Case Study · Marine F&I · Two states, three years
From day-one broker setup to a two-state, direct-lender F&I operation.
How Lakeside Lender stood up Texoma Boat House’s finance office, transitioned them off the broker structure, and supported their expansion into Dallas Boat House.
Calera, OK + Hickory Creek, TX · Lake Texoma + DFW / Lake Lewisville · Spring 2023 – March 2026 · Closed when ownership brought F&I in-house across both stores
| Dealership | Texoma Boat House (13 Platter Cut Off Rd, Calera, OK 74730) → Dallas Boat House (6060 S Stemmons Fwy #400, Hickory Creek, TX 75065) |
| Market | Lake Texoma + DFW / Lake Lewisville |
| Brand identity during engagement | MasterCraft + Crest pontoons + Bri-Mar (opening 2023 – Jan 2026) → Skier’s Choice / Supra + Moomba (Jan 2026 – present) |
| Open | Spring 2023 (Texoma) → January 2026 (Dallas Boat House) |
| Ownership | Single ownership group across both stores — Brian Sasser, majority owner |
| Engagement window | Spring 2023 – March 2026 |
| Engagement scope | Outside F&I development partner — phase 1 broker, phase 2 direct lending, phase 3 multi-state expansion support, phase 4 OEM franchise transition |
| Engagement status | Closed on good terms when ownership brought F&I in-house full-time across both stores |
The headline
A brand-new dealership opening on Lake Texoma in spring 2023 — one of the strongest tow-sport lakes in the country — needed a finance office in place from the moment the doors opened. They didn’t want to wait six months to hire and train an in-house F&I manager before they could deliver units. So they brought in Lakeside Lender as their outside F&I partner from day one, and we ran it that way until they had grown into needing a full-time in-house seat — roughly three years later, in March 2026.
By the time the engagement closed, Texoma Boat House had:
- A direct lender matrix paying 100% of backend to the dealership — no more broker fee split
- A documented F&I process the new in-house manager could inherit without rebuilding
- A second location in a second state — Dallas Boat House, north of Lake Lewisville — running on the same matrix, the same lender agreements, and the same process
- An audit-ready compliance posture from deal one
Four phases, one engagement
Phase 1 — Broker structure on day one
The store opened in spring 2023. I was the F&I office from the first unit delivered — running it remotely from day one, not waiting six months for an in-house seat to come up. Every deal placed through the Marathon Financial national marine broker network on a negotiated split, with same-day submission, decisions within hours, and contracts on the way before the customer left the showroom. Remote by default — with in-person presence for select weekends and key Texas boat shows when it moved the needle.
“The most valuable thing an outside F&I partner can do for a new dealership is be the finance office during the years it takes to grow into needing one. That’s exactly what we did at Texoma Boat House.”
Phase 2 — Broker to direct lending
New dealers typically need two years in business before most lenders will write direct paper — that’s when the broker switch happens. Texoma ran broker-placed through Marathon Financial early on, then transitioned to direct lender relationships at the two-year mark.
Once the deal volume was real, I moved the store off the broker structure entirely. Identified the lenders carrying the most volume for this store. Pulled them out of Marathon. Stood them up as direct dealer relationships. Renegotiated buy rates, reserve splits, and advance guidelines on a direct basis. Every dollar of broker split that used to leave the store on every deal stayed in the store going forward.
“That’s the move most outside brokers will never offer you, because it ends their own revenue. It was the right move for the dealership, so we made it.”
Phase 3 — Pre-opening prep for Dallas Boat House (2025)
The dealership grew enough that ownership made the call to open a second location north of Lake Lewisville in DFW — one of the largest towboat markets in the United States. The actual store opening was scheduled for January 2026, but the work to get there ran for months. I drove the new-state licensing (Texas vs Oklahoma — different OCCC posture, TPWD dealer license), the second-location lender agreements (every direct lender on the matrix had to extend or sign separately for the Texas store), and the F&I process design so Dallas would run identical to Calera from day one. The matrix was already trusted; the lenders signed because the relationship was real.
Phase 4 — January 2026: simultaneous Dallas launch + Texoma OEM rebrand
January 2026 wasn’t one event — it was two on the same calendar:
- Dallas Boat House opened at 6060 S Stemmons Fwy #400, Hickory Creek, TX with a Skier’s Choice franchise (Supra and Moomba) and used inventory.
- Texoma Boat House simultaneously rebranded from MasterCraft to Skier’s Choice — same franchise across both locations on the same day.
A franchise change at one store plus a new-store launch at the other is two stores’ worth of F&I work compressed into one calendar window. New floor-plan lender approvals, new retail-lender program updates on the Skier’s Choice model lineup, a fully rebuilt aftermarket product menu, compliance posture preserved through both events — all before the first deal under the new flag at either store. Neither store lost selling days through the dual transition.
Dallas Boat House launched 5.0 stars on Google with 7 reviews in its first months — a clean start in DFW, on the back of an F&I office that was ready before the door opened.
“You can’t make a move like that in a hurry. You make it cleanly when the outside F&I partner has been embedded in the dealership long enough to know every lender, every program, and every product detail by name.”
What the dealership got
| Before Lakeside | After Lakeside | |
|---|---|---|
| F&I capability | None — sales-led, customer-driven financing | Full direct lender matrix, prime through deep subprime |
| Backend per unit captured | $0 | Industry-grade, captured 100% direct after phase 2 |
| Broker fee leakage | Not yet exposed — no F&I in place | Eliminated on every direct-lender deal after phase 2 |
| Compliance posture | Ad-hoc | Audit-ready file structure from deal one |
| Multi-state capability | Single state | Two states, two stores, one matrix |
| In-house F&I manager | Couldn’t justify the seat | Inherited a working operation when the volume justified the hire |
What buyers said
“Phenomenal experience from start to finish. Brian, Chase and Michael were all great all around. Solid team and a great experience! Will definitely be buying from them again.”
— Ty Blackburn, Texoma Boat House review (05/09/2025)
Three names from one buyer’s experience: Brian Sasser running the store, Chase McManus on the floor, Michael Tannehill in the finance office. That’s the cadence of a real dealership team — and that’s what an outside F&I partner is supposed to be: invisible plumbing that the buyer experiences as part of the store, not as an outside vendor.
Recurring themes across Texoma Boat House reviews — “best customer service in the North Texas area,” “responsive, convenient (comes out to the boat),” “best experience” from repeat MasterCraft buyers on their 3rd boat. The reputation is built; the F&I office was part of that.
Want the broker → direct lender playbook?
The full operational detail — broker negotiation math, lender targeting framework, the criteria for when volume justifies pulling a lender out of the broker pool, file structure templates, OEM acquisition counsel scope — lives in a gated playbook for dealerships evaluating an outside F&I partner.
If you’re a dealership reading this
The Texoma Boat House story is the engagement shape for new and rapidly growing dealerships who need a working finance office before they can justify a full-time F&I manager, are currently leaning on an outside broker and have never re-evaluated the split, are about to open a second location and need new-state licensing + lender agreements done correctly, or want an outside partner whose stated goal is to make themselves unnecessary at the point the volume justifies an in-house seat.
That’s what we do. Conversation, not commitment.