What's with the "buying and then reselling" mentality of late?

[KRviator]

So I'm still actively hunting for a decent family 4-seater, and in my time I've noticed several aircraft that have been purchased, and then 6 months, maybe 12 months later, are re-advertised for from their new owners...

VH-PJO, a Rockwell Commander is one, now sold 4 times in 24 months, VH-PKZ, a Comanche 260 is another, she was sold last year and has now popped up again, and also in the Comanche lineup is Howard Reiss' beautiful Twinkie, that was sold for $160,000 at the beginning of this year, and is now for sale again, initially listed for $175K (PLUS GST!) and has now been dropped to $160K - still plus GST though! 

Is it the interest rate rises, or are people buying these and finding they're a lot more work than they first thought? In -HPR's case, she looks well cared for, but desperately needs a diet, but for a few others, I'm genuinely curious as to why someone would buy a well-over-6-figure airplane, and then sell it again less than a year later. Any suggestions?

[Blueadventures]

Maybe upgrades, detailing, equipment replacement or maintenance performed increases the price above the past buying price.    Need to do a thorough check of things.

[spenaroo]

maybe its the pilot that has done his bucket list trip, and decided the plane isn't practical to keep

not much point having a touring plane if your not using it.

been done for a few years with adventure motorcycles, buy it - do the big trip and sell without loss of value.

Edited September 20, 2022 by spenaroo

[facthunter]

It's easy to check what's happened in the log books.. Maybe the owner did his sums after the purchase?   Nev

[RossK]

IMHO, for some pilots, aircraft such as these are aspirational items.

And after purchase, maybe the reality of ownership sinks in, and the aircraft only gets used to it's capacity 5% of the time.

The other 95% of the time, the Warrior, RV-7 or 172 they had previously was ideal and significantly less to keep.

[Bosi72]

I've heard a story about a guy who bought a brand new LandCruiser around $70k just before Covid (yes that was the base model price back then) with clause to wait 12 months for the car to arrive.

The guy patiently waited, then a year later, a dealer rang him and told the car arrived, however immediately offered $100k buyback for the same car. 

The guy wasn't very interested in selling, however he posted an ad on some online sites with "make an offer" option.

He got flooded with offers and the highest was around $140k.

 

Some people change cars/bikes/boats/planes like socks..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kununurra]

So Bosi72, 

did he sell? 

[Bosi72]

24 minutes ago, Kununurra said:

So Bosi72, 

did he sell? 

His thought process was he wanted a Cruiser, already waited for a year, so decided to keep it..

 

If that was me, I'd be buying a 2nd hand ute, plus an aeroplane 🙂

[Jerry_Atrick]

Not after the taxman got his grubby mits on the profit 

[KRviator]

I can somewhat relate to @Bosi72 and the 'cruiser sale. I brought a new Cruiser in 2020, decked it out, drove it for a year and promptly sold it after being thoroughly unimpressed with pretty much everything about it, except its' performance off-road. Didn't make a killing, but we did break even on it. Put the $$ on the mortgage and used the balance to buy the KRviatrix a new Prado, and that's a keeper...

From what I've seen with these aircraft listings, there's little-to-no improvements in any panels or maintenance, with the exception of the Commander - that has had ADS-B fitted between sales so I can understand the $$ difference there. The Comanche's have had nothing done from what I can see. I just can't get my head around buying something so expensive before finding it doesn't suit your mission.