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Any recommendations for a title search and escrow service to use for a person to person aircraft transaction?  

Guy claims to own it outright, I claim to have funds in bank.  Seems like an easy transaction but wondering about any back end gotchas. 

Also, would you always put a plane thru a pre purchase inspection, no matter what?  

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I have used King Title services before and have been happy with their product. Gotcha's are hard to predict and mitigate. If you skill set on knowing Mooney's mechanics well enough to be able to perform a pre-purchase inspection to your own satisfaction and knowing the particular plane and owner well enough and your risk tolerance is high enough, you could consider skipping the prebuy. If your risk tolerance is not high enough that you are willing to lose every Nickle you pay for the plane in an instant, you might be better served having a pro work for you and perform a prebuy. 

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58 minutes ago, NJMac said:

Also, would you always put a plane thru a pre purchase inspection, no matter what

Nah. Brand new, direct from the factory with a spinner to tail warranty, I'd probably skip it.

On the escrow and title search? Nice to trust but the seller just might know as little about the state if the title as you. Costs more time and effort (and money) to clear it later that to do it right the first time. I'm not complaining - that extra money goes to someone like me.

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5 hours ago, midlifeflyer said:

Nah. Brand new, direct from the factory with a spinner to tail warranty, I'd probably skip it.

As much as I love the Mooney, the A36 I'm working towards with 1600 UL is calling my name in the most sexy of ways 

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For the amount of money spent on the two items in question versus the amount of money at risk, I cannot imagine NOT spending the (likely) 1-2% of the acquisition cost to make sure I am buying what I think I am buying.

Ask my neighbor who just bought 10 acres of land from a "friend" without a title search or title insurance. He had the joy of telling his wife the new house he promised her was not happening, and they might be out the money on the land purchase without spending even more. Yeah, he's not happy. Don't be that guy.

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Two levels of risk discussed around here often...

1) When the Plane costs as much as your new car...  there is a lot of room for making mistakes...

2) When the plane costs as much as your house...   the PPIs and title work is par for the course...

3) I used AOPA for all of this homework including the financing they arranged...  I knew exactly what I didn’t know...   :)

4) AOPA is another layer of cost, for good services provided by others...  so if you can get these services directly for a lower cost... do that.   No surprise.

PP thoughts only, not a plane sales guy...

Best regards,

-a-

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I was the mortgage broker involved in which a title company missed an electrical easement on the back side of the new buyers property.  When the electrical company came by two years later and cut down the old growth pine trees in the back.... Needless to say the title company paid big time for that little mistake. 

Does that happen often? No. Could you be that guy (or girl)? Oh yeah!!!

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I have used AIC Title Service both times. Excellent service and results. Create an Escrow account. I usually deposit the entire purchase in escrow to leave the seller no doubt, I am serious. That also motivates the seller in delivering the airplane for pre purchase and repairing any discrepancies because there is a big fat carrot out there that he knows is real. He also knows, that failure to perform per the contract, will result in withdrawl of that money.

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My last aircraft purchase I used a service to do the title check but didn't do any escrow account. We did the FAA registration paperwork and a bill of sale. I took home the airworthiness certificate, keys and paperwork he took home a check and the aircraft remained at his hangar. I called and had insurance on it the next day. The next weekend after the weather was nice and the check cleared, I came back and took the aircraft home. I did the pre-buy myself. And yes you need some sort of pre-buy. I spoke with the IA that had done the annuals for many years and also got some references for him. The aircraft had been pretty well maintained over the years and when I did my inspection that showed. I think every transaction is going to be different though. 

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A pre-buy is a must unless you know the aircraft really well, title search is a must, old liens are a pain to clear when the lien holder is no longer around, escrow depends on you and/or the seller. My E was a cash deal, FAA lost my paper work and i had to send it all in again, luckily I had the 2 partners sign 3 sets of documents, so I had a spare I could send back to them 

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4 hours ago, GeeBee said:

I have used AIC Title Service both times. Excellent service and results. Create an Escrow account. I usually deposit the entire purchase in escrow to leave the seller no doubt, I am serious. That also motivates the seller in delivering the airplane for pre purchase and repairing any discrepancies because there is a big fat carrot out there that he knows is real. He also knows, that failure to perform per the contract, will result in withdrawl of that money.

Thanks for the lead.  I emailed King and no response.  Called AIC and have a proposal in my inbox.  Appreciate the tip on the full amount in escrow.  I've offered that to him.   

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3 hours ago, NJMac said:

Appreciate the tip on the full amount in escrow.  I've offered that to him.   

I offered full amount into escrow and he declined, doesn't even want a deposit on the plane.  Seems like such a laid back, honorable fella.  I have to pinch myself when I asess this situation.  Seems too good to be true. 

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On 4/8/2021 at 3:27 AM, NJMac said:

Any recommendations for a title search and escrow service to use for a person to person aircraft transaction?  

Guy claims to own it outright, I claim to have funds in bank.  Seems like an easy transaction but wondering about any back end gotchas. 

Also, would you always put a plane thru a pre purchase inspection, no matter what?  

I used Aerospace Reports.  They are promoted by AOPA, and I was pretty happy with them.  They helped out with a lot of little things that could have turned into complications.  They did both the title search and escrow service.  I can't remember how much they charged for the escrow, I think it was something like 0.6% of the purchase price (don't quote me on that)

Edited by jaylw314
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4 hours ago, NJMac said:

I offered full amount into escrow and he declined, doesn't even want a deposit on the plane.  Seems like such a laid back, honorable fella.  I have to pinch myself when I asess this situation.  Seems too good to be true. 

Hopefully it is honor and not a reason. There is a reason it is called “earnest money” and it applies to more than the buyer.

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I sold a piper warrior a few years ago that had been in our family for 40 years (my fathers plane, then mine, then my son).  The buyer was a first time buyer.  I recommended he get a title search and I wanted the transaction to go thru escrow.  Turns out the title had an issue where the person who sold the plane had signed the transfer document as a ‘SR’ but had purchased without ‘SR’.  Cost me $500 to resolve, but I was glad to get a clean title for him.  

He didn’t want to pay for a pre-buy because he knew my mechanic so I went over all quirks and potential issues (e.g., soft right brake, etc).

everything worked out fine for both of us.  Lee

 

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18 hours ago, GeeBee said:

Hopefully it is honor and not a reason. There is a reason it is called “earnest money” and it applies to more than the buyer.

Mind expanding what my risks are?  Guess I could be out the PPI costs if he backs out.  Is there more? 

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On 4/8/2021 at 6:27 AM, NJMac said:

Any recommendations for a title search and escrow service to use for a person to person aircraft transaction?  

Guy claims to own it outright, I claim to have funds in bank.  Seems like an easy transaction but wondering about any back end gotchas. 

Also, would you always put a plane thru a pre purchase inspection, no matter what?  

The ‘guy claims to own it outright’ but the title may not be clean.  I would get a title search even if I didn’t get a PPi.  Lee

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One of my clients had a title come up tainted, but purchased it anyway because the lienholder was a bank that went under in the derivative wealth distribution scheme a few years ago. Since then, the plane was resold to a MS member and ample discount given to get the title made whole by a barrister. The original owner was a straight shooter and let this all be known upfront, however and no one was blind sided. The original debt was pd just no one was home to release the lien 

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