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.

If you can't afford to buy it, how are you going to afford to fly it?

Mike
MU-2


"Jim" wrote in message
...
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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Partnership with one or two people. Sharing the costs is nice and you, nor
they, can fly every day.


Trip

In article ,
says...

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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Add a newsgroup interface to your website today.

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.

"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.

Jay Honeck wrote:

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

I disagree. In fact, the only time you're courting trouble is if you use up most
of your ready cash buying the plane. Whether you take out a loan or not, it's
important to have a few thousand available for repairs. The more expensive the
plane is, the more you should keep back for emergencies. My rule of thumb is that
10% of the aircraft value should be a sufficient emergency fund.

George Patterson
Great discoveries are not announced with "Eureka!". What's usually said is
"Hummmmm... That's interesting...."