One of the best ways to hasten the sale of your aircraft is to make it look attractive to potential buyers. If you’ve sold a home or commercial property your real estate agent has probably given you a list of items to fix or clean up in order to draw more buyers to your door. Selling an airplane is no different.

Many of us maintain our aircraft well yet we fail to keep the records organized. Often, we’ll let the interior of our six or seven figure airplane get dirty and worn yet we’ll keep our much cheaper car immaculate. Sometimes we’ll even let the bug splatter on the leading edges accumulate to the point of looking like a high-density insect graveyard. Buyers look at these things – often subconsciously -- to determine whether or not they want to investigate your airplane further. No matter how well you think you’ve maintained the airplane or how much you believe “this is the best XYZ aircraft on the market,” if it lacks basic ramp appeal potential buyers will pass it by…quickly.

Selling your airplane should involve your commitment to spend some money on the front end. Reasonable expeditures – and maybe some elbow grease – will go a long way to increase marketability. At the very least, you should:

• Wash and wax the exterior
• Vacuum the interior and have any stains removed
• Clean the interior sidewall panels and headliner
• Mend any fabric rips or tears
• Clean the windows with streak-free aircraft glass cleaner
• Remove any fingerprints from instrument and avionics faces
• Clean the engine compartment
• Ensure struts and tires are serviced properly
• Make sure all components (radios, lights, systems, etc.) operate correclty
• Change the oil

Organize your records and provide a detailed log of service bulletin and airworthiness directive compliance.

If you really want to make your aircraft attractive and increase your chances for higher offers:

• Touch up paint blemishes, irregularities, nicks and chips
• Replace worn and/or cracked trim components
• If available for your aircraft, change out rust prone fasteners with stainless steel hardware
• Replace fading, dull, or cracked light covers and lenses
• Replace worn tires
• Have prop(s) dressed and painted
• Service worn leather and re-dye if necessary
• Replace worn carpet panels.

Will your airplane sell without doing these things? If it’s priced right, probably. The real question is how much longer will it take and what kind of offers will you get if they aren’t done? Every additional day your airplane is on the market is an extra day you’re paying fixed costs. A little time and money spent now will help you avoid those extra costs later.