Fnding plane value?

mscard88

mscard88

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Looking at planes along the C172-82 PA28 class and wondering where you find values at, market values. One guy has a nice '65 Cherokee but about 1500 on the engine and I think 4-500 since TOH, good avionics and nice paint and interior. He's in the $40s range. Seems high for hi time engine and year.

Are there any 'free' sites where one can find a general idea of the value? Thanks.
 
When I was buying, the only way I determined value was to look at as many airplanes as I could, sorting out equipment/year/hours and going from there. After looking for a while, it's not too hard to tell if the starting price is fair or not. Some are reasonable for what's in the airplane, and some of these guys must be drunk when they set the amount. But, those usually sit on the market, and sit some more.
 
Yeah this Cherokee mentioned above has been on the market for awhile. Been looking at Barnstormers too which helps.
 
fiveoboy01 said:
When I was buying, the only way I determined value was to look at as many airplanes as I could, sorting out equipment/year/hours and going from there. After looking for a while, it's not too hard to tell if the starting price is fair or not. Some are reasonable for what's in the airplane, and some of these guys must be drunk when they set the amount. But, those usually sit on the market, and sit some more.
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That.
 
mscard88 said:
Yeah this Cherokee mentioned above has been on the market for awhile. Been looking at Barnstormers too which helps.
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I would be wary of an airplane that has been sitting for sale for a long time:

Price too high/not negotiable
Seller difficult to deal with
Damage history, missing logs
Misrepresented condition

Etc etc....

Fairly priced aircraft in good condition don't sit on the market long.
 
fiveoboy01 said:
When I was buying, the only way I determined value was to look at as many airplanes as I could, sorting out equipment/year/hours and going from there. After looking for a while, it's not too hard to tell if the starting price is fair or not. Some are reasonable for what's in the airplane, and some of these guys must be drunk when they set the amount. But, those usually sit on the market, and sit some more.
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This.


You have to become the "Blue Book".

Call on everyone you are interested in. keep track of the prices, hours, equipment.

I learned quite a bit from the ones I "just missed" and were sold. Some of those sellers were pretty free with letting me know what price they actually sold, and what the condition was.


Go to Trade A Plane, search for the model you want, then Sort "Price:Low to High". That can give you a good relative ranking of prices.


Years don't matter too much on older planes, some of the versions are more preferrable than other versions, depending on evolution of the design.
 
Do your comps from the trade papers,and web sites. Aopa has vref available to members,it's not that reliable.
 
As others have said you have to do your own market analysis... I put engine, damage free, solid logs and avionics ahead of everything.
 
If you want to fly it, its usually a better idea to pay more up front for what you want and go for high quality--buy a creampuff--than it is to get a low price on one that needs fixing. Fixing airplanes is full of hassles. Pilots want to fly. Now if you WANT to fix it up, well that is different. Realize too, that planes probably dont sell for those asking prices. Not that often they dont. So offer maybe 10% less??? Well you can always try. You will get a low offer accepted more often if its been on the market for a while.
 
Thanks everyone. I really want a C 182 but they are up there.
 
AggieMike88 said:
It's a start... but not totally reliable.
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Understatement.


mscard88 said:
Thanks everyone. I really want a C 182 but they are up there.
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These are one of the few planes where you can find ones with a turd engine, buy it cheap, get a overhaul from someone like heart of Texas, and end up with a nice plane for a decent price. 182s really are plentiful.
 
Here is my 172 http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88329
I had it on Barnstormers for sale or trade and got very discouraged when looking for something else. Our 172 is VERY nice and well taken care of. We went and looked at a few airplanes that look good in the picture but total junk in person. We wanted a 182, Bonanza, Super Viking or something faster. Even the orange and white 182 at Van Bortel that looks like new in the picture is a pile of crap. I had a buddy look at it and said the wings were beat to crap and repaired with bondo!
We kinda decided to keep the 172 after looking at crap because it will cost us $90,000 to $100,000 to upgrade and get something as nice as we have.
I will still sell the 172 but the price is firm...
 
mscard88 said:
Thanks everyone. I really want a C 182 but they are up there.
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James331 said:
These are one of the few planes where you can find ones with a turd engine, buy it cheap, get a overhaul from someone like heart of Texas, and end up with a nice plane for a decent price. 182s really are plentiful.
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Older ones can still be a good bargain. Talk to Tim Winters about his late 50's model.

And James is correct that if you find a solid airframe with older panel and runout motor, you should get it for a low price. Then budget for a new motor (Pponk or an upgraded one from Texas Skyways) and you will be very happy. Yes, you might be back to the "up there" pricing, but with a top performer that you will enjoy for a very long time.
 
pigpenracing said:
Here is my 172 http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88329
I had it on Barnstormers for sale or trade and got very discouraged when looking for something else. Our 172 is VERY nice and well taken care of. We went and looked at a few airplanes that look good in the picture but total junk in person. We wanted a 182, Bonanza, Super Viking or something faster. Even the orange and white 182 at Van Bortel that looks like new in the picture is a pile of crap. I had a buddy look at it and said the wings were beat to crap and repaired with bondo!
We kinda decided to keep the 172 after looking at crap because it will cost us $90,000 to $100,000 to upgrade and get something as nice as we have.
I will still sell the 172 but the price is firm...
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Nice looking plane and low time on engine, decent avionics from what I can see. Does it have an IFR certified GPS? Thanks.
 
It is the good 150HP engine..
The 172N had the N suffix 160hp engine with issues.
It has a Garmin 696 which is not ifr certified.
 
pigpenracing said:
Here is my 172 http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88329
I had it on Barnstormers for sale or trade and got very discouraged when looking for something else. Our 172 is VERY nice and well taken care of. We went and looked at a few airplanes that look good in the picture but total junk in person. We wanted a 182, Bonanza, Super Viking or something faster. Even the orange and white 182 at Van Bortel that looks like new in the picture is a pile of crap. I had a buddy look at it and said the wings were beat to crap and repaired with bondo!
We kinda decided to keep the 172 after looking at crap because it will cost us $90,000 to $100,000 to upgrade and get something as nice as we have.
I will still sell the 172 but the price is firm...
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Wow.... For some reason I always thought that firm only bought and sold cream of the crop planes...
 
N801BH said:
Wow.... For some reason I always thought that firm only bought and sold cream of the crop planes...
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If I don't get $52,000 I will keep it. My son is almost 13 and it will be good for him to get his ticket.
I had a guy come 800 miles to look at it last week and offered me $50. I told him no so he didn't buy it... Oh well.
There is not anything nicer for $52,000 that is clean and has a fresh motor.
I still like the 172 but also like my J-3 and Pitts Model 12 so I am not selling because I am bored.
When I gotta go faster the Pitts will go about 215 mph wide open :)
On 46 gallon per hour. Lol
 
N801BH said:
Wow.... For some reason I always thought that firm only bought and sold cream of the crop planes...
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I will sell you my cream of the crop Pitts Model 12 for $225,000 firm if that makes you feel better. 2010 model with 87 hours since new.
 

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pigpenracing said:
If I don't get $52,000 I will keep it. My son is almost 13 and it will be good for him to get his ticket.
I had a guy come 800 miles to look at it last week and offered me $50. I told him no so he didn't buy it... Oh well.
There is not anything nicer for $52,000 that is clean and has a fresh motor.
I still like the 172 but also like my J-3 and Pitts Model 12 so I am not selling because I am bored.
When I gotta go faster the Pitts will go about 215 mph wide open :)
On 46 gallon per hour. Lol
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Sounds like a great plan sir.......
 
pigpenracing said:
I will sell you my cream of the crop Pitts Model 12 for $225,000 firm if that makes you feel better. 2010 model with 87 hours since new.
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I LOVE the 12..... I knew the Kimballs 35 years ago... Great family...
 
Their are a lot of planes out their, some are great some no so great. Advice around is worth what you pay for it, some is great some just out of touch with reality. Buy the best plane you can not the one you think you can make into the one you want. One thing you can count on is if you buy a pile of junk by mistake you will pay for it one way or another.
 
brien23 said:
Their are a lot of planes out their, some are great some no so great. Advice around is worth what you pay for it, some is great some just out of touch with reality. Buy the best plane you can not the one you think you can make into the one you want. One thing you can count on is if you buy a pile of junk by mistake you will pay for it one way or another.
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I agree... You can burn up lots of cash quick traveling looking at junk.
We learned a few weeks ago when we looked at some airplanes. We decided the 172 is 10 times nicer than what we were seeing and I pulled my add from Barnstormers. I had a guy wanting to trade me a Cessna 210 straight across. 2200TT and 400SMOH. It looked beautiful in the pictures. We flew there planning to trade and fly the 210 home. It was dented up and beat with hail damage. The guy told us he owned the plane for 4 years but never saw hail dents until we showed him. I about lost my freaking MIND!
 
Have been following the Van Bortel web page,not all their planes are that great,but they seem to be priced accordingly.. They realy make out on the trade price,that they offer on the inventory. Never heard any bad reports on their dealings.
 
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