I've had a plane for sale for a while now, I have had several offers. One that I wanted to pursue, a couple of low balls, and a full price.
The one I wanted to do was a trade, we exchanged logbooks, I researched his plane's history, spent a considerable amount of time working on logistics of how to trades planes on opposite sides of the country. Then silence, he was supposed to come look at it, but had gone silent, I called and left a message. A day later he calls back and says he didn't want to part with his plane.
The full price agreement was a 6 month goat roping. First he said he'd buy it full price, I said great, when are you going to come look at it? He replied that he wasn't going to, but wanted me to fly it 1000 miles to deliver it. I agreed to deliver it for no cost, that we'll get the transaction done, and for him to make sure his insurance would cover me while I flew it there. He said he doesn't insure planes and would buy it when the plane got to him, and "if its what you say it is, i'll give you full price. I didn't like that idea, but agreed to do it if he sent me a 10% non-refundable deposit. He refused. Deal was off, until he called me a couple weeks later and said he'd buy it for full price if I'd fly it to SoCal, about a 3 hour flight away. He was difficult with the scheduling, demanding it be there on a certain day when his guy could look at it. But, then I call his guy and he can't do it that day, but could on a Sunday. We made a tentative plan, I called the buyer and said that I could get it there, I asked for a $1000 deposit to cover my costs should he decide he didn't want it. ( I live 800 miles from both locations). I gave him wire instructions and told him that I needed to see the deposit by end of day thursday next week or I wouldn't leave home on Friday. I had a 3 hour drive to an airport, then two flights, then a $250 uber to get to the plane. Wire never showed up and I didn't hear from him. Fast forward 4 months, and his guy calls me saying that they want the airplane, I send photos of the log books, he says he wants to come look at it in about 3 weeks. 2.5 weeks goes by and I call to see if he's going to look at it. He says he is, but suggests that I pay for his expenses to come look at it, a 1.75 hour flight in a friends 172. He says its a done deal, they will pay me my listing price, which is now $15k lower than 4 month earlier. He says he has an escrow account set up, that I need to contact them and give them my information. I call the escrow company, there is nothing more than an account pending, all they have is the tail number. All they need from me is my phone number and email. Escrow company needs a deposit before they will do anything, and have to have all the buyers information, which I do not have. And a signed purchase agreement. I call the buyer's guy and we discuss the transaction, he suggests that the payment will not happen until I deliver the airplane for free to Socal. I shut that down, I will not deliver it to california until AFTER they own it, and at $15k under starting price, I will not do it for free, my cost would likely be about $2000. It takes 3 days and I finally get a purchase agreement, they want me to pay half of the fees, delivery is mentioned in 4 places in the contract, and there is a clause that I guarantee the airplane to be airworthy, current airworthiness certificate, current condition inspection, that the log books are complete and accurate, and that all service bulletins are complied with. I call him up and ask why he put that I have to pay half the fees, we had agreed that if they wanted an escrow company that they would pay for it, we discussed once again that I would NOT deliver it, and that I will not sign a guarantee for logbooks and everything else. They had already verified that it had an airworthiness certificate, he had seen every log entry including the most recent annual. After a less than friendly conversation he agreed to make the changes to represent our discussion, and professed that the deposit was already wired. Toward the end of the day I get an email with the revised purchase agreement, it still has me paying for half the fees, still says delivery in every spot except one, and still has the clause about log books and airworthiness. I sent him a text and ask why he sent me another purchase agreement that did not represent what we had discussed. I got a reply text that they will now only give me $115k, another $5k less, and will take possession on Monday, when he came to look at it. We then had a heated phone conversation and I very unprofessionally told him I would not sell it to them. There had never been a deposit wired to the escrow company, and it was now after hours on Friday, there was no money in the escrow account.
Another offer was a Piper Aztec trade. Through email, I told the Aztec owner that I would only trade if I could readily sell his plane for at least $120k. He called me frantically excited, proceeded to tell me that he had his Aztec listed for $140, and wouldn't take less than $130. In describing his plane he left the best for last, one engine was past TBO, but "still runs great".
Had one straight up cash offer of $80k. He admitted it was really low, but that's all he had.
One offer to trade a J-3 and a breezy and cash. But when I inquired about how much cash, I never got an answer. And I sure don't want a breezy.
There is one super low ball offer yesterday, that I declined, but then hours later the guy said he wanted to look at it anyway. Then blew up my phone with insults and inuendos to the tune of probably 20 texts, when I said he couldn't pull it out of the hangar and run it. I am not at the airplane, there is another airplane in front of mine that would have to be moved as well. I didn't feel comfortable letting someone I have never met, and don't like (from the arrogant condescending phone calls and texts), move two planes in and out and run mine without me or someone I know there to observe. The only person there is a neighbor that will open up the hangar, he knows nothing about my plane.
