How to Make an Offer Letter?

[WDD]

So, how does one go about making a written offer letter? I have a hard time getting used to the idea of pulling a form letter off of AOPA and committing a heart stopping amount of money based on my legal contract writing skills. Am I missing something besides hiring an aviation attorney to look over what I crafted up?

We know what price is, I've seen and flown in the plane, getting insurance lined up, now scheduling my mechanic for the pre buy inspection, will be using Aero Space for title search, escrow, etc. It's the "what happens post pre inspection" in writing that is unfamiliar territory.

Also - is it customary for the buyer or seller to pay the escrow / closing costs? Assuming the buyer pays, but never have done this before.
Thanks

 

[ArrowFlyer86]

So, how does one go about making a written offer letter? I have a hard time getting used to the idea of pulling a form letter off of AOPA and committing a heart stopping amount of money based on my legal contract writing skills. Am I missing something besides hiring an aviation attorney to look over what I crafted up?

We know what price is, I've seen and flown in the plane, getting insurance lined up, now scheduling my mechanic for the pre buy inspection, will be using Aero Space for title search, escrow, etc. It's the "what happens post pre inspection" in writing that is unfamiliar territory.

Also - is it customary for the buyer or seller to pay the escrow / closing costs? Assuming the buyer pays, but never have done this before.
Thanks

I split escrow closing costs with the seller. They were minimal relative to transaction size. Aerospace reports was totally worth it since they lined up all the paperwork. Super easy.

An attorney would have been overkill for my deal. The form contract for AOPA works great. Just make sure you know what conditions are that allow you to walk away from the deal in case prebuy makes you uneasy.

 

[Jim_R]

I negotiated the price verbally, and then the seller wrote a basic bill of sale out in print with a ballpoint pen on a yellow legal pad and we both signed it. Might make a lawyer cringe, but it worked for us. He ran a flight school, and I was a complete stranger to him who flew across the country to see the plane.

 

[midlifeflyer]

No standard on who pays for escrow although it is often split because benefits both parties.

Bottom line on using a professional for the contract is that a kiss and a handshake will work just fine unless it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, someone is usually sorry they didn’t spend a little extra up front.

I had a case once where the parties used the AOPA sample. Going through the form, they looked at certain terms and decided some weren’t needed, so they crossed them out. Guess what would have ended the later litigation before it started?

I don’t do this much anymore but two weeks ago, a pilot called me about selling his airplane using his AOPA PPS benefit. He had already downloaded the AOPA form. We took about 45 minutes to go over, clarify, and tweak a few things.

And yes, both of those were unusual.

 

[WDD]

As a married guy, assume both wife and husband are the buyers; we don’t need an LLC. What’s common?

 

[frfly172]

Make an offer subject to,financing,successful pre purchase inspection,test flight. Then let your escrow company handle the sale,I usually absorb the escrow costs.

 

[cameronbm]

If I were considering spending a "heart-stopping amount of money", paying for a few hours of an attorney's time to review a purchase agreement would seem to be a reasonable insurance policy. But, my risk aversion increases with the number of 0's on the check and figure that it is cheaper to talk to an attorney before things go TU than to pay one to clean up after.

 

[WDD]

So…. Besides the AOPO list of airplane attorneys and just googling, how does one find an aviation oriented attorney in the Atl area?

 

[cameronbm]

Try Aviation Lawyers Association (ala.law), Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association (lawyer-pilots.org).

 

[Jim_R]

Somewhere in a file cabinet I have the sheet of yellow legal pad paper where the seller scratched out a basic bill of sale document that we both signed. The key enforcement that the transaction would be successful was that my funds were in escrow until the plane showed up at my hangar a few weeks later. The ferry pilot didn't hand over the keys until the funds were released.

 

[Chrisgoesflying]

All of my purchases were handshake deals until the actual sale e.g. I said “i’ll buy it pending pre-purchase”. That’s it. Once pre-purchase was done and satisfactory, we drew up a purchasing agreement (template i got from a broker), i handed over the money and took the plane. i don’t think any of my planes were bought for a “heart stopping amount of money” though so that may be the difference.

 

[Pinecone]

Last one I did, I used the AOPA template to develop an agreement. Worked well, but then again, a handshake probably would have worked OK.