Jay wrote:

I'm taking my PPL and trying to locate a decent/depedable 152 to purchase
rather than keep renting.

Try Vicky of Vermont. She's high, but has a good rep. Also get "plugged in" to
the community at your local airport. The best deals don't get advertised much
(if at all). Hang around the airport and listen to hangar tales a bit. Let
people know you're looking. I would probably be flying a Bonanza now if I had
done that when I got my PPC.

Also how many hours on the TTAF time is too many before problems arise.

You can keep one of these planes going about forever, but you will find that
other people will be reluctant to buy a plane with more than about 6,000 hours
on it. That means that it may take you a while to sell it when the time comes.
Keep an eye on the ads for these high-time school planes you're looking at and
see how long it takes them to get rid of it. Sooner or later, you'll be in the
same boat.

It seems most flight schools are selling around 9k-10k hours?

I would avoid one being sold by a flight school unless it has a mid-time engine
and has required little engine work during the last run. Schools usually keep
a spare engine so they can do a fast engine swap when they hit TBO. If they
decide to sell the plane at TBO and have a lemon engine, that's the one that'll
wind up in your plane.

You can expect to put a few thousand into a school plane for cosmetic stuff,
and the avionics will probably be functional antiques, but the prices are
usually discounted accordingly.

George Patterson
If you're not part of the solution, you can make a lot of money prolonging
the problem.