Selling my plane, while looking for another emotional rollercoaster.

A month or so ago I decided to sell my nice C-180J and floats and go back to Tube and Fabric.
Something smaller, lighter, and slower on landings.
So of course I was triggered by a couple PA-12s that I was really in love with...
BUT,,, those showing interest in my plane must have sensed I was on a time-line, so they
hmm and hawed,,,, until the 12s were gone..
Now that it is windy and frozen outside, my potential buyers suddenly seem to be in a big hurry themselves.
And of course I have nothing I am in a hurry to buy..

I can see that it might be a good idea to never tell anyone "why" you are selling one of your aircraft. They all ask..

Alex Clark said:

I can see that it might be a good idea to never tell anyone "why" you are selling one of your aircraft. They all ask..

Click to expand...

Then they silently don't believe you. They "assume" you are hiding something. Or they have their mechanic do a pre-buy over the phone. Some tire kickers are so hot to trot, they send their buddies to gloat over your plane. Then leave telling you they will be in touch one way or the other. Crickets! Many people don't recognize a good deal when they see one. That's their loss.

I sold my Super Cub in one day - convinced me that the Super Cub even in these times is as liquid as an S&P500 stock



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I'm selling my Acroduster. So many tire kickers I wonder why anyone has any toes left in their boots......

My C-180 is a factory Seaplane, and I have floats rigged for her.
But after all these tire kickers ask 200 questions about everything, they announce they do not want
the floats or rigging because they are not SES qualified, never will be and have no interest in floats.
To me, keeping a seaplane stuck on tires is a huge sin.

I went through this just before the Covid-19 lockdowns started up... Decided to sell both my Champion 7ECA and the Bearhawk Patrol kit I was building, and purchase an "already completed" RANS S-6. Listed the Citabria in Barnstormers, and it sold on the second day it was listed. Posted the Patrol in the Bearhawk forums, and got a call within 30 minutes from a guy who definitely wanted it and wanted to send a deposit to lock up the deal. Within the next 48 hours, I had at least six other people wanting to buy the Patrol kit...

So, with both planes sold, it was time to find my "new" airplane... Just before I made the decision above, there were LOTS of the Coyotes listed for sale, but of course when I was actually "ready to purchase" there were only a couple of really old, really raggedy ones available. Patience, grasshopper... Between the dearth of "good" listings and the Covid-19 lockdowns, I didn't get my new plane for a while... Five months seems like an eternity when you can't fly – or at least go to the airport and polish your spinner. (It's also kind of a bummer to be paying $645 a month hangar rent with nothing in it...)

But eventually I found and purchased a really nice plane, and am enjoying it immensely.

I guess the moral is: Price them right, and they sell pretty quickly. Price them wrong, and... crickets. Unfortunately, as is likely the case with the Acroduster, an unusual airplane may generate a lot of calls from people who are just daydreaming about owning one.