Is there an easy way to buy an aircraft?

I am a curently a comericial student that is looking to buy a light
single to build time in and for the short family flights. I am having a
problem finding financing due to a lack of a large down payment (due to
school cost). Is there an easy way to buy or am I just S.O.L. untill I
get the down payment???? Please help.... Thank You

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In article ,
Jim wrote:
I am a curently a comericial student that is looking to buy a light
single to build time in and for the short family flights. I am having a
problem finding financing due to a lack of a large down payment (due to
school cost). Is there an easy way to buy or am I just S.O.L. untill I
get the down payment???? Please help.... Thank You

It's not difficult to buy an airplane (easier than selling I bet!). It
can be tricky to find the right one to buy.

If you mean "easy" as in "cheap", well, if you can't afford a 20% down
payment there's no way you can afford to own an airplane. A 152 is
$20-25k. At any moment something could go wrong to cost $4000 (ie
down-payment-sized) in maintenance.

I'll probably catch some flak for this, but I think if you buy a light
airplane you should be *able* to buy it for cash, and then you should
get a loan because the cost of money is so low right now. If you get
a loan because you *need* it (on anything other than brand new) you're
not going to be able to fly and maintain it.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

"Ben Jackson" wrote in message
news:jMbKb.754827$Fm2.700654@attbi_s04...
In article ,
Jim wrote:
I am a curently a comericial student that is looking to buy a light
single to build time in and for the short family flights. I am having a
problem finding financing due to a lack of a large down payment (due to
school cost). Is there an easy way to buy or am I just S.O.L. untill I
get the down payment???? Please help.... Thank You

It's not difficult to buy an airplane (easier than selling I bet!). It
can be tricky to find the right one to buy.

If you mean "easy" as in "cheap", well, if you can't afford a 20% down
payment there's no way you can afford to own an airplane. A 152 is
$20-25k. At any moment something could go wrong to cost $4000 (ie
down-payment-sized) in maintenance.

I'll probably catch some flak for this, but I think if you buy a light
airplane you should be *able* to buy it for cash, and then you should
get a loan because the cost of money is so low right now. If you get
a loan because you *need* it (on anything other than brand new) you're
not going to be able to fly and maintain it.

I agree with Ben. I purchased my plane when I had the cash available and
some extra for repairs, reserve, etc. I am finally in a financial situation
that I will pay cash for any vehicle or any other purchase. If I can't
afford to pay cash, I won't buy it until I can.

"Sven" wrote in message
news:BteKb.740641$HS4.5672719@attbi_s01...
I agree with Ben. I purchased my plane when I had the cash available and
some extra for repairs, reserve, etc. I am finally in a financial
situation
that I will pay cash for any vehicle or any other purchase. If I can't
afford to pay cash, I won't buy it until I can.

Well I disagree. I look at interest as an insurance payment for keeping my
cash liquid in the bank rather than tied up in an asset. A
slowly-depreciating asset like an airplane or a car is a totally reasonable
thing to finance. If you want to be more conservative you can say you want
to make sure you never owe more than the asset is worth at wholesale value
(what car dealers call being upside-down) but the point is similar.

If you want to look at where people really get into trouble, the first place
is when their free cash flow becomes insufficient. You avoid this by not
buying more crap than you can afford to. But if you screw up here, you can
still come out OK if your assets are worth more than your debt, and you can
buy your way out. When you can't do that, then you're pretty well snookered
and you won't have any credit lines to worry about for quite some time. My
personal rule is to not finance anything worth less than $2000, because I
tend to think pretty seriously before spending that kind of money.

Best,
-cwk.

"Colin Kingsbury" wrote in message news:M_CKb.28510
Well I disagree. I look at interest as an insurance payment for keeping my
cash liquid in the bank rather than tied up in an asset. A
slowly-depreciating asset like an airplane or a car is a totally reasonable
thing to finance.

My airplane is not depreciating at all. A (new) car has a rather rapid
depreciation. There are a lot of people out there that never get
positive equity in a car.

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
m...

My airplane is not depreciating at all.

If you factor in ownership costs I doubt anyone ever makes money owning a
plane. On the other hand quite a few people use the plane for many years and
sell it for close to what they paid for it, perhaps even coming out a little
ahead. In this regard they are vastly superior to boats or sports cars which
easily depreciate in the teens.

A (new) car has a rather rapid
depreciation.

A new anything has rapid depreciation. There is a huge difference in the
market between "brand new" and "1 day old." It can easily be larger than the
difference between 3 and 4 years old.

There are a lot of people out there that never get
positive equity in a car.

The first few years everything is against you- rapid depreciation times
compound interest pretty much buries you. But if you buy a car that has good
resale value on a 5-year loan, the lines should start to cross after 3 years
or so. Of course if you buy a Ford/GM/Chevy and the manufacturers are
offering 0% financing and gazillion-dollar rebates then you're going to be
SOL for a while.

Where most people screw up is they buy a cheap car that depreciates fast and
feels and looks old after 2-3 years, then they go out and get a new one. If
you buy a nice car up front, it won't only hold its value longer, you won't
feel so pressed to dump it.

-cwk.

-cwk.

Ben Jackson is right on target. If you purchase an inexpensive
airplane, it will be an old one. I've discovered owning a 69 Arrow
that even with a low time airframe there is a constant flow of things
that have to be fixed.

I'll probably catch some flak for this, but I think if you buy a light
airplane you should be *able* to buy it for cash, and then you should
get a loan because the cost of money is so low right now. If you get
a loan because you *need* it (on anything other than brand new) you're
not going to be able to fly and maintain it.

I agree. If you can't afford to buy it in cash, you're courting trouble
when the inevitable "oh, ****" repair happens.

Actually, the best possible scenario is one in which you personally loan
your company the money to buy the plane.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
I'll probably catch some flak for this, but I think if you buy a light
airplane you should be *able* to buy it for cash, and then you should
get a loan because the cost of money is so low right now. If you get
a loan because you *need* it (on anything other than brand new) you're
not going to be able to fly and maintain it.


I agree. If you can't afford to buy it in cash, you're courting trouble
when the inevitable "oh, ****" repair happens.

I disagree. I borrowed because the money was cheap and also because it
is home equity, therefore deductible. I will not be grounded because of
money.

I agree. If you can't afford to buy it in cash, you're courting trouble
when the inevitable "oh, ****" repair happens.

I disagree. I borrowed because the money was cheap and also because it
is home equity, therefore deductible. I will not be grounded because of
money.

Please note: I did not say "Don't take a loan". I said "if you can't afford
to buy it with cash, you're courting trouble".

I took out a loan AND I could afford to buy it with cash, for the precise
reasons you (and others) stated.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"
"Newps" wrote in message
news:K3AKb.300117$_M.1713611@attbi_s54...


Jay Honeck wrote:
I'll probably catch some flak for this, but I think if you buy a light
airplane you should be *able* to buy it for cash, and then you should
get a loan because the cost of money is so low right now. If you get
a loan because you *need* it (on anything other than brand new) you're
not going to be able to fly and maintain it.