My current plane, I bought through a broker and I'm glad I did. I don't think I would have completed the sale if I had to deal with the seller directly. The broker talked some sense into the seller. I made a pretty fair offer for his plane. Sure, it was a deal for me but the seller could have rejected the offer. He didn't. He accepted the offer. I arranged the pre-purchase inspection, got a clean bill and I then embarked on the long trip to go and pick up the plane. The broker was going to fly it back for me while giving me a checkout in it on the way home. I arrived, briefly met the seller to shake hands, exchange some pleasantries and off he went. Broker and I started a pre-flight inspection and he immediately noticed that the push to talk buttons are gone (they're strap one), fire extinguisher is gone, first aid kit is gone and a bunch of other little items like control locks, pitot tube cover, etc. Broker then called the seller. I didn't hear the conversation but the broker was p*****. Ten minutes later, seller came by and brought the push to talk button, fire extinguisher and first aid kit. It was super smokey that day so we knew we couldn't ferry the plane home. We just went up for a pattern so I can say I flew the plane and didn't come out for nothing. We asked the seller if we can put the plane back into his hangar until I can pick it up and he said no to that. Luckily, the local mechanic who did the pre-purchase inspection had space and stored the plane for me. On the way back to the commercial airport, the broker told me what happened in the background that I didn't know of. After the seller accepted the offer and I got the results of the pre-purchase inspection, the seller called the broker saying he wanted out of the deal because he thinks the plane is worth more than what I'm paying for it. The broker said the contract he signed is binding. Then again, on the day I was traveling to pick up the plane, the seller called the broker saying he wants more money, I'm getting too good of a deal. Apparently after the broker told him again, that the contract is binding, the seller went ahead and removed everything from the plane that wasn't permanently attached. When the broker found out about that during the pre-flight, he called him and said that every single item that was visible in the ad photos must remain on the plane and is part of the sale, unless otherwise stated in the ad. Plus, he told him that removing the push to talk button, fire extinguisher and first aid kit rendered the plane un-airworthy and the ad and purchasing agreement was for an airworthy aircraft. Eventually (after I left to go back home), the seller brought everything back and gave all items to the broker. A week later, the broker ferried the plane to me and gave me a local check out flight and all was well at the end of the day. However, I'm so glad I worked with a broker because I probably would have backed out of buying the plane at the first interaction with the seller.
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