Broker vs. cash buyer: the real numbers on a $200k airplane sale.
"Selling to a cash buyer means you take less money." That's the line you'll hear from anyone with skin in the brokerage game. It's also incomplete. Let's run the actual math on a $200,000 piston single in two different scenarios — turnkey, and not-quite-turnkey — and see where each path lands.
Scenario A: A turnkey 1979 Cessna 182, fresh annual, mid-time engine
Broker path
- List price: $215,000 (broker pads for negotiation)
- Actual sale price after negotiation: $200,000
- Broker commission @ 9%: −$18,000
- Holding costs for ~5 months on market: hangar $400 × 5 = $2,000; insurance $1,800 prorated = ~$750; total −$2,750
- Pre-buy hassles (avg one fall-through requiring touchups): −$800
- Net to seller: ~$178,450 after ~5 months
Cash buyer path
- Cash buyer offer: $180,000–$190,000 (typical range — turnkey commands closer to retail even from a cash buyer because we have less rework to do)
- Commission: $0
- Holding costs in the ~7 days to close: −$100
- Net to seller: ~$180,000–$190,000 in 7–10 days
Winner on turnkey: often a wash to slight advantage to the cash buyer, with massively less time and risk. If your airplane is genuinely turnkey AND you can afford the 4–8 month wait AND you're confident the deal won't fall through, broker can edge out by $5–15k. If any of those conditions don't hold, cash buyer wins.
Scenario B: Same airplane, but out of annual 3 years and 80 hours since last flight
Broker path
Most brokers won't list this airplane until you put it back in annual. So the costs front-load:
- Fresh annual + return to service on long-sit: −$12,000 (cylinder rework, hoses, brakes, battery, etc. — see our annual cost breakdown)
- Now the airplane is "broker-ready" at maybe $195,000 list (down from turnkey because it's a former hangar queen with a story)
- Sale price after 6 months on market: $180,000 (assume buyer chips on the long sit)
- Commission @ 9%: −$16,200
- Holding costs through annual + listing (~9 months): −$4,500
- Net to seller: ~$147,300 after ~9 months — assuming no deal fall-throughs and no surprises in the annual
Cash buyer path
- Cash offer on as-is condition: $150,000–$165,000 (we underwrite the cost of the return-to-service that you'd otherwise pay)
- No annual required, no rework before sale
- Net to seller: ~$150,000–$165,000 in 7–10 days, with the option to walk away from the airplane and the hangar lease tomorrow
Winner on distressed: cash buyer, almost always, by $5k–$20k on net — and several months of your life back. Most owners don't realize how much the front-loaded annual cost flips the math against the broker path.
The hidden variable: deal fall-through risk
The broker scenarios assume the first sale actually closes. In reality, 20–30% of broker-listed aircraft deals fall through at pre-buy or financing. Each fall-through costs you another 1–3 months of holding costs and often a few thousand in re-listing photography, mechanical fixes, or relisting fees. We've seen distressed airplanes go through 3 listings before closing.
Cash buyer offers don't have financing contingencies. They have inspection contingencies (we want to confirm the airplane matches what you said), but those rarely kill deals — at worst they renegotiate price by a small amount if there's a real surprise.
When the broker is actually the right choice
Three situations where you should genuinely consider a broker:
- Turnkey, in annual, low-time, well-documented, popular type, and you can wait 6 months.
- Rare or specialty aircraft (warbirds, certain experimentals, vintage classics) where price discovery requires a broker's network and patience.
- You have a specific buyer or audience in mind that the broker can reach.
When cash buyer is clearly right
- Out of annual or with recent damage history.
- Estate sale where the executor needs to distribute funds.
- Owner with lost medical or life circumstance making fast exit valuable.
- Hangar costs eating you alive.
- You just don't want to live with this transaction for 6 months.
Want to see where your specific airplane lands on this spectrum? Get an offer and use it as data. There's no commitment — you can take our number to a broker for comparison if you want. Most sellers end up with our offer in hand and accept inside of a week.