Buyer's agent?

[Jackk]

26 minutes ago, Mufflerbearing said:

In my experience, buying the buyer is more important than buying the plane.  There are many stories here of buying just the plane and even doing what they thought was a thorough PPI only to have the plane down for years getting major things fixed that were either not disclosed or purposely overlooked so the pretty plane could be sold. 

 

I’ve seen quite a few where a shop just takes a ignorant owner for a ride, the bills say steakhouse airplane, the inspections says McDonald’s 

[Echo]

On 11/19/2025 at 4:56 PM, varlajo said:

"Complete major overhaul at FAA approved facility" is such a lovely way to say "field overhauled", isn't it?? 

Wa worse than an engine over halfway to tbo...My bad  

[Mufflerbearing]

1 hour ago, Jackk said:

I’ve seen quite a few where a shop just takes a ignorant owner for a ride, the bills say steakhouse airplane, the inspections says McDonald’s 

I'm so glad that you agree with me!  There are so many stories about shops missing or intentionally missing things because they are supporting their client, the seller.  When you get to know what kind of person the seller is, then you have a potentially good idea the shape of the plane.  

[Jackk]

1 hour ago, Mufflerbearing said:

I'm so glad that you agree with me!  There are so many stories about shops missing or intentionally missing things because they are supporting their client, the seller.  When you get to know what kind of person the seller is, then you have a potentially good idea the shape of the plane.  

 Sellers and buyers are liars till proven otherwise 

Trust but verify all the things when it comes to aviation [and life]

 

 still if you’re not happy to get elbows deep in airplane for the prebuy and every annual, you’d be best to just be a renter 

Edited November 21, 2025 by Jackk

[MikeOH]

15 hours ago, Jackk said:

People say this but don’t really mean it, otherwise all the high dollar planes would be 10,000hr planes and the planes with <8,000hrs would be bargain basement prices.

To be correct your comment assumes that is the ENITRE life history of the aircraft is one of disuse, or continuous use.

My point is from the perspective of a CURRENT buyer.  IMHO recent use is a good indicator of the aircraft's future reliability (no, NOT indefinitely!).  Regardless of whether the plane has been sitting in a hangar or out on the ramp (worse) for three years, I'll take the plane that has been flown consistently over that same three years.

[Jackk]

9 hours ago, MikeOH said:

To be correct your comment assumes that is the ENITRE life history of the aircraft is one of disuse, or continuous use.

My point is from the perspective of a CURRENT buyer.  IMHO recent use is a good indicator of the aircraft's future reliability (no, NOT indefinitely!).  Regardless of whether the plane has been sitting in a hangar or out on the ramp (worse) for three years, I'll take the plane that has been flown consistently over that same three years.

 So you’d want a plane that sat and thus doesn’t have like 10,000hrs, but recently flew a lot, that’s going to be a tuff find.

 

What bad thing do you think a plane sitting in a proper hangar with good care causes? 
 

It’s odd, I can build a engine, put it in a corner of my hangar and let it hang out for a few years and it’s a 0 time valuable item, bolt it on to a plane and put it in the same corner and now it “sat” and is worth scrap value to some.

 

 It’s a funny OWT in aviation the “sitting airplane”

[Bolter]

24 minutes ago, Jackk said:

 So you’d want a plane that sat and thus doesn’t have like 10,000hrs, but recently flew a lot, that’s going to be a tuff find.

 

What bad thing do you think a plane sitting in a proper hangar with good care causes? 
 

It’s odd, I can build a engine, put it in a corner of my hangar and let it hang out for a few years and it’s a 0 time valuable item, bolt it on to a plane and put it in the same corner and now it “sat” and is worth scrap value to some.

 

 It’s a funny OWT in aviation the “sitting airplane”

If you improperly stored an engine in the hangar then put it on the airframe and called it zero time, that would be misleading if not dishonest.  I think we would all value an improperly stored engine (preservative oils, sealed bag) as a corrosion case, as well, if we knew.  Once installed on the airframe, there is a record of age and use where it was not pickled and sealed up.  

[MikeOH]

1 hour ago, Jackk said:

What bad thing do you think a plane sitting in a proper hangar with good care causes?

The key phrase there is, "with good care".  That's really the point, I suppose: A plane that's put away in a hangar, or parked on the ramp, is highly UNLIKELY to have been given any care whatsoever.  And, yes, I'd take an older aircraft with low or high time that had been continuously flown over the past year over one that had sat in a hangar for the last decade!

Honestly, I'm beginning to think you're just arguing to 'win the internet' or something

[Jackk]

3 hours ago, MikeOH said:

The key phrase there is, "with good care".  That's really the point, I suppose: A plane that's put away in a hangar, or parked on the ramp, is highly UNLIKELY to have been given any care whatsoever.  And, yes, I'd take an older aircraft with low or high time that had been continuously flown over the past year over one that had sat in a hangar for the last decade!

Honestly, I'm beginning to think you're just arguing to 'win the internet' or something

Uh no

Some planes sit because life happens and their owners took great care of them, some fly regularly and have a ton of shade tree crap done on them and are slammed into the runway on every landing, unfiltered carb heat on air in dirt strips for ground ops, long descents with the power out because someone thinks shock cooling isn't a thing, etc etc  and vise versa

Judging a plane because it's regularly flown vs a plane that doesn't fly much, might as well just read tea leaves

Edited November 21, 2025 by Jackk

[TravelingIA98]

Hey Jordan! Check out our business www.barefootaviation.com. We offer pre-purchase inspections and buyers agent services at reasonable prices. We are mooney owners, pilots, and IAs and would love to help! We've helped many Mooneyspace members find their dream planes! Give us a shout (904) 362-7645

[varlajo]

3 hours ago, TravelingIA98 said:

Check out our business www.barefootaviation.com

I cannot recommend Owen and Barefoot Aviation enough. He performed a comprehensive PPI of my E, and I ended up buying a great airplane. 

[Pinecone]

It looks like the first one is trying to get most of what he put into it.

The avionics are nice, but typically sell for, at best, the cost of the equipment, nothing for install, which is easily half what he paid.

The engine is high time, so figure the cost of a GOOD overhaul.

If in the East, our own @jetdriven can help review logs and do pre-buys.  He was very helpful in my first time buying process.