opion on selling my airplane

[N6784N]

I bought my 1968 mooney m20 c ranger a year ago and love it. the reason i purchased it though was to pay it off in 6 years and then sell it and buy a newer mooney.  my payments are pretty hefty and made it that way so i could pay it off sooner which is part of my plan. when i purchased it i was working so no worries about the payment and upkeep. right after i bought it i was laid off (darwin always gets me) so i was laid off for 6 months and now working again but making only half of what i used to. i can still afford the payments and upkeep although less flying now so i was thinking of refinancing it to get the payments down. i purchased the plane for 45k and owe 34k now. in order for me to refi it i have to come up with 20% which isnt a big deal but i was thinking if i did do that that maybe i should bite the bullet and either get a new paint job which right now i would say its a 5 maybe 6 at best or get a 2 axis autopilot. i want to do this because its something i want anyway and evn though it wont recoup all the money spent it will at least look more attractive to buyers later. if i refi one of those purchases with the plane that will bring my payment up ofcourse to probably 450 to 500 a month. thats still better then the 650 im paying now but it leaves less money for engine repair or OH in the future and it will take more time to pay off. sotheres the background so as experienced mooney pilots and airplane purchasers what would you do?1:  keep the plane financing as it is today 2: refinance the plane and only the plane and purchase my upgrades when and if i can afford it 3: refinance one of the upgrades in the plane refinance? what upgrade is more valuable to the buyer when/if i sell it? do you think the cost of upkeep is so signficant on mooney 201 or 231  that i should just be happy with what i have and quit dreaming? i think i would be completely happy with the plane and not want to sell it at all if it had autopilot, nice paint and speed mods oh yea and electric gear but thats not the case and im completely on the fence on what to do. if i dideverything i wanted to to the plane it will cost more then the plane will ever be wrth. any suggestions would be great

[Magnum]

My suggestion: If you can keep up with the payments don't change anything. It is the cheapest way, otherwise you just pay a lot more for interest (some people finance their aircraft for 20 years, that means they have to pay back twice as much)

If you refinance, don't finance any upgrades. When they are installed they are only worth 50% of what you paid for. If you want to keep her for a very long time you can do it (so you can enjoy the upgrades now). You will not get the money back you put in when you sell her.

Try to get her paid down as quick as possible, but you still should be able to fly her regularly. If that is not possible, sell her or find a partner. Once she is paid you can think of upgrades (if you keep her), or sell her and buy one with all the nice things installed. The only exception: If you really need something to make her more useful for you now (e.g. 430 for IFR).

Just my 0.02

 

[jax88]

Tough to offer this type of advice to someone else, we all have different circumstances both financially as well as in regards to our flying habits.

I've been considering selling my recently purchased '75 M20F for different reasons, but some of the same options are swirling about in my head.  I purchased my F thinking that I would be better served having something a touch slower than a J or K.  Now that I realize how wonderful these Mooneys fly, I want the extra speed.  So, do I go ahead and sell my "new to me" F that I just purchased and upgrade to a J or K and hopefully get some updated avionics at the same time, OR, do I just keep flying my sweetheart of an F model and put some money into upgrading the radios in the near future.

If you happen to have a epiphany as to what to do, please share it with me.  In the interim, I'll keep struggling with the same type dilema:  to sell and upgrade so quickly, or, keep travelling the country in my mission accomplishing F?

[N6843N]

I have little or no faith in general aviations recovery, let alone the nations economy, so I would sell it.  I only keep mine because it is paid for and I do ALL the maintenance, repairs, and inspections. I also have a hefty war chest saved up for those unexpected major falures. I did a 10K avionics upgrade in 04' that today is worthless because Garmin bought out UPSAT so if you keep it beware that things can change rapidly in the market. Tommorrow may bring an AD that could cost thousands of dollars to get rid of kinda like the last Hartzell AD, which happened right after an OH for me, so I will go the inspection route for at least until the economy starts to recover and then make up my mind about a terminating fix for that one.

[140pilot]

In this crap economy I would not put anything into it you cant pay for in cash. I dont know what kind of flying you do but when I had my C model I was flying trips of around 300 miles for my business with rarely more than one person. Also I was VFR. So adding a bunch of cash on speed mods, or advanced avionics or autopilots just did not make a lot of sense. As for paint it did not make it safer or fly faster so I made do with what I had. I dont think you will recover the investment you make on paint etc.

At the end of the day you really need to do a cost benefit analysis and look at what the plane is costing you vs. renting and honestly if the numbers dont add up sell it. If they do I would put only that into the plane you really need and can afford out of pocket.

It was hard for me to sell my Mooney but at the end of the day I no longer needed to do the trips and all my flying was local for pleasure and the numbers just didnt add up. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do but it made the most sense at the time.

 

[Tom]

Quote: N6843N

I have little or no faith in general aviations recovery, let alone the nations economy, so I would sell it.

[OR75]

for single engine / 4-seaters, it will very rarely makes sense to own vs. renting.

what counts is how much pleasure an aircraft ownership brings you.

 

 

 

 

[Stefanovm]

Rent a Mooney, not likely in my area. So if I want to fly one, I have to own it.

[jax88]

I agree with OR75.  No matter how hard I tried to make fiscal sense of purchasing my '75F, I couldn't make it happen.  Just on operating costs alone I have to put 3 people in the seats for my typical flight to cost roughly as much as flying commercial would cost.  BUT, even in a market as large as San Antonio, it's near impossible to find a rental aircraft beyond the typical speed challenged, high wing aircraft.  For me it was purchase or risk not flying.

[scottfromiowa]

Get a partner.  Don't invest now in paint or avionics.  Keep your plane.  I was not aware that you could not use the equity you have in the plane for your re-finance?  (20% down).  Can you elaborate?

I am in the process of looking at a "co-owner" in my plane.  The fixed costs (hanger, annual, insurance) are cut in 1/2...and upgrades become easier when burden is shared...and I would have the plane paid off.

[N6784N]

Quote: scottfromiowa

Get a partner.  Don't invest now in paint or avionics.  Keep your plane.  I was not aware that you could not use the equity you have in the plane for your re-finance?  (20% down).  Can you elaborate?

I am in the process of looking at a "co-owner" in my plane.  The fixed costs (hanger, annual, insurance) are cut in 1/2...and upgrades become easier when burden is shared...and I would have the plane paid off.

[scottfromiowa]

Thanks you too.  Remember a partner is better than no plane at all and will significantly reduce your debt and increase available funds to make some improvements. 

[Magnum]

The reason for considering the autopilot or paint is to make the plane more attractive to purchase when I am ready to sell.