I appreciate you coming out of retirement for me Roger
But what everyone is trying to convince me of (but mostly themselves) is this:
1. You buy an aircraft that's perfect, but has run out engines for 50K.
2. You replace engines for 70K.
3. You turn around and can now sell for 120K.
This won't happen in todays market.
I think what has skewed everything is that for a very short while, aircraft prices actually appreciated due to a)demand, b) the good times and c) the lack of new alternatives. All those three parameters are no longer there and this has had a profound effect on used aircraft pricing. I know, because I've been a closet buyer for 10 years, it's only now I have the funds.
Add the uncertainty of the SID's, 100LL and no Mogas alternative on top and plain and simple, you're not going to get back what you put into it, at least not a Skymaster (who already was a fish-out-of-water in the used market). This was already stated by Edasmus very early on in this thread, but for some reason nobody jumped him, only me.
I did miss a 336 very recently and I hope it gets re-listed (it didn't sell) again as it seemed like a manageable project for me, I was just not quick enough on it.