by Janice Wood
General Aviation News
11/18/2009

Renowned airpark expert Dave Sclair recently posted on
LivingWithYourPlane.com a brief rundown of some of the discussions he had
with pilots at the AOPA Aviation Summit about airparks. The good news? The
airpark market seems to have hit bottom and is showing signs of recovery.

Here’s what he wrote: Fortunately, I was able to speak with a number of
airpark developers as well as individuals who are currently living on
airparks or looking for a place to purchase. A couple real estate agents
who specialize in homes on airparks were also on hand for me to share ideas
with.

One developer from Texas said he had sold three lots during October alone
and business had held up quite nicely during the last year.

Another airpark developer explained that while his business had been quite
slow during the last year at his upscale airpark, recently traffic had
increased tremendously with more lookers than had shown up in a long time.
As a result, he said airpark lot sales totaling more than $2 million had
closed in the last 90-day period.

Two real estate brokers specializing in residential airparks told me they
had experienced ongoing sales activity during the last year.

Not every report was as glowing!

One individual explained that his development was at the stage where the
entire infrastructure was in place except paving the runway. He said there
had been only a few people showing up to examine the airpark and none of
them had made an offer for a lot. He planned to hold up on the paving
project until he saw more definite prospects in the near future.

Fortunately, he said finances weren’t a problem for him although he would
like to get back the $1 million he and partners have invested to date.

He asked what course of action I would suggest and I offered him a couple
scenarios:

* Run some fire sale ads, I said. Tell people the status of the airpark and
indicate you’ve slashed lot prices because you are under bank pressure to
get some action.

* The other option from my viewpoint is to sit tight and hope that things
will turn around in his area in the next year and he can sell lots then.

One other idea I mentioned was to build a spec house so prospective buyers
see there is some construction underway.

After thinking of the ideas for a day, he came back and said his plans for
the foreseeable future are to sit tight and wait for the market to turn up.
I can’t argue with that idea, as long as his finances are acceptable. I’ll
be looking forward to hearing from him a year from now!

Regardless of the current sales pace, it appears to me that there is still
a lot of interest out there among potential buyers and developers.

I had one fellow send me an email asking where he could find property that
would allow him to moor his ocean-going yacht and have an adequate runway
near by. I mentioned his needs to a couple of real estate agents from
Florida and both said they had the perfect spot for him and would contact
him.

Like most people in aviation, I’m an optimist and it appears to me things
have hit bottom in the residential airpark business and things are moving
forward again. From conversations at the AOPA gathering, I think my
optimism is not misplaced.

Lots of people are out there looking for bargains, trying to find those
whose finances are stretched beyond their capabilities. That certainly is
one area where potential buyers are showing up but from most of the folks I
visited with they don’t seem to be ready to cut their prices just to sell a
house.

Our past surveys indicated most airpark residents are middle aged or above,
well established in their business or profession and financially upper
middle class. More often than not their kids are gone and their living
expenses are down. They don’t have to sell!

The net result is that residential airpark property probably is and will
remain a good investment into the future, at least from what I’ve seen and
heard.