For those that have researched air park living, the most common price break is the fixer for $300K and it goes up from there. In my research over the last 6 years while I was caring for my dad, I found a number of air parks that are in the price range of the average Joe.

Last week I drove to 7 Bays, Washington to look at a couple of homes, and made an offer on one. The Realtor hadn't mentioned the seller took out a 2nd on the property and wanted more than market. He has a renter and has positive cash flow, so he refused my offer. In the long run this was a good thing, but that was a long drive to come up empty. 7 Bays is right on Lake Roosevelt with its 650 miles of shore line. Below are some pictures of the place I put an offer on and the area.













I just got back from a even longer drive in the opposite direction to Columbus, New Mexico. For the aviation history buffs, this was the 1st Aero Squadron for the US back in 1916. Within one section of land about 3 miles north of Columbus, there are 3 air parks. Hacienda Sur Luna Air Park has a paved and lighted 4800' runway, no HOA fees, and is considered the "high end" of the 3 air parks. All lots are either 2.5 acres or 5 acres, and the last pre-owned home and hangar sold last month for $70K. There is another home and hangar listed at $138K, but with that recent $70K sell, $138K is a stretch. Here is a video of the owner of the $70K home going for a short hop.



The next air park is Windsock Estates and my friend Dick lives there and put me up for the two nights I was there. His is the nicest in this air park and his hangar is 80' X 60' and on 5 acres. He would consider selling at $200K. A few pictures of Dick's home.





The final air park is 1st Aero Squadron Airpark and has the "cheap seats". The last two air parks have dirt/compacted gravel 5200' runways, both in great shape and maintained for free. Also no HOA fees. Dick's first place was here and it has changed hands twice over the years. The current owner doesn't get down much any more but never placed it on the market. Dick asked if he might want to sell it without even listing it and he replied "yes". All Jim wanted was what he bought it for years ago and said $45K~$50K. I split the difference and offered $47,500, and it was accepted, so now I have a home/hangar on 2.5 acres that is rather modest but will serve me just fine. The hangar is 60' X 40' with the home in the back plus a 2nd bedroom as a add on room outside the hangar's foot print. Only 725 square feet of living space, but it is only me. I've met a number of my neighbors, what a great earthy group. Summers aren't as hot as the location would indicate because it is on the southern section of the Continental Divide so elevation is 4200'. Mexico with all the cheap dentists, pharmacies, and optometrists are 6 miles south of the air parks.

My new home/hangar
























I guess the purpose of this long post is for the folks that would like to retire at an air park and be able to do it on the cheap. I met Mary, Steve, Ron, and Dick, the common denominator is to fly on a tight budget. Flying takes 1st seat, ego, social status and keeping up with the Jones's doesn't even get a seat, my kind of folks.

Congrats.

That's impressive, I couldn't pour the concrete for that kind of money where I live!

Really happy for you

Roamer

Congrats!

CamTom12 wrote:Congrats!

X2, that's a great deal and with the nice weather in NM, you should get plenty of flying in. Thanks for posting. That is some good inspiration for the rest of us. I was getting a bit down when I looked with starters priced in the $500k range and they jumped way up from there.

Cool good for you. All the necessities.

Wondering if you researched Mid-Valley Airpark in Los Lunas and what did you think of that place if you did?

Congrats deckofficer! You seem to have done very good! I am also in the market for something similar in warmer climate. I was hoping to get down to the SW this month but have too many pressing issue. Just returned from WA state, and while it is pretty out there, I don't want to deal with the constant rain/humidity of the western side of the state.
AZ, TX, NM are all on my list.

Congratulations. A nice thing about desert airports is that free ground effect energy goes right on out into the desert. I was going to mention West Texas at Horizon City east of ELP but I see on the map it is closed now. I sprayed my fields in east El Paso out of there. Had to pay twenty five cents per gallon for their limited water.

Great find, Glad you found Home!
When you were at 7 Bays, you were about 40 miles south of our strip 82WN
Lots of good people around there.

Thanks folks, I feel good about the purchase. For the 6 years I have been caring for dad I did a lot of research and discovered about 10 air parks total in the 7 Western states that fit my goal of air park living on the cheap.

SixTwoLeemer, some how I missed finding about the air park you mentioned. I bet others would like you to fill in the details about it, I'm curious too.

Awesome! Good for you. It sounds like a perfect place. From where I sit, those blue skies look pretty tempting.

Like the previous poster said, i couldn't pour the concrete for that much where I live.

I liked all the places you showed. Does anybody know if there is a repository of such places to rent? I have some rental property on VRBO but I've never seen a filter for hangar or airstrip. It would be pretty awesome to tour the US hopping airpark to airpark.

albravo wrote:Awesome! Good for you. It sounds like a perfect place. From where I sit, those blue skies look pretty tempting.

Like the previous poster said, i couldn't pour the concrete for that much where I live.

I liked all the places you showed. Does anybody know if there is a repository of such places to rent? I have some rental property on VRBO but I've never seen a filter for hangar or airstrip. It would be pretty awesome to tour the US hopping airpark to airpark.

I've collected a fair amount on inexpensive air parks in the 7 Western states I'd be happy to share. Most were of the dual criteria of also being on or very near a body of water for summer activities. One that was very interesting was right on the Snake River near Melba, Idaho and because of the geo thermal in the area everyone heats both their home and hangar almost free with a well for that hot water. There is a hot springs spa right in the middle that has very low yearly rates for the folks of the air park. A home with hangar goes as low as $150K. It is called Sunrise Sky Park. http://www.sunriseskypark.com/

Congratulations! That's really close to what I'd be looking for if I were in your shoes. Sounds great to me.

Sunrise is a cool place. I'd love to have a place there.

Great info. Would be interested in the rest of your research

Congratulions.
Looks like a great area.

fast eddie wrote:Great info. Would be interested in the rest of your research

How can I help. Are you like me, open to the 7 Western states for a retirement home that doesn't need to be near population centers for work? Are you interested in combination air park and water recreation? Or do you want the best bang for the buck? On the last, at least from my research, the 3 airparks I mentioned in this post are hands down the most affordable. Mary, whose husband Bill passed recently used to own my new place before Jim who owns it now and has agreed to my offer. Dick owned it before Bill and Mary. Long story short, I met with Mary and she believes that her current home would sell for $80K which the living quarters are at least 3 time larger than mine and much nicer. This is how property is generally sold in these 3 air parks, by word of mouth, not a Realtor listing. Dick has a web site on these 3 air parks, Bill is a published writer and has written a lot on how he discovered the area.

Dick's site http://www.hangarliving.com/

Some of Bill's writing scroll down to the last article http://www.columbusnewmexico.com/villag ... living.htm

whee wrote:Congratulations! That's really close to what I'd be looking for if I were in your shoes. Sounds great to me.

Sunrise is a cool place. I'd love to have a place there.

Thanks for the congrats, I've sure enjoyed your posts on this forum. You seem like a guy that loves to fly and would probably enjoy any air park setting. If your broke and still want to fly, come join me in SW New Mexico, these air parks are full of financially challenged, good folks that just love to fly. My kinda of people. I don't think I would fit in the more typical air parks of the well healed.

Thanks for reply. What we are looking for is dry climate cool as possible in summer and not brutal winter. We lived in Denver and found winter there ok and summers were great. Don't want to be much over 6500' elevation. Hour or so away from big city is ok. Access to the backcountry strips for camping etc.

fast eddie wrote:Thanks for reply. What we are looking for is dry climate cool as possible in summer and not brutal winter. We lived in Denver and found winter there ok and summers were great. Don't want to be much over 6500' elevation. Hour or so away from big city is ok. Access to the backcountry strips for camping etc.

We are in agreement as to dry climate with more sunny days both summer and winter. For that reason, the air parks I looked at in the PNW needed to be in the rain shadow of the major mountain ranges to squeeze out the moisture of Pacific storms.

Starting from the furthest north, 7 Bays had the lowest prices but I was there earlier this month and daytime and night time temps were a bit too cold at that latitude. It has a plus though of being right on Lake Roosevelt.

Next would be Diamond Point overlooking the Straits of Juan de Fuca and is in the the same rain shadow of Sequim, Washington so only get 12"~14" of rain per year. Prices also low for what you get.

Then inland by a lot is Desert Aire, and as the name implies pretty arid, still the same low price range of mid 100's to 200's plus has water recreation and a golf course.

Also inland, Lake Billy Chinook State Airport (in Oregon) with homes along the length, and rather remote.

In Arizona, you are probably familiar with the 2 air parks in Salome and the one in Agulia, but not near water recreation and gets pretty hot in the summer.

In my state of California most every air park is $500K and up with the exception of Rancho Tehama but the valley heat of this area might be a bit much. http://ranchotehamaairpark.com/joomla/

Cameron Air Park Estates is where my parents used to live in the 70's long after I moved out as an adult. I really like this air park because it is above the valley fog and well below the snow line, a short drive to Sacramento going west and fabulous Lake Tahoe going east on Hwy 50. I visited friends there recently and have a few pictures. Prices here are far higher than my retirement budget will allow.

Hope this helps.

Cool ride! Tell us about it. What is it? What is in it???

Oh ya,

Congratulations on you new home, way to go! As an airpark guy myself I can tell you, nothing like going out for a nice smooth evening flight right out your back door and coming back for a relaxing "soda pop" afterward. You are going to love it!

G44 wrote:Cool ride! Tell us about it. What is it? What is in it???

Oh ya,

Congratulations on you new home, way to go! As an airpark guy myself I can tell you, nothing like going out for a nice smooth evening flight right out your back door and coming back for a relaxing "soda pop" afterward. You are going to love it!

For Fast Eddie, don't forget to use Zillow and on the main page before you search properties plug in the word "hangar" so the filter will get rid of all listings that don't have that word. Then plug in the commonly mis-spelled "hanger" and you will see those listings.

G44, everything you said is exactly what I'm looking forward to doing. As to my little ride, it is a 1923 Ford Track-T and registered as a 1923 because there is 3" of original frame saved for the build that had the VIN stamped on it. I have run 3 different engines and two manual transmissions over its life. Current engine I had built by Scott Shafiroff, uses a Dart block and is a 427 cid. Very mild build so quite streetable because the output is 525 hp at an easy 5700 rpm. I've had a very peaky, temperamental engine as the first one and just don't care for the raspy, loping idle and lack of low rpm grunt. Since the car only weighs 1790 lbs with a 1/2 tank of gas, the 525 hp is plenty, good for 9.7 in the 1/4. First transmission was a Muncie M21 4 speed, but I built a 350 sbc with a 400 crank for 383 cid and concentrated on as much torque as I could get but more important how low in the rpm band I could get it. Dyno sheet showed 516 lb/ft at 2800 so I replaced the Muncie before I hurt it with a Tremec TKO 600 5 speed with 0.64 OD. This engine gave up a lot of hp (my guess over 120 hp) for that much torque at that low rpm. It dyno'ed 320 hp at 4050 rpm, and that low rpm was the peak, it fell off from there. The engine was a sweet purring pussycat that could pull top gear at 900 rpm up a 6 percent grade at 45 mph. Neither of the other two engines want to do much work below 2000 rpm. Fuel mileage was outstanding with the torque engine, breaking 30 mpg on a flat highway at 65 mph, the 427 gets 17 mpg and the screamer only managed about 12 mpg. I gave you more info than you probably wanted, but the questions you asked I pegged you as a fellow gearhead.