Question for the group - - - --

If someone (Savvy, perhaps?) offered sellers a "unbiased prebuy" where the seller pays, the results are posted on Savvy's website, and then you tell all the buyers to look there and ask questions to Savvy... Then all your buyers can benefit from 1 pre-buy and if they like what they see they can arrive with a check rather than arriving with a mechanic.

Is that a service you'd pay for? Seems like it would save a lot of hassles and headaches if someone had the reputation to support an "unbiased prebuy" that is shown to all buyers. I suppose the seller could give prospective buyers a password so the results would not have to be public.

Feel better?

I had a great experience selling my Archer, I got full asking price within 1 week of listing. Maybe didn't charge enough, but then again I had a great experience.

I was fielding calls from all over the region, and had several people planning trips to see the airplane. Then I had a local buyer, a successful middle-aged man who was learning to fly and arrived with his CFI to check out the plane and logbooks.

I decowled the plane, they looked around with a flashlight, and the CFI asked a couple of questions such as, "when was the last time the vacuum pump changed". I was able to answer and show in the logbook, and after a few questions it was clear I know the recurrent items and had done them on schedule.

The buyer left me a $1000 deposit to hold the plane on a Saturday, then that week we met at his local bank for the closing. It was no harder than selling a boat.

One very key point was that the buyer was going to use the same mechanic I was using for his annuals and maintenance going forward, so there were not going to be any surprises where the "new mechanic" found things the old mechanic did not.



Worked out for me.

"Hire a professional, do an inspection, and fix unairworthy items."

Sounds like an annual to me. Savvy would be no more unbiased than any other shop - when the seller pays, the seller controls the results.

The reputation of Savvy notwithstanding, when the seller pays for the prebuy, by definition Savvy is working for the seller. Most buyers will probably have a hard time getting over that.
Having said that, it doesn't cost the buyer a dime, so in today's market where sellers are dictating unrealistic prebuy terms and in some cases no prebuy allowed, this would be somewhat of a compromise.

If you can’t sell an airplane in today’s market and walk away happy you are either a poor seller or have overpriced the airplane.

As someone who appears to have made the maggot list, I will say that after spending 7 hours round trip that day travelling to see it, we didn't quite get all of the warm and fuzzy feelings you want when buying an airplane for that much money along with the additional investment required to bring the aircraft up to the standards we would like. Particularly the firm stance on not having the airplane looked at by a mechanic anywhere other than your hangar.

And you were handed $250 cash after the 50 min flight to cover the fuel burned.

Posts like these definitely validate the decision to pass.

My comment was not intended to imply anything nefarious with the aircraft however I was rubbed the wrong way by the mention of the 17,500’ flight as, at least according to FlightAware, the only time the aircraft has been that high in the past few months is with us.

I can confirm the aircraft has very tight pressurization and everything functioned safely during our flight.

It also ended up not being what we were looking for.

I wish you good luck with the sale but it isn’t exactly hard to find posts like these even without the N number attached to them. I was aware you were a Beechtalk member even before we met with a simple search and I imagine many other potential buyers perform similar searches so they know who they are meeting.

Condescension about my age is also not relevant to the discussion.

Anyone else feel like we all just took a shotgun blast to the face??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Jr2jkbfzk

The way I see it from my chair, I disagree. I believe it contributed to your post. Your jab was to insinuate something wrong with the potential transaction or my plane. That's why you mentioned it. There was no hard line drawn about the pre-buy. It has been mentioned with all prospective buyers that I greatly prefer the plane does not leave my hangar. Bring your mechanic and look all you want. Which is still a risk of being left with a plane in pieces in my hangar. You mentioned nothing at your visit about this being an issue. Your post mentioned needing additional investments to bring it up to a certain standard. However, you didn't mention if you are talking about the engines, which is the only thing that my plane needs and why it is priced the way it is. The plane is in incredible condition with paint, interior and avionics, along with the logbooks and no damage history, all ADs complied with. It has flown a lot and it has had a lot of money in maintenance spent by, at least, the past three owners. There is nothing wrong with the engines the way they are and plenty of life to make well past next annual or two from my viewpoint.

There have been multiple test flights and many people I have met at the plane and a lot more talked with on the phone. I actually told you and your father when he first tried to pay for fuel, that I didn't want the money, that I felt bad accepting that since you guys had just flown in your plane to look at my plane. The $250 was appreciated in contributing towards the fuel on our hour flight.

Okay, I give up. How do you guys put the YouTube video in your post?

This thread ought to be eye-opening for any potential buyers of the subject 421 in terms of what they'd get to look forward to in dealing with the seller...

My intention with this post was not to upset anyone personally, mentions names or infer members or insult the community here. It was to vent a little and to have some stories shared, to get me over the hump here trying to sell a plane and dealing with buyers. Based off of several posts here I think some have taken this as a personal attack rather than humorously sharing of some of the ridiculous BS I've heard with a relatively small amount of people.

I don't believe the intended effect is taking place. So I'd like to ask a BT Mentor / Mod to remove the thread. Thanks and I apologize for anyone feeling like they've been personally attacked or "shot in the face."

Sorry guys and gals!

I appreciate this community too much to cause any more strife.

yep

my father-in-law, a wise man, had a sign hanging behind his desk that said "The customer is NOT always right, but he IS always the customer"

Okay, I give up. How do you guys put the YouTube video in your post?