I am a yacht broker at Prestige Marine, the marine division of Prestige Imports, in Fort Lauderdale. I hold a USCG 100-Ton Master license and PADI Advanced and Rescue certifications.
I came into brokerage from the dock, not from a desk. Before I sold a boat I was running one, washing one, and finding out what was actually wrong with one. That is still how I spend most of my week.
When I walk a buyer through an engine room I am not reading a spec sheet back to them. I know what a clean one looks like and what one that got detailed last week looks like.
When I take a listing I already know what a survey is going to find, and I tell the seller before we hit the market instead of after. That is the difference between a deal that closes and a deal that falls apart at survey.
Fort Lauderdale to Montauk, and across to the Bahamas. If you want to know how a boat actually behaves, ask someone who has had to bring one home in weather.