Hi guys.

I'm ready to bite the bullet and start actively looking to purchase a plane. My budget is around $25k which seems to be a pretty good match for a Model IV 1200 with a 912. I'd love to get a model 5 or higher but I think they would be out of my budget and I'd like to keep the cost low because I plan on self insuring before I get some time accumulated.

So when looking at a plane what questions are key questions to ask the seller? What should I look out for?

I am a very mechanically oriented person and would have no problem looking at cars or boats but these are completely new to me. I'm going to use it to learn on with the end goal of eventually putting it on floats. I've got time accumulated in a 172 but have decided that the ELSA route is most attractive to me right now. I have flown a couple model IV KF and really think they are a good match for me.