Yachting's Newest Innovator: Q&A with Christopher Mortimer
Q: What's your real name and what do you do?
A: My name is Christopher Mortimer, but most in the industry have come to refer to me as the yacht hunter. I'm the first strategic yacht purchasing advisor, or simply, a yacht broker strictly working on the 'buy side' of yachts opposed to selling as well.
Q: How did you wind up in the yachting industry?
A: I've always had a fascination with yachts from a young age but never thought I would be as involved as I've gotten. As a middle class kid growing up in a small sailing town outside of New York City I always had aspirations to become a Wall Street big wig, but in my early career, I learned that yachts served some incredibly successful people as both pleasure crafts as well as business facilitators.
I knew that if I wanted to create the success I envisioned for myself, I needed to surround myself with amazing people that have already achieved so much to expedite my own. Now, they come to me and thank me for my advisement but I thank them for their mentorship.
Q: Why did you chose the name, 'The Yacht Hunter'?
A: It's my belief that the word hunter is of a proactive nature and I believe that I want my clients and peers to know that there's absolutely no sitting back and waiting out of me, ever. It's a priviledge to represent my clients and I'm certainlty not entitled to ride their coattails without putting forth the utmost effort.
Q: How do you want to be known across the industry?
A: I want to be the fresh perspective wake up call that eliminates the widely accepted saying 'this is the way it's always been done'. I want to provide so much value, education and enjoyment to my clients that they allow me to represent them in all of theirs and their networks ensuing purchases.
Q: What inspired you to put a very new and different spin on traditional yacht brokerage as it has been known?
A: My background for one is a lot different than so many other people in the industry; I'm a numbers guy determined to optimize every process for anything and the widely accepted groupthink of the true boat guys, is an opportunity, not a detriment as some make it seem.
My earliest clients seemed to ask very similar questions and I realized that instead of waiting for clients to come to me to educate them, there was an opportunity in educating anyone with intent, through concise and centralized resources.
Other brokers as well as owners, would share stories of how a few unethical brokers were damaging the reputation of the great ones, so the slight innovation of strictly purchasing yachts became really clear.
Q: What can someone expect when they work with you?
A: I want them to enjoy my big personality, to know that the numbers will validate my professional reccomendations and that their financial considerations, will be treated as my own. I want them to know that I will tell them what they need to hear as opposed to what they want to hear to support a bigger or quicker purchase. I want them to take comfort in the fact that I won't know the answer to every question but will be the first to admit that, but the first to connect them with the expert they need to make better decisions. Most of all, I want them to know how much I appreciate them choosing to work with me when there are a number of other great brokers out there they could chose to work with as well.
Q: Where are you based out of?
A: I'm available to assist any client with any yacht worldwide but split my time between Miami, FL and Newport, Rhode Island. Without any dealer affiliations or sellling obligations, I can make myself available to assist my clients with any and all of their purchasing needs.