Honor among theives (or pilots)...

[Jesse]

Originally Posted by JonJay

You might consider a broker. They make a fair living as a professional buyer/seller of aircraft. The fee may very well cover the time and frustration of trying to do it yourself. I know folks who use brokers so they don't have to deal with all of the tire kickers, no shows, abusive people, liars, and cheats. That's what you pay them for.

That's why I broker planes, but only if I have flown the plane and have it in my possession. I can weed out the tire kickers, and I can answer all of the questions people ask. There are always tire kickers, but when someone is serious, I write up a sales agreement that is agreeable to both the seller and the buyer and there is a deposit (partially non refundable unless something unairworthy is found that I didn't realize). Otherwise tire kickers get a free look, which is unfair to the seller and potential buyers who are serious. I also have no emotional attachment. I have seen sellers lose sales because a potential buyer didn't like so,etching about the plane and the seller was offended. I always tell He buyer what I like and what I don't like about the plane I am selling, what I would change if it was mine, end so on.

I have never had a seller or buyer that wasn't happy with that service.

I also often provide transition training, service, repairs, upgrades and mods on he planes I sell or do Prebuy inspections on.

[RV7A Flyer]

Originally Posted by Toobuilder

And nothing says "commitment" to me stronger than a wad of cash.

Or dope dealer.

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

This is really the other side of the coin for me. There are so many *(&@&*^* tire kickers out there that I'm on the side of "whoever puts money in my hands first gets an airplane" camp.

But, yeah, maybe make that clear on first contact.

[CubedRoot]

Originally Posted by RV7A Flyer

Or dope dealer.

Which doesn't matter an ounce to me, so long as he has cash and is willing to pay my price for the airplane.

I have bought and sold a lot of "toys", some with high price tags, with cash. I don't know how it could have been any easier. Not to mention, I don't have to fool with any banks to get access to that money later on. My wife and I sold a BMW to a couple in the parking lot of a Starbucks with cash. They found the car on craigslist, agreed to meet us at Starbucks, and I had the car sold and the deal completed before my wife finished her cup of coffee. We walked over and had a steak at a nearby steakhouse then ubered home. Took the money 2 days later and paid cash for a nice boat, which I also sold about a 18 months later for cash, right at the boat slip. Then took that wad of cash a few months later and bought a 172. It never hit a bank, or any other sort of FinCen. I dunno how it could have been easier.

Of course, that's my own anecdotal experience and I don't deal drugs :-)

[RV7A Flyer]

Originally Posted by CubedRoot

Of course...I don't deal drugs :-)

Neither do many of the people who get tens of thousands of dollars in cash seized by the cops (federal or otherwise) every year.

Just *having* that amount of money on you makes it suspicious enough, apparently, that they can seize it. And good luck getting it back.

Want to make it even more suspicious? Carry the cash on board a commercial plane, with a one-way ticket...you're on your way to buy the plane, but to DEA, you look like a dope dealer.

Hey, I'd love to do all my transactions in cash (having been the victim of credit card/identity theft a time or two, it's a PITA), but...

Just saying that there is a downside to all-cash transactions no matter what is being bought or sold, it's not a panacea nor is it a way to avoid any and all risk, and people should know that.

As mentioned, depositing more than 10K in cash triggers a notification to the feds, and who knows what they do, but now they're looking at you to see what you're up to (and no, breaking it up into multiple deposits of < 10K doesn't help, and is itself illegal).

[Larco]

Since we seem to be getting way off into left field. IMHO
Even leaving Government out of it, Posting about doing a lot of big cash deals opens up another can of worms, like the ones who might show up one day wanting to take it from you??? Because somehow the wrong person heard about it.
In my book, nothing wrong with cash dealings but why not keep it to yourself so you don't have to worry about the word getting out???

Just food for thought.

[DonFromTX]

I bought my first aircraft back in 1967, like 50 years ago. It used to be that aviators seemed to be of only the very highest character, I never even heard of such problems back then. Since then I have been taken to the cleaners multiple times. One came over 1000 miles, flew my plane all day, then said it was a great plane, and if I still had it a year from now he would consider buying it! Another was doing a pre-buy/annual and changed his mind mid sale, leaving me with an aircraft in pieces and a mechanic that wanted some cash for what he had done.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by RhinoDrvr

2.) How much money are you guys generally talking? I was offering 10% of the asking price, but I'm obviously not okay with $7k-$10k bring non-refundable.

Nobody has mentioned this yet, but "non-refundable" generally means if the buyer backs out they don't get their deposit back. If the seller backs out, however, they are obligated to return the deposit. Otherwise, the seller could just line up half a dozen people, take their deposits, and then back out of all the sales and keep the cash. So in the case of the OP, when the other buyer showed up with the "sack of cash" (or whatever), he got the plane. But the OP got his deposit back.

3.) Do most of you skip organizing a pre-buy to make a quick purchase? That's a risk I just am not willing to take; especially with a homebuilt airplane.

As a rule? No. But you'll have to play each situation by ear, and evaluate whether you really want the airplane regardless of condition, or whether you want to know the condition intimately before you buy. I almost bought an RV-4 sight-unseen (except for photos) due to the large quantity of high-detail photos showing everything I wanted to see in person anyway. Unfortunately, that fell through as there were a dozen others looking at the same plane, and it looked like it was going to get into a bidding war.

[Xkuzme1]

I had this happen to me from a sleaze ball guy in 3GV in Kansas City. I ended up getting much nicer plane for a better price with fewer hours.

[Toobuilder]

Originally Posted by Snowflake

Nobody has mentioned this yet, but "non-refundable" generally means if the buyer backs out they don't get their deposit back. If the seller backs out, however, they are obligated to return the deposit. Otherwise, the seller could just line up half a dozen people, take their deposits, and then back out of all the sales and keep the cash. So in the case of the OP, when the other buyer showed up with the "sack of cash" (or whatever), he got the plane. But the OP got his deposit back...

Id like to think this is common courtesy and obvious, but you are probably right to mention it.

A non refundable deposit does at least two things:

1. It establishes the buyer as "serious" and

2. It partially offsets the potential lost sale if you turn a cash buyer away.

That said, if I take a deposit from you and nobody calls or looks at the airplane during your "deposit period" (have not suffered a loss), then you are most likely getting it all back, regardless of the reason for backing out. But thats just how I roll.