What single-engine plane is easiest to sell?

My 172 was officially for sale for about a week before I had signed the bill of sale.

Not quite 120KTAS, but it is below 50k and we actually sold it for significantly more than we paid for it.
 
DavidWhite said:
My 172 was officially for sale for about a week before I had signed the bill of sale.

Not quite 120KTAS, but it is below 50k and we actually sold it for significantly more than we paid for it.
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And, because this is possible, consider a newer one at $200 to $300K. If inflation takes off in those two years, it could still be sold for what you paid or more while you enjoy the newer technology...
 
DavidWhite said:
My 172 was officially for sale for about a week before I had signed the bill of sale.

Not quite 120KTAS, but it is below 50k and we actually sold it for significantly more than we paid for it.
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That's the kind of info I'm looking for. What's selling, and what's not. Or what's taking 9 months, vs what's taking 3 months. (I think 3 months would be reasonable, to sell a plane.)

Obviously that's a function of how you price it, but.... I wouldn't go buy a Baron (or a Duke or any light twin no matter how sexy it is), hoping to be in and out in 2 years.
 
skidoo said:
And, because this is possible, consider a newer one at $200 to $300K. If inflation takes off in those two years, it could still be sold for what you paid or more while you enjoy the newer technology...
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The difference is that the newer one is still depreciating, so it's influenced by that as well as inflation and market fluctuations. The old plane is all depreciated out.
 
The time required to sell is almost totally dependent on market conditions, aircraft condition and asking price. If the answers are good, good and reasonable, a the seller can reasonably expect a relatively short exposure time. Any other combination of answers, especially selling price, can extend the time line to infinity. During the downturn, 1,000+ days weren't uncommon.

IndyTim said:
That's the kind of info I'm looking for. What's selling, and what's not. Or what's taking 9 months, vs what's taking 3 months. (I think 3 months would be reasonable, to sell a plane.)

Obviously that's a function of how you price it, but.... I wouldn't go buy a Baron (or a Duke or any light twin no matter how sexy it is), hoping to be in and out in 2 years.
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IndyTim said:
That's true, to a point. But surely the market is more liquid for some planes rather than others, given the same theoretical value-to-price ratio.
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Nonsense. I could sell any flying, certificated airplane today by pricing it for $1, probably in less than 10 minutes. That is a highly liquid market. What you think is less liquid is just that the owner's desired prices exceed the market's willingness to purchase.

Liquidity is the wrong word.
 
It is hard to give someone advice as tend to default to our own ideals.

Implied in your request is "gain hours"

I bought a $20k Cherokee ran it on mogas at half the coast of avgas on average and then sold it 1100 hrs later. I took a 20% decrease in sales over 7 years or so. With maintenance and annuals costing less than $10 per hour fuel $20 per hour, I do not know of any cheaper flying.

110 knots, 5hrs 50 minutes, 933lbs useful load 50 gallons 48 useable. When I sold it, I never even had to run a single advertisement because I set the price low to move it. Sold through word of mouth to local flight school.

I think the next best deal would be an Arrow 180 hp bird as you will still have reasonable maintenance, 135 knots, 10 gph avgas and all your time will be complex which may help insurance when comes time to move to A36.

In that same vein RG177 Cardinal.

One last thing, do not equate asking prices with value. Nearly all listings on tradeaplane and elsewhere are at least 35-50% over any reasonable sales price and some are 100% over priced IMO. Find a broker to work with or at least subscribe to aviation pricing guides so you at least know who is asking 250% value of the plane....

I also like the idea of a Tiger. Had my first plane been a tiger I wouldn't have upgraded so quickly.

PS if you buy a trainer type (Cherokee/Arrow/172/RG177) they will always have a fast selling comodity price for quick easy selling since many flight schools use them. Or you could sell it to someone like me who just wanted a commodity plane until I got my feet wet in aviation.
 
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I have trouble with the premise that buying an airplane does OP any favors here. Why not rent for 2 years? Rent anything and everything. Sample the whole buffet, don't just take a plate of chicken nuggets.

There are several areas that even rent Bonanzas and other comparable makes.

Offer to right-seat and split time with a local Angel flight chapter, pilots n paws, or whatever the tax-break-cause-du-jour is in your area.

I think the huge unknown of buying a plane, then being forced to sell it later, could really sour anyone on aviation. The process is fraught with landmines for a new aviator, and it does seem to punish those who are not well-armed with information beforehand.

$0.02
 
The simple answer to this question is: The one that's priced right! There's a buyer out there for virtually any airplane if it is priced right.

That said, the lower end of the market probably has the broadest appeal...C150/172, PA-28-140 thru -181
 
schmookeeg said:
I have trouble with the premise that buying an airplane does OP any favors here. Why not rent for 2 years? Rent anything and everything. Sample the whole buffet, don't just take a plate of chicken nuggets.

There are several areas that even rent Bonanzas and other comparable makes.

Offer to right-seat and split time with a local Angel flight chapter, pilots n paws, or whatever the tax-break-cause-du-jour is in your area.

I think the huge unknown of buying a plane, then being forced to sell it later, could really sour anyone on aviation. The process is fraught with landmines for a new aviator, and it does seem to punish those who are not well-armed with information beforehand.

$0.02
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All, I appreciate the thoughts. I have requirements which I have not fully gone into here that make the renting situation untenable.

I allowed this thread to deviate (as threads do) from the original purpose, which was simply to identify which planes sell the fastest. That's information that would be useful to me in making my decision.

If there is a tabulated summary of used aircraft sales somewhere out here on the internet, I'd appreciate it if someone could point me to it.

Based on input here, as well as what I already know, seems like the best-selling planes that meet my minimum requirements look something like this (this won't be a surprise to anyone)

- C172 or C172/180
- C177 or C177/180
- PA-28

Planes that would be very cool to have, but more in the $50-60k price range (I'd be tempted to stretch):

- C182
- Grumman Tiger
- Mooney M20F (I'd want the rear seat room)
- Debonair, but it won't be a great example for less than $60k

Planes definitely to avoid, no matter how tempting, since they have low liquidity unless I want to a take a very deep bath:

- Bellanca Super Viking
- others?

Does anyone believe that any of the three cool planes (Tiger, M20F, Deb) would be difficult to move, if priced reasonably? I'm not that worried about the 182, but I haven't been watching the market long enough to get a sense for the other ones.

Does anyone have data showing that prices have stabilized, or are they still falling?
 
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IndyTim said:
Planes that would be very cool to have, but more in the $50-60k price range (I'd be tempted to stretch):

- C182
- Grumman Tiger
- Mooney M20F (I'd want the rear seat room)
- Debonair, but it won't be a great example for less than $60k


Does anyone believe that any of the three cool planes (Tiger, M20F, Deb) would be difficult to move, if priced reasonably? I'm not that worried about the 182, but I haven't been watching the market long enough to get a sense for the other ones.

Does anyone have data showing that prices have stabilized, or are they still falling?
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I have looked at Mooneys and the gotchas seem to be leaking (weeping?) tanks (expensive to fix) and the prop AD (replacing the hub gets rid of the AD, I think). It is hard to find a good example of a M20F. I looked at about three of them in your price range and all of those would have been a money pit (there really aren't that many out there). I suppose if you are patient and keep looking you might find one, but I flew 150 miles to go look at one and the broker had completely lied about the condition (imagine that). The plane had sat for 3 years (pencil whipped annual and they flew it to the broker's hangar). Also, the tach had been replaced (clearly in the log book) and he was stating it was a low hour airframe and claiming the hours on the tach (he didn't even update the ad, after I called him on it).
 
LDJones said:
Beautiful plane, but I doubt they will get anywhere close to their price.

A friend owns one and it's a great flying machine.
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If I was absolutely certain I'd never have to sell it, I'd be very tempted. It's a lot of performance for the money.

I'd just be sure to keep the termites away from it.
 
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