Exactly, having sold over 30 planes and rotorcraft I can assure you,
the vast MAJORITY will show up wanting to talk or get a ride. You can
weed out tire kickers on the phone. I typically ask how they intend to
pay for the plane or heli and do they intend to buy NOW. Your Tcraft
guy may have had a month of tire kickers to deal with. I have required
a pre buy deposit to be refunded off purchase. It saved me a hell of a
lot of time and it has NEVER killed a sale. Tell the guy you aren't a
tire kicker and offer to escrow the money. Chances are, if he thinks
you are serious, and let's face it, it's not a King Air, he's going to
forget about the deposit.