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While I don't disagree with the above, let me offer some hope based on my experience.
There are occasional opportunities, where a person HAS to sell and you can pick up an aircraft at, say, $20,000 under market value. Eight years ago, after selling my first Skymaster, I bought my 337G with half-time engines, updated avionics and maintained by the Ohio State university FBO for $71,000, when market was close to $100,000. But I was without an airplane for about 6 months, looking for such an opportunity (the seller had been using it for business and had already bought a larger aircraft to accomodate growth, so the Skymaster was just a liability on his balance sheet) and I negotiated hard.
If you have mechanical skills (or a friend who does) and lots of time, and can use some of the tips in this forum to buy parts, you may be able to find an aircraft with some deficiencies that can be brought to a satisfactory standard at a total price within your budget. The trick here is a) to make sure you know exactly what's wrong (that you are later pleasantly surprised when there is LESS wrong than you thought, and not the opposite) and b) to leverage the deficiencies to reduce the price BEYOND what the deficiencies suggest (take market value, deduct for repair of the deficiencies at full FBO labor/parts rates, and deduct another $20,000 for uncertainties and for the fact that in its current condition the aircraft attracts 90% less buyers).
But both of these examples still require that you find an expert to determine condition and, in the second case, the remedies and the resources to accomplish them. End result should be a fully airworthy aircraft, not an accident waiting to happen.
Ernie
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