Originally Posted by
Tralika
The EAA has some pretty good information on just what your looking for. Go to the EAA homepage, open the Education & Resources tab on the top of the page, open the Videos tab on the left side of that page and do a search for "BUY". You'll find multiple videos about buying Amateur Built Aircraft. I'm guessing it will take you several hours to watch them. That may sound like a lot of time so you'll have to determine how valuable your time is. The information could save you thousands of dollars and months of frustrating wasted time.
If it were me, I would ignore the time since the last condition inspection and have a new inspection done by someone that does not know the seller and has never worked on the plane. Negotiate your deal with the seller making sure he discloses all deficiencies he knows of. Find a competent A&P or better yet, IA that will perform the inspection & is prepared to sign off the aircraft as airworthy in the log books. Have only the inspection done. If any deficiencies are found that is the time to decide if you want to re-negotiate with the seller. If something is required that costs a few bucks to correct you might want to pay for it yourself. If something is found that will cost hundreds or thousands to correct either the seller can pay all or part of it, or you walk away from the deal. It may cost you a few hundred dollars for the inspection but you won't be buying a multi-thousand dollar problem. If everything goes well with the inspection either you or the mechanic can perform what ever maintenance is required and then the mechanic signs you off with a new condition inspection. NEVER believe a seller that says an airplane has a fresh annual or condition inspection and everything is OK. No reason to be rude but proceed as if everything they say is false until proven differently. Good luck.