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How crazy can I go with a 252?


xavierde

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On 10/9/2019 at 5:09 PM, xavierde said:

I agree and wouldn't finance anything plane related as well but that's a personal preference. My interrogation comes from the fact that I really want to upgrade the plane to make it better, specifically avionics-wise but don't want to end up loosing $80-100k or so on a sale in a few years (if I want to get a twin when my mission changes e.g. extending the family). So I'm wondering whether to upgrade very selectively and at limited cost or if I should just go full-speed thinking I'd end up finding a buyer looking for an already upgraded "forever plane", if/when the time to sell comes.

Some of us will just wait until some of these "forever planes" come on the market.  :-)  (no disrespect meant)

I had my Sarasota panel, Hawk paint job and Hector interior all planned out.   Recently I'm getting back into motorbikes and realized you can buy a brand new shiny red sex machine Ducati Supersport S for the price of a single Garmin 750.  Puts things in perspective.   My 231 flies just fine without all the other stuff.  I'll keep a couple of Ducatis in the hangar before I upgrade my 430W :-)

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12 hours ago, larryb said:

Good luck with that. By the time a “forever plane” comes on the market it’ll have 20 year old paint/interior/panel and a runout engine.

I wish you a long and happy flying life Larry.  

Sometimes though life happens (loose a medical or worse etc).  These planes do come on the market and they're often hugely overcapitalized.  If you ever need to swing that Encore PM me :D

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On 10/9/2019 at 6:54 PM, gsxrpilot said:

@ArtVandelay is about right here. The ceiling for a 252 seems to be about $225K. To fetch that it would need to be upgraded to an Encore and have a modern panel. But that's what they'll fetch today. As @kortopates said, the 252 might be the best model Mooney ever made according to a lot of people. And since they're not making any more of them. And there is nothing else on the market that compares, the values of good, Encore upgraded 252 will continue to go up. 

The one I have is likely my forever airplane and I'm spending on it accordingly. Someday I hope to bring it back to factory new condition with an all glass panel. 

I will say that paint and interior are the very last things on my list to upgrade. First of all, once you've done the paint and interior you don't want to be taking it apart for more upgrades. So do that last. They also bring the least value on the resale market. If a buyer is going to be asked to pay for a paint job, they might like to pick out the colors. So for me, somewhere in the next few years, when there is nothing left to improve, fix, upgrade, on my 252, it will get an Aerocomfort interior from Hector and a new paint job from Hawk.

 

What @gsxrpilot said...

The Encore conversion will have the most ROI.  Do the paint and interior last so it gets scuffed as little as possible.

A 252 converted to an Encore will likely have a better useful load than a 1997-1998 Encore, but the interior components will not be as slick as the 1997-1998 Encore.

It's a shame the economics do not make sense to bring the Encore back into production.  Mooney should have made many more M20Ks instead of putting all that energy into the M20L disaster.

I sorely miss my 252/Encore.

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Jerry,

The turbine forever-plane... :)

I’m going to need some stronger financial planning to cover just the insurance...   never mind getting the plane and some training /experience to match...

My retirement plans didn’t include Florida... but Tom has shown how nicely the Lancair IVPT can cover the distance...

It all starts with a dream...

Best regards,

-a-

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