Before you buy

Working with a broker, and how to tell a good one

A good broker earns their fee several times over on the right transaction. A bad one is a salesman with an aviation vocabulary. The difference shows up in the first conversation if you know what to listen for.

8 min readUpdated September 2026Jeff Broomall · ATP

Aircraft brokers work either side of a transaction, and which side matters enormously. A listing broker works for the seller and is paid by the seller — usually a percentage of the sale price, sometimes a flat fee. A buyer’s broker works for you, and is paid by you. A broker cannot serve both interests in the same transaction, however friendly they are to everyone involved.

That sounds obvious written down. It is routinely forgotten in practice, because the listing broker is the pleasant, knowledgeable person answering all your questions, and it is easy to start treating them as your advisor. They are not. They are competently doing a job for someone else.

When a broker is worth it

The aircraft is expensive enough that a percentage fee is small against the risk of getting it wrong
You are buying a type you do not know, where the specific things that go wrong are not obvious to you
The aircraft is remote, or overseas, where import, registration and inspection logistics get complicated fast
You want access to aircraft that are not publicly listed — a real broker knows owners who would sell for the right number and have never placed an advert
You are selling, and do not want to field calls from tyre-kickers for six months

For a straightforward fixed-gear single that you can go and look at yourself, with an A&P you trust and time to do it properly, a broker is often unnecessary. That is not a criticism of brokers — it is the honest scope of what they add.

What a good one does

Screens aircraft before you ever see them, so you are not flying to look at something a phone call would have ruled out. Reads logbooks properly and tells you what is missing. Knows which shops do good pre-buys on that type and which do not. Has seen enough transactions to know what is a negotiating point and what is a walk-away. Manages escrow, title and the FAA paperwork so it does not fall on you. And — this is the underrated one — tells you when to walk away from an airplane you have fallen for.

The single best testAsk a broker to talk you out of the aircraft you are most excited about. A good one will find the three things wrong with it without hesitating, because they have already thought about them. One who only agrees with you is selling, not advising.

Questions to ask before you engage one

Who pays you in this transaction, and how much — get it in writing, as a number, not a percentage range
How many of this type have you transacted in the last two years?
Do you or any company you are connected to have an interest in this aircraft?
Can I use my own mechanic for the pre-buy, at a shop I choose?
Which escrow and title company do you use, and are you connected to them?
Can I speak to two buyers you represented in the last year?

The third question matters more than it looks. A broker who owns the aircraft, or whose company does, is a dealer — which is a perfectly legitimate business, but it is a different relationship and the pricing conversation works differently. Ask it plainly and take note of any hesitation.

Warning signs

Pressure on timing — "there is another buyer" may be true, and is also the oldest line in the business
Resistance to your choice of pre-buy mechanic, or steering you toward a shop they recommend
A fee structure that is vague, or that changes once you are engaged
Logbooks that will be available "at the inspection" rather than now, as scans
No willingness to put representations in the purchase agreement that they made verbally
Deposits paid to the broker rather than into escrow

Deposits go to escrow, not to a personThis one is non-negotiable regardless of how well the conversation has gone. Money moves into a neutral escrow account that releases on defined conditions. A deposit wired to a broker or a seller directly is money you may have to sue to recover.

If you are selling

A listing broker typically takes a percentage, and the argument for one is time rather than price. Selling privately means photographing the aircraft properly, organising the logbooks, writing an honest advert, answering a lot of unserious enquiries, and hosting inspections. A broker absorbs all of that and reaches buyers you cannot.

What to insist on: a written agreement with a defined term rather than an open-ended one, clarity on whether the listing is exclusive, and agreement on how a buyer you introduce yourself is handled. That last point causes more disputes than any other.

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