is totally free to our loyal buyers. The seller, not you, pays our commission.

I realize you can find many brokerage catamarans and trimarans yourself on the Internet and can contact many of the listing agents directly. But I want you to think about this carefully. That listing broker's first obligation is to the seller, not you. Just as it is in all real estate transactions. But the potential pitfalls when buying a multihull are far more complicated than buying a home. This is why it pays to have us working for you as your sole representative, as your "Buyer's Broker". Unlike the listing agent we owe nothing to the seller. Our only duty is to get you the best multihull at the best price with the least amount of pain. So, who would you rather have negotiating for you on the price of your new multihull, them or us? I've been around catamarans and trimarans since early childhood. I've seen every design come and go. I've seen West System catamarans and trimarans, glass ones, carbon ones, aluminum ones, and every type of core system under the sun. I've been dismasted at sea, capsized, lost a bow to a log, you name it. In other words, if there is a mistake to be made on land or water I'm well familiar with it - and I make sure you don't make it yourself. I will negotiate the best price for you because I'm good at it. If I can't save you many thousands of dollars I'm simply not doing my job.

After you buy your multihull, I'll show you many other ways to save money. For starters, I'll allow you to purchase all your marine gear through our many wholesale accounts. And I'll show you the best yards with the best prices. I'll also help you find the most affordable insurance and delivery services.

As I've said before, I've been sailing and racing catamarans for over 30 years. I've written seven books on the subject and many, many articles. I know catamarans and trimarans, and have gone to great lengths to assemble a team of expert yacht brokers who know multihulls as I do - they have raced them, cruised them, and sold them for years. I believe, very strongly, that a yacht broker who is not a total expert in the sorts of boats he sells is of very little value to buyers or sellers. Expert advice - from knowing the designs, the equipment needed, to values, to documentation.....it takes years of experience and the observation of hundreds of mistakes to become an expert in anything. Here at The Multihull Company our expertise amounts to five circumnavigations and therefore hundreds of mistakes from which we have learned. Mistakes we strive to keep you from making yourself! We will make certain we get you an excellent multihull that suits your intended purposes because picking the wrong catamaran or trimaran will be a huge and potentially very costly mistake. When we talk to other listing brokers of multihulls we'll get the sort of insider information about the boat they simply won't give you. And we will have people we can go to, whom we trust, to tell us what is really going on with a certain catamaran or trimaran. We do our due diligence with passion! When you are buying a large catamaran or trimaran mistakes can be very costly. We will help you avoid them. Our job is to protect your interests every step of the way.

As your exclusive buyer's agent we only ask that you agree to have us present any offers you choose to make on any catamaran or trimaran whether we find it for you or you find it yourself. In return we promise to save you time, money, headaches, and mistakes. We look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,
Phillip Berman, President
The Multihull Company