| Technically I'm done, and I've given you the process we went through. |
| But not really done. Remember in the needs matrix and the finding
process you make trade-offs. Well, for me, part of the trade-off
package was deciding what I really wanted in the airplane vs. what
I could find, and seeing if I could buy-up after pruchase within
my budget to have, in the end, what I really wanted. |
Before I finalized the purchase I got solid estimates for the
things I wanted to have on any 231, that I would have to buy for
this specific one
- Speedbrakes
- Intercooler
- IFR rated GPS
- Turbo wastegate
Mod shop gave me estimates for all of these, then strongly recommended
that I do not put the intercooler in. I always pay attention
when people tell me they don't want me to spend my money, so after
discussion I canceled that (and reduced the mod process by $11,000) |
| Resulting work, installing everything listed there plus a bit more,
made the total cost of thsi airplane and the mods I wanted less (by
a good bit, $20,000) that I had been planning to spend at the top
of my range. So I bumped the mods up a little more, and did it. |
Why is this important?
I don't believe it's as easy to spend money on upgrades after a
purchase.
It's both a fiscal and a psycological barrier. You probably saved
up a nice nestegg to use as a downpayment. When you pay for the airplane,
you're not going to have much cash left. And mentally, you're making
one huge investment, making another ($10,000 is not $150,000, but it
is still big) big payment to the airplane a year later is going to
be hard.
Also, being willing to put an additional 20% over purchase price
into the airplane as soon as you buy it allows you more flexibility
in the search/purchase process. Since you know you can spend more,
you're less willing to compromise on a plane because it "has
everything I want but one small problem". You can buy the
plane you want without the problem, but also without a radio that
you want, and add the radio later.
Let it all go at once. |
Other thoughts and answers to questions
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