[112012123]

They're worth a good bit less than single-digit millions. For context, you can pick up an airworthy 15 year old 777 right now for ~5 million dollars.

Last time I spoke with a widebody broker a few months ago, an old 747 with no equipment was a smidge less than $100k. Though with COVID, airworthy 747 freighters are 30-50 million....

[ineedasername]

Well, you know what they say: The two happiest days of your life are the day you buy a broken down widebody 747, and the day you blow it up.

[throwawaysea]

This made me laugh. Thank you.

[nathan_f77]

Wow, I would have never guessed that! That makes me think that it might be fun to buy a piece of land and live inside an old 747. I found this video where someone is living inside a Boeing 727: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iat-WgSvGME

Here's another person living in a 727: https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=rKm5oF2p-II

This one has a much nicer interior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdwLlI9abgU

According to one of the comments on the first video, they spent 120k on the plane, and another 100k to move it to the forest. I would probably want to spend another ~300k for renovations and everything else (proper foundation, shower, kitchen, water and sewer lines, etc. etc.)

It's not cheap, but that's a lot cheaper than I was expecting. Especially compared to the average house in an expensive city. I think it might also be a lot more fun than living in a "tiny house".

I recently read this "Why We Don't Like Our Underground House" article that was posted on HN: https://dengarden.com/misc/The-Pitfalls-of-an-Underground-Ho... That was a reminder that doing something unconventional can be risky and cause lots of unexpected problems. So it would probably be a good idea to also spend a lot of money on architects and engineers to make sure that everything is done properly and there's no surprises.

[throwaway0a5e]

A better price break down is probably:

$120k on the plane. $5k to move it into the forest. $95k fee for not having friends with heavy equipment. $200k for making somebody else do the renovating for you. $50k on materials. $50k on markup.

Neither the weight nor size of the plane are astronomical. The square footage to renovate isn't that high either. The reason it costs so much is that it's odd and every time you pay someone else there's a huge cost associated with a one-off and everything about the project is one-off.

[briffle]

There is one by me that is on the roof of a water park. 6 water slides start from the fuselage. https://www.wingsandwaveswaterpark.com/

Of course, it's next door to, and both started by the guy who ran the now defunct evergreen aviation.

[bleepblorp]

I suspect one of the largest problems with converting an airliner into a house would be getting the legal permission to do it.

Obviously, the fact that it has been done means that it is legally possible in some jurisdictions, but it's likely to be an uphill battle--or completely impossible--elsewhere.

Communities that require newly constructed buildings to match the character of the neighborhood likely would never grant permission for an airliner house. Jurisdictions that don't have this requirement would still require building code compliance, which could be extremely difficult to achieve as the technical standards used in aviation are not comparable to those used in conventional construction or mobile homes. At minimum, you'd have major issues with insulation requirements, fire resistance, and emergency egress.

After all of this, you'd still need to find a bank willing to issue a construction loan/mortgage, and an insurer willing to cover the finished product.

$300K might be a very low-end estimate of the costs involved to make everything physically and legally proper.

[xienze]

> It's not cheap, but that's a lot cheaper than I was expecting.

Seems like quite a bit to live in a 747 in the middle of nowhere. Why not just buy an already-built $500K house in the middle of nowhere? It would be bigger and save you a whole lot of hassle.

[microtonal]

proper foundation

I got quite nervous as the plane appears to be resting on a pile of wood pellets.

[AdrianB1]

The property tax may be extremely high if the property is evaluated at the price of a flying plane, not at purchasing price.

[redis_mlc]

> Wow, I would have never guessed that!

Airliners are merely business tools - operators have no romance for any plane.

If a 777 is even 2% more efficient than a 747, the 747 is grounded and chopped up.

The related factors are that 4 engines is more maintenance than 2 engines, the classic 747 is no longer certified for passenger use in the USA (wiring and fuel-tank inerting ADs), and ETOPS allows twin-engine flight on almost all commercially-viable oceanic routes. (ETOPS makes me nervous af.)

Source: commercially-rated airplane pilot.

[eloff]

This is why people buy them and turn them into eclectic houses. It's a fun idea. I'd never be able to sell my wife on it, but the boy in me likes it.

[tyingq]

~19 feet wide by ~12 feet high sure beats a used shipping container at 7' 8" wide x 7' 10" high, despite the ovalish shape. Probably terrible to hire some pilot driver service to move it about though, even if it is just the fuselage.

[nathan_f77]

Haha yes, I just watched 3 videos on YouTube, and so far they have been all been single men. My wife says she's interested though, as long as it's a comfortable place to live and looks decent. (Some of the ones I found on YouTube sort of looked like someone was squatting in an abandoned plane.)

One of the people also talked about turning a second one into an AirBnb, so I think that's a great idea. It would be a very unique place to stay, so I think it would be fully booked if you're in a decent location.

[k_sze]

Don’t sell your wife on it. Sell your wife for it.

[MichaelZuo]

Yikes, that’s even greater depreciation than I thought. Even then that 777 seems almost too good to be true with the current fuel prices, do you have the link or the details on it?

[112012123]

Afraid no link - I'm actually in the process of buying 777s right now at a bit less than that (and then hopefully flipping for 5 apiece). Fresh out of a heavy C check, too.

But if you're curious re:prices, you can call the dealer listed on Controller.com as selling a 777. He's actually got several for sale in that neighborhood (and is super friendly, too - Eric).

[tyingq]

There's likely some middle ground. Like a 747 that is ALMOST due a heavy check and mx cycle and very close to end of life.

[stanfordkid]

Steven Spielberg used an old 747 for War of the worlds and the set is still on the tram tour at Universal Studios.

Apparently the airplane itself was free, but it cost $250k to transport it to the location of filming!

[lostlogin]

Are you able to explain what your line of work is?

[tus88]

Yeah but what's the insurance bill...