Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes New Member. Help me buy my first airplane.

My thoughts are, from your posts,, you want the newer 150 rather then the 68' model. Buying an airplane is quite difficult, but the MOST important thing is you need to be happy afterwards with the deal. You're going to spend a lot of time with your 150, and providing the history is good with both, go for what you want and that ceratinly seems to be the newer one. In all honesty, we always look for the best deal, but the best is what makes you happy. As far as the second owner,, negotiate your way out of it,, Hung has a good suggestion,, but discuss it with the second owner and see where it goes,, but have the 500 in your back pocket if required. Hope this works out for you,, keep us posted, and when you get the 1978 150,, post lot's of pictures,, good luck,

You are exactly right, Tim. That is what I do. And it has absolutely nothing to do with my now owning a 150HP bird. It is purely a matter of personal expectations. And looking at things from a purely practical point of view. Please allow me to explain.

I just like to fly. And I especially like to fly the 150. I fly VFR only and believe the simpler things are, the better. Just because a 150 is newer, it does not neccessarily make it any better. Deep down, the 1968 150 is exactly the same as a 1977. The 1977 may have more "bells and whistles." But it has absolutely nothing that makes it fly any better then a 1968 model. Pretty paint, snazzy interior or complicated radio stacks don't make the airplane fly any better either. So, to me at least, I can lump all post 1968 150's together.

However, there is one difference I do have a preference for in 150's. And that is the larger baggage area. Thus, I do not include the pre 1968 150's into my "lumping together!"

So, in my very simplified vision of flying, if I was looking for a standard, (100 horsepower),150. A plain jane $15,000, or less, 150 will do just fine. Those extra bucks that other put into their airplane to make them snazzy I'll just stash in the bank to keep my airplane flying. And, to me, that is what it is all about, the flying!

Note: No offense to those that do have those gorgeous 150 and 152's out there. I still do like to look at em!

Tim,

You are an honorable man, and I respect that more than you can know! You want the 1977 150, and at $25,000 it really sounds like a good deal! Hung's suggestion (another very honorable man) is an honorable one that should keep everyone happy. Contact the gentleman with whom you have the verbal purchase agreement, and tell him the truth! He may be as honorable as you, and agree to let you off the hook no strings attached. If he's upset, $500 should help settle his stomach nicely! You're still $9,500 better off than you were originally willing to pay!

You'll regret it if you don't pursue the opportunity to buy the plane you REALLY wanted in the first place. None of us said it was a bad plane ..... just not worth the $35,000 asking price (and we were apparently right)!

Since you haven't put down any money I would just tell the seller that you slept on it and changed your mind. Business is business. You are under no obligation, but I can see your desire to be fair. Good luck and get the plane you want. I am sure that if the seller got a better offer and was offered a cash down payment you would be out the door so to speak!!

I took the general advice of this forum (and followed my gut) and decided that 714LF is a better plane for me at this time. No offense to Bill who believes that all 150s are the same, but a super-clean 1978 with nice paint, nice interior, VFR GPS, and only 850 hours on it is probably worth $4000 more than a decent 1968 with 3000 hours on it.

I realize that a really low-time airframe can have it's own problems, but this plane was "winterized" during its long-term storage, and never set abandoned on a ramp for years on end. It came out of storage around 1992, and has been completely restored since then. It has about 200 hours in the past 2 years, so it has been flown recently without problems. It has been maintained by Hillsboro Aviation, which is the Pacific Northwest official New Cessna dealer, and they have a whole fleet of 150's and 152's that they service. The logs are complete, and at the last 2 annual inspections, all of the discrepencies were fixed, not just ones pertaining to airworthiness.

So, how do I tell the owner of 22741 that even though I intended to buy his aircraft, now I have found a better bird for me?

This has been gnawing at me since yesterday. I told the owner of 22741 that I intended to buy his airplane, and I am a man of my word. I offered to put a deposit down on the plane, but the owner declied. He said, "This plane has been on the market since July and still hasn't sold. I'm sure it won't sell in the next week before you can get a prepurchase inspection." If I had put a deposit on the plane and decided to walk away from the deal, it wouldn't be a problem because I would have compensated the owner for his time, and holding his plane for me, but I didn't put a deposit down because he didn't want one.

I really liked Hung's idea--pay the owner $500 for his time, and still get the plane I want and keep him happy. It seemed like a win-win solution for everyone.

I realize that since there was no contract in writing, there probably was not legal obligation between me and the seller of 22741, but I felt that there was an ethical obligation.

Having made this decision, I decided to give the owner of 22741 a call.
I said, "Hello. How are you?"
He said, "I'm fine thank you. What's happening?"
I replied, "I have some not so good news for you."
"Oh really?" he queried.
I answered, "Remember that really nice 150 I was telling you about that was way over-priced at $35,000? I have the chance to buy it for $25,000."
"Wow!" he said, "You'd better buy it then. That is a great deal. I would certainly do that if I were you."
I said, "I feel bad not buying your plane since I was planning on it and you held it for me."
He answered, "Don't worry about it. I don't have any hard feelings towards you as well. I will be able to find a different buyer for my plane without difficulty. You need to buy the plane that is right for you."

At this point I was going to offer him $500 for his time and holding the plane for me, but then he kept going on and on about how he understoood my situation, and he would do the same thing if he were me, and how it would be so much easier for me to resell the newer plane in a few years if I wanted to. I ended up not getting a chance to offer him compensation, but both of us still ended up satisfied with the situation.

So now I have an appointment for next Wednesday morning to meet with the dealer who now owns 714LF to take it for a test flight, and then likely purchase it.

I feel like I'm having my cake and eating it too--I'm going to get the plane I origially wanted--see the fist post of this thread, for $10,000 less than the original asking price, and I was able to back out of my alternative deal without any hard feelings.

Ya might want to go ahead and give this seller a deposit!

Bengie

Absolutely no offense taken at all!

Sounds like it is all working out for you! A very hearty congratulations! Now, since you are so close, when are we going to get together so we can see your new bird?

Tim,

Once you've got your '78 plane "in the bag", send the owner of the '68 a nice little gift or a gift certificate. I'm sure he'd appreciate it, and you'll feel better too.

I agree with you Hung, that is why you are so highly thought of on this forum. You sir are a rare and treasured individual!!

Tim,

Your gut has served you well. People without a conscience would never have put the effort and thought into what you did. Congratulations on your (maybe) new plane. More importantly, congratulations on being a standup kind of guy. You can always find a plane. Having feelings is icing on the cake.

Way to go. Good luck with the rest of the transaction.