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That falls right in line with what I've always heard regarding airplanes sales...

You don't make money when you sell the plane. You make your money when you buy it.

Of course, you could do like I did. Buy a 152 for 16,500, lease it back to a flight school and insure it for 26,000, make 20,000 over 3 years with the leaseback revenue, then let them crash it (make sure no one gets hurt), and collect on the insurance. But, I don't recommend it.

I never heard that one before...LOVE IT!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

haha, good work Gary You know I've lived around the corner for a year and we've never met! lol I should have swung over to Arlington

I've got a 77 150M I bought 3 years ago and have not been so lucky.

Being un-educated in the purchase of aircraft at the time, I purchased it following the lead of a family member that I trusted (he's been a pilot for 25 years). In hind sight, I ended up paying more for the plane than it was worth. Then I put about 4 grand into it for maintainence and upgrades for a total investment of about 28K..

It's been on the sale block for about 1 year now and I've dumped the price all the way down to 22K and it still sitting in the hanger needing a good home. The engine has about 250 hours left before TBO, and I have to assume thats what has hurt the sale, even though it has good paint and interior.

Do your home work.

Dennis,

Maybe I have missed it but what about giving us the facts on your plane. Hours on AF/engine, instruments etc.
Bill

Bill,
I am sure I posted info on my plane here in the past. But here tis since you asked..

It's a 1977 150M located near Memphis, TN and as of yesterday, had 3553 hours on the airframe. It was repainted about 4 or 5 years ago. Complete logs with no damange history. Since I purchased it, I have added NuLites to all the 3" instruments for night flight, an oil filter adapter, Sigtronics intercom with dual PTT, and replaced a number of other components such as the starter and tires. I also had all 4 cyls torn down 1.5 years ago, inspected, honed and re-ringed and they have about 75 or so hours on them now. It's VFR with a MX300 Nav/Com radio and VOR.

I just don't fly it enough to justify keeping it and it's not right for it to just sit in the hanger most days. It will make someone a nice airplane...

A few pics can be seen here..

http://www.zaptek.com/714pq

That's a nice plane Dennis. I'm just learning how this market works...which you might see from the post!!!

If I were to purchase the aircraft, bring it to Canada and do the engine, it would set me back $39,000 US. There's no way I'd be able to recover that...so I'm not sure I'd go for it.

When I look at aircraft, I try and "equal out" the engine time - for example, if the engine has no time left, I add the full cost of a rebuild. If the engine has 50% of it's time left, I add 50% of the cost of a rebuild.

I know it's not perfect (# years from TBO would be better for me as I'd only fly it 50 hours a year).

Rob, just for your info, If you buy any airplane from the US, and import into canada,, BE prepared to spend between $5000 to $10000 to do an Import inspection and certification. $5000 would be if you need no parts,, The airplane needs to be brought to a certain standard that we in Canada have deemed to be required. I think it's a bit of BS and just away of "making money" for the coffers. But,, inspection required,, and don't let anyone kid you,, it's not just a 100 hour inspection. I know, been there, done that last summer.

Lionel,

Are you saying that Canadian inspection standards are stricter or this is just a procedural thing?

Are there many 150 available for sale in Canada?

I remember some years ago, I was selling my motorcycle and the guy who bought, brought cash and an enclosed trailer. He told me he buys motorcycles and ships a bunch at a time to Europe and after making them compliant, he sells them a good profit...

My $4k used bike would sell for close to $10k in Europe, I can't remember which country exactly... Is there a market for importing AC to Canada?

Fred, On the norm,, inspection procedures are the same,, except during an import inspection. For the airplane to get a C of A in Canada, it does have to meet a higher standard then is met in the US. For example,,, on mine after many inspections in the US,, including the last being an export inspection, done by a DAE "this should pick up all problems, and not done by just any mechanic". Anyways, when it arrived here in Canada, prop came off to confirm serial #, would you beleive it had the wrong serial number as compared to the logs. Of course, the spinner had to come off for this,, and the inside of the spinner was worn a bit from the front spinner plate,, so now had to get new spinner. "My ame did say if it wasn't for the import inspection the spinner would've been fine". Next,, "and I made sure before hand it met the criteria in advance", Transport Canada, typically does not accept a field overhaul of an engine,, sometimes they will wave this but you have to go through many hoops. My Garmin GNC 300 XL, IFR approved GPS in the US,, isn't approved for IFR in canada, in other words,, everything check to insure accuracy,, Instruments pulled, checked for serial number, had to match logs,, next,, "This wasn't my mechanic,, but the aviation inspector thought there was a discrepancy on the W&B,, had just been done in the US, 9 months ago,, had to redo,, lost 25 IBS usefull load,, and the list goes on,, including having to put a sticker on the door handle that says "lift or something like that to open door". Given all that, would I do it again,, yes, I had a fairly good idea what my final cost was,, but the whole thing did add extra costs that typically some may not realize.

PS, IF ANYONE IN CANADA< does have the 300 installed and approved for IFR, please respond indicating so,, I'd love to talk to them about it,,,