Kiddo's Driver
Pattern Altitude
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Jim
For those of us who do not follow every thread on this site, what plane are we talking about?
Observations about aircraft buyers - Year 2014
- Thread starter flyingcheesehead
- Start date
flyingcheesehead
Taxi to Parking
This one. But it was more of an opposing view based on the recent "aircraft sellers" thread. According to that thread, I'm doing everything right, but I've still not had great luck selling the plane.
I did reduce the price just now tho.
mnewb1
Pre-takeoff checklist
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M Newberry
I will offer what I think the plane is worth...it will be accepted or not...but with todays market, and a future that doesn't look to be improving for aviation any time soon, I am not going to overpay for a depreciating asset.
N747JB
Final Approach
My friend called me this morning, he's looking at a Navajo Panther conversion. Long story short, he told the broker what his offer was going to be and he told the owner. The owner countered at $5K LESS for an as-is where-is deal.
Kind of befuddled my buddy, he's a pretty strong negotiator, anyway he bought it, with a take it or leave it pre-buy at his expense. He's already flown the plane and they fixed a couple squawks, but I think he's getting a good deal and the seller is avoiding a potential nightmare pre-buy. It's simple, inspect and pay, or fly Delta home. 
Unit74
Final Approach
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Unit74
Here is what I see as someone looking at planes to buy in the next 6 months......
Some people are very proud of their plane. They tend to have emotional attachment and the plane appears to be priced accordingly. Some sellers NEED to off load the AC and post an artificially low price to move the bird. Most fall somewhere between.
As a buyer, when I see that low priced rig, I compare it to the same plane Mr high-dollar is selling. It creates confusion to me because I want to accept that the low price is a real value an the other is just stupidly high priced.
I also believe in the theory that you post a price at your acceptance level or there about. Leave some wiggle room to satisfy the buyer that he did get a little better price and that sense of getting a better deal. But if I see an ad where the seller appears to be just too proud of that airfoil, I don't even consider it for the reason the OP posted this thread.
When I scour all the usual suspects in aircraft sales, I have the luxury of seeing where the market is at without leaving home or spending hours on the phone. I have noted a wild swing on same year and equipped birds OA. I lean towards the lower priced equipment first.
Bottom line, is that if your serious about selling that tripod, know where the national market is at and price it accordingly. Because if you don't, you'll end up like the OP all irritated these "lowballers" keep harassing him. Me thinks the lowballers are just trying to call him out for being over priced....
Some people are very proud of their plane. They tend to have emotional attachment and the plane appears to be priced accordingly. Some sellers NEED to off load the AC and post an artificially low price to move the bird. Most fall somewhere between.
As a buyer, when I see that low priced rig, I compare it to the same plane Mr high-dollar is selling. It creates confusion to me because I want to accept that the low price is a real value an the other is just stupidly high priced.
I also believe in the theory that you post a price at your acceptance level or there about. Leave some wiggle room to satisfy the buyer that he did get a little better price and that sense of getting a better deal. But if I see an ad where the seller appears to be just too proud of that airfoil, I don't even consider it for the reason the OP posted this thread.
When I scour all the usual suspects in aircraft sales, I have the luxury of seeing where the market is at without leaving home or spending hours on the phone. I have noted a wild swing on same year and equipped birds OA. I lean towards the lower priced equipment first.
Bottom line, is that if your serious about selling that tripod, know where the national market is at and price it accordingly. Because if you don't, you'll end up like the OP all irritated these "lowballers" keep harassing him. Me thinks the lowballers are just trying to call him out for being over priced....
N747JB
Final Approach
There are always low ballers in every market, they look at trying to get the lowest price, regardless of the quality of the item they are buying. But, I think the majority of airplane buyers are looking for value, meaning a good airplane for a fair price, the issue is no one knows what a fair price is on most airplanes.
I had a customer come in one Saturday night just at closing, he asked the dreaded question, "Does anybody here want to sell a car?" That's usually a bad sign.
Anyway, this guy had been to 5 dealerships that day, and none of those 5 dealerships knew what his car was worth! 
Really? You think 5 used car managers at 5 different places were all too stupid to figure out what your car is worth? Needless to say there were 6 places that didn't know what it was worth.
If you are constantly getting the same $$ offered for an item, that's probably what it's worth.
I had a customer come in one Saturday night just at closing, he asked the dreaded question, "Does anybody here want to sell a car?" That's usually a bad sign.
Anyway, this guy had been to 5 dealerships that day, and none of those 5 dealerships knew what his car was worth! Really? You think 5 used car managers at 5 different places were all too stupid to figure out what your car is worth? Needless to say there were 6 places that didn't know what it was worth.If you are constantly getting the same $$ offered for an item, that's probably what it's worth.
JoseCuervo
En-Route
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JoseCuervo
There are always low ballers in every market, they look at trying to get the lowest price, regardless of the quality of the item they are buying. But, I think the majority of airplane buyers are looking for value, meaning a good airplane for a fair price, the issue is no one knows what a fair price is on most airplanes.
I had a customer come in one Saturday night just at closing, he asked the dreaded question, "Does anybody here want to sell a car?" That's usually a bad sign.
If you are constantly getting the same $$ offered for an item, that's probably what it's worth.
Looked at a plane last night to buy. I think the guy is $8-12k too high, based on 5 other planes of that vintage I know are for sale and/or have been sold out from under me.
I just happened to be in the same town, so I met with the mechanic who has been taking care of it. The plane has been for sale for a year.
Turns out the mechanic offered $12k less than the current price, and got turned down, then bought another one at the price he offered.
While in the fob, another guy walks in who also tried to buy the plane, offered 3 times, last one was $8k less than the current price. Got turned down and said he found one and put a deposit down on it last week in SoCal.
So, seller has had offers from 2 guys in the same range I think it is worth, turned them down, and both Buyers found other planes at what they were offering, more/less.
Now, according to my 30 minute pre-buy, the plane needs a $3k annual. I will be a "low baller" later this morning when I offer $12k less than the asking price on a plane that has been listed for 12 months and hasn't sold.
docmirror
Touchdown! Greaser!
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Cowboy - yeehah!
I've developed a keen detector of the condition of the plane I'm looking at. Despite paint, and a shiny engine bay, and fresh tires I get on my back, and lay under the front gear and inspect the steering and retract boots. Works every time. If the boots are old, and frayed and torn up(or missing, in one case), I know the plane has been neglected. Having done this job before, I know how important it is and how messy and uncomfortable a job to exchange.
This will tell me 10 times more than log books, or going to the runup pad, or anything else. The guy who has his steering and retract boots squared away has a good plane. Interesting that I've sold a few of them, and no other buyer has looked at them like I do.
This will tell me 10 times more than log books, or going to the runup pad, or anything else. The guy who has his steering and retract boots squared away has a good plane. Interesting that I've sold a few of them, and no other buyer has looked at them like I do.
Fearless Tower
Touchdown! Greaser!
That owner clearly does not want to sell, or us somehow hoping that the market will rise to meet his bottom line.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
N747JB
Final Approach
One offer can be a low baller maybe two offers, but by the third one reality should start setting in!
flyingcheesehead
Taxi to Parking
Yup... But the two most serious offers I've had (the two guys in the 2nd-last paragraph of the OP) were both within $10K of (the old) asking price. The low-ballers are the ones offering 50%-70% of asking price without ever even asking to look at logs, pics, etc. What that tells me is that they're either hoping someone is super desperate to sell, or that they can't actually afford an airplane in this price range and they're off to buy a 50-year-old Comanche instead once they figure it out.