Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Price vs. Condition - what is the breaking point?

Considering one of the main purposes for your aircraft is for commuting 250NM, make sure if you get a 150, it has long range fuel tanks. 22.5 usuable will leave you needing a fuel stop with any sort of headwind. Also 150's don't give you alot of options for getting over a layer when its VFR at dep/dest and there is clouds/hills in between.

Hello!
I'm a new guy and am very fortunate to have found the Cessna 150-152 club. I just sold my 182-great a/c, but gas hog, and am looking for a 150 with low time and recent paint and interior. I think I found one-3800TT, 85 SMOH, New P/I, everything new forward of firewall, and of course looks beautiful. It's a 150L and the owner is asking 30000. All of my local friends and mech's say its nice but overpriced. Any ideas?-Thanks-Ed

Ed,

First, Welcome!

To address this issue, I personally look at it this way. You can paint up, soup up, and do all sorts of wonderful things to a VW Beattle. But, in the end, it is still only a VW Beattle. I see the Cessna 150 in the same light. I would advise that you listen to your friends and mechanic(s) Ed. Today you can purchase, maybe not a pretty 150, but airworthy one, for the low teens. And there are many really nice 150's out there to be had for mid teens to low 20's. I believe that $30,000 is definitely overpriced in my way of thinking.

Another thought. That new FWF really makes me suspicious. If it is a quality overhaul, why would somebody put that much money into an airplane just to turn around and sell it?

My thoughts..........

Bill

Thanks Bill!

What you said has been in the back of my mind for a while now. I'll go look at it this weekend and check back with you all. Thanks again-Ed

(* sigh *)

I think I know the answer to this question. As humans, we are wired to avoid pain. If we stick a finger into fire and it hurts, we tend to not stick our finger in fire again. If we get into investments that lose value, we tend to not buy into those investments again.

This tendency to not want to repeat painful experiences is also why humans tend to shed themselves of objects that have brought them pain or are linked to memories of pain. An engine overhaul can be a painful experience. Just like the many times I've heard people say things like, "Yeah, I bought $20k worth of stock once and it lost $8k in value. I sold it and will never buy stocks again" I've also heard former aircraft owners talk about how they once expended a lot of money on maintenance and will never own an airplane again.

There is definitely a "buy high, sell low" effect with most people as they react to the pain of a monetary loss. It's a normal, wired in reaction for the human brain and selling a vehicle right after putting a lot of money into it is not uncommon.

Now, is anybody interested in purchase a C-150M with a 10 SMOH engine? I just changed out the mixture control cable last weekend. That was the last little chore in debugging the installation that made me tired of dealing with it. ;-)

Hey look, a NEW GUY!!!

Hello Ed and welcome to the best type club in cyber land.

I will say the first part ow what Bill said.
a 150 is a 150. It is only worth what someone will pay for it
and I don't think many will pay $30,000 for one.
That doesn't mean someone won't but I bet there are some just as nice for less $$.


By the way, where are you located?

This is a circumstance where it is nice to know, or at least spend some time chatting with, the owner. The reasons could be good or bad.

If all goes well and I can put Juliet on the block in June, she will have low hours (though not as low as the plane in question) on a quality overhaul.

Why would I do that?

Weelll, when I did the overhaul it was a distinct possibility that Juliet would be my airplane for life. I did not envision my circumstances changing to the extent that I could consider a bigger airplane.

Everybody based at Sanderson knows my airplane. And the vultures are beginning to circle. I just might be able to sell my airplane to somebody right here.

Having said all that...yeah, I think $30K is overpriced.

Reg

The only thing I can add is to check what kind of avionics are in it. It is possible that if it has all new avionics, including a Garmin 430W, that could turn it into a $30k plane.

The main question you should ask is, "What would it cost me to take a common, $15K C-150 and turn it into something of comparable quality?" If that number is more than $30k, then maybe the plane is priced correctly. If it only takes $25 to buy and upgrade another plane to the same condition, then the price is too high.

Thanks Ron. I am based in Dunnellon,FL. just south of Ocala.

Ed, welcome to the best type club anywhere! You'll like it here. I'm not too far north east of you at Haller Air Park (7FL4), just south of Green Cove Springs (south of Jacksonville), and due west of St. Augustine.

My advice is to be patient. There are lots of 150's/152's on the market and some of them are in Florida. You need to do your research, and look at several before you'll get a feel for what's out there, and what you should pay. Many sellers plan to haggle and "asking prices" can be grossly inflated. I tell a seller this: "I don't haggle and I don't make offers! Quote me your bottom price. If I like it and everything checks out with my IA, you've got a sale! Otherwise I'll thank you and walk away."

"New" engines and components may suffer infant mortality. It's often better to find one that's been overhauled in the last few years and with a couple of hundred hours on it, already broken in and with a proven track record.

When someone paints something for resale alone, they aren't always as concerned with the pre-paint preparation (and that can save them money). Preparation is everything and done correctly it's expensive! A "cheap" sand and squirt paint job can still look georgeous, but might hide corrosion problems or lack of preparation that becomes evident under bubbling or flaking paint in only a year or two. I probably wouldn't buy a plane with paint less than 2 years old, or that had been treated throughout with "Corrosion-X", "ACF-50", or similar anti-corrosion products within the last 2 years before painting (the paint can't stick well, so a reputable and experienced paint shop probably won't touch it anyway).

In this economy, you can find a really nice, solid 150 for well under $20k, as Bill said. Buy a solid bird for less than $15K that sorely needs paint, and you'll know what you're getting under the paint job of YOUR choice.

Bottom line, it's really about how solid and reliable the airplane is, not looks. Cosmetics can be applied after purchase, and honestly is much of the fun of ownership for many of us. There are lots of club members here who will gladly guide you on obtaining quality work at the best prices available. Buy somebody else's idea of perfection at $30K (a likely inflated price, and for unknown quality), or "build" it to suit YOUR tastes at probably considerably less.

By the way... the best interior man in the business may well be Mr. Shelby W. Isham of TN Wings, and a club member, too!