Marina investment is a very subjective activity.  There is no set of rules to follow.  Too often, investors stake most or all of their financial resources in a marina without knowing what they are getting into or understanding how to maximize value.  Most lenders do not understand the marina business and therefore stay away from it.  Marina investment is a large puzzle where few people have all the pieces.  It’s not enough that the marina provides a job for the owner.

This 198 page book takes the mystery out of marina investing, exposes marina owners and buyers to the world of detailed financial analysis, and shows how to get the best value in the market.  A case study is developed throughout the Marina Investment book that starts with selecting the best marina investment from among many alternatives (from both income statement and balance sheet perspectives), maximizing revenue during the holding period, and finally selling the investment at the best price. 

Simply put, this is the only book that shows you how to make a wise marina investment.  Think of it is as the best, cheapest advice you’re going to get!  To order, click Marina Investment.

Book Outline

A.  How Marina Investing Has and Has Not Evolved

1.    In the Beginning…
2.    The 1973 Oil Crisis
3.    The 1973-1975 Recession
4.    The 1980-1982 Recession
5.    The Tax Reform Act of 1986
6.    The Computer Revolution
7.    Marina Investment Perception in the 1980’s
8.    The Savings and Loan Crisis
9.    The 1990-1991 Recession
10.  The 1990-1991 Recession’s Effects on Marinas
11.  Fast Forward to the Mid- and Late-1990’s
12.  Investing in the 21st Century
13.  The “Credit Crisis” of 2008+
14.  Investing Today – Moving Beyond the Credit Crunch
15.  The Nature of the Investment

B.  Classifying Marinas

1.    Ways of Classifying Marinas
2.    Who Wants to Know?
3.    A Marina Classification System

C.  Case Study

1.    Introduction to the Case Study
2.    What We’ll Cover
3.    Initial Acquisition
4.    Holding Period and Revenue Enhancement
5.    Asset Disposition
6.    What We Won’t Cover
7.    Beginning at the Beginning
8.    One is Such a Lonely Number
9.    Seeing the Forest through the Trees
10.  The Marina

D.  Rating Marinas

1.    The Beginning of the Deal
2.    The Primary Culprit to Getting a Good Deal
3.    The Alternative Investment Floor
4.    Weighing Marinas
5.    Selecting the Most Attractive Marina
6.    When It’s Time to Reconsider

E.  Recasting Financial Statements

1.    What is Recasting?
2.    Why Recast?
3.    Difficulties in Recasting Marina Financial Statements
4.    Obtaining Multiple Financial Statements
5.    Things to Know Before You Recast
6.    Major Issues from the Trenches
7.    Audited versus Unaudited Financial Statements
8.    How to Recast
9.    What Type of Incomes and Expenses to Exclude?
10.  What Type of Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet Items Do We Recast?
11.  Reconstructing the Balance Sheet
12.  A Valuable Member of Your Team
13.  Recasting Example
14.  Recasting the Profit and Loss Statements
15.  Recasting the Balance Sheets Example
16.  Shareholder’s Equity
17.  The Statement of Changes in Financial Position

F.  Analyzing Recast Financial Statements

1.    Types of Ratio Analysis
2.    Ratios from Recast Financial Statements
3.    Ratio Definitions and Explanations
4.    Liquidity Ratio Comments
5.    Safety Ratio Comments
6.    Profitability Ratio Comments
7.    What Do the Ratios Tell Us?
8.    Choosing the Best Deal
9.    Negotiating with Other Marina Owners
10.  Don’t Forget Your Non-Income Resources
11.  Final Comments

G.  Financing the Acquisition

1.    Marina Lending
2.    Supply Effects
3.    What Marina Buyers, Sellers and Owners Need to Know About Financing

H.  Due Diligence

1.    The Acquisition Checklist

I.  The Valuation

1.    A Love-Hate Relationship
2.    Pre-Acquisition Valuation
3.    Back in Time
4.    The Three Approaches to Value
5.    The “Price” of an Incorrect Valuation
6.    The Importance of the Operating Expense Ratio
7.    Explaining the Importance of the Operating Expense Ratio
8.    The Importance of the Cap Rate
9.    Getting it Completely Wrong
10.  Explaining the Overappraised Scenario
11.  How a Lender Can Avoid the False DCR
12.  Operating Expenses 101
13.  The Reserves for Replacement Allowance
14.  Calculating Marina Reserves 101
15.  Capitalization Rates 101
16.  Why Do Marina Cap Rates Vary?
17.  Appreciation
18.  The Equity Residual Technique and Seller/Buyer Cap Rate Differences
19.  Mathematical Cap Rates
20.  The Band of Investment Technique
21.  Weaknesses of the Band of Investment Technique
22.  The Mortgage Equity Technique
23.  Pitfalls of Mathematical Cap Rates
24.  Investor Surveys
25.  Yield Analysis
26.  The Basics of Discounting
27.  The Mathematics of Discounting
28.  The Reversion
29.  Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Modeling
30.  The DCF and Investment Market Tiers
31.  When Would You Use a DCF?
32.  Strengths of DCFs
33.  DCFs Weaknesses
34.  DCF Conclusions
35.  A DCF Example

J.  Managing the Marina

1.    The Management Audit
2.    Things That Get In the Way
3.    Components of the Management Audit
4.    Measuring the Need for a Management Audit
5.    The Capital Improvement Audit
6.    Reasons for a Capital Improvement Audit
7.    What is a Capital Improvement?
8.    The Difference between Capital Improvements/Reserves for Replacement
9.    Creating a Capital Improvements Budget
10.  The Financial Audit
11.  Financial Audit Ratios
12.  Bankruptcy Ratios
13.  Economic Change Ratios

K.  Tax Appeals

1.    The Biggest Reason for a Tax Appeal:  the Value In Use Dilemma
2.    Other Reasons for a Tax Appeal
3.    Does My Marina Warrant a Tax Appeal?
4.    How Can I Calculate My Tax Savings?
5.    The Tax Appeal Process
6.    Tax Savings from Separating Real Estate and Business Values
7.    The Quasi-Business Quandary
8.    Two Viewpoints on Business Value
9.    The Business Appraiser’s Nine Business Valuation Models
10.  The Real Estate Appraiser’s Business Valuation Model
11.  Going Concern Value for Common Property Types
12.  Theory 2’s Applicability to Marina Valuations
13.  Theory 3’s Applicability to Marina Valuations
14.  Other Theories and Related Topics
15.  John Simpson’s Marina Business Enterprise Value Technique
16.  Calculating Business Value from Comparable Sales
17.  Valuing Marina Docks
18.  Partitioning Dock Value via the Income Approach

L.  Capital Improvement Feasibility

1.    Cost/Benefit Analysis
2.    Net Present Value
3.    Demand Side Indicators for an Electrical Upgrade
4.    The Effect of Financing
5.    Other Considerations
6.    The Payback Period

M.  Selling Your Marina

1.    Selling It Yourself or Using a Broker
2.    Using a Broker
3.    Being a F.S.B.O (For Sale by Owner)
4.    Use a General Real Estate Broker or Marina Broker Specialist?
5.    Selecting the Best Broker
6.    CMA’s/BPO’s
7.    Offering Packages for Marinas
8.    Getting the Marina Ready for Sale
9.    The Best of Both Worlds?