I'll throw this out there by quoting a post I put up on a different forum, but the topic is close enough that this might be helpful.
I can chip in with a little bit of information, hopefully pertinent. I was 1/2 owner of a Twin Comanche until the end of 2002. We split normal expenses in two ways, fixed and variable.
The fixed expenses were a total of $410 per month each, $820 total. The breakdown was: $200 hanger, $220 insurance, and $400 maintenance fund.
Variable costs were charged at $85 per flight hour. $50 for fuel, $30 engine reserve fund, and $5 for oil change (including a couple of recurring AD's at each oil change interval).
Over a three or four year period those budgeted numbers turned out to be fairly accurate, with plane operation typically in the 150 hour per year range. With fixed costs divided over that 150 hours, total operating cost was approximately $150 per hour.
The maintenance fund covered the cost of the annual inspection (including the usual small ticket items that cropped up), as well as minor items throughout the year. One year we ran over on the annual cost when we replaced the windshield, and we just anteed up 50% each for the overage.
A couple of caveats regarding our costs - this plane was in exceptional condition, and so most high cost items had been taken care of in the recent past. The panel and interior had been redone by the previous owner, and the paint done by my partner before I bought in to the plane. (Those costs don't show up in our operating budget, but of course were reflected in both the purchase and selling prices.) Kalamazoo Aircraft was our primary maintenance facility, and they did a very good job working with us to keep the aircraft in tip-top shape at a reasonable (relative, of course) cost. My partner in the aircraft was chief pilot for a corporate operator, and their head mechanic often worked with us on small jobs, such as oil changes, which certainly helped reduce our operating costs. Another mitigating factor was the economical operation of the Twinkie. We typically flight planned at 65% power, 155 - 160 knots true, and 15 gph total fuel burn.
I need to emphasize some things. Make sure that you budget some money for a
very thorough pre-buy inspection. Use a mechanic that has
no interest in the buyer's side of the negotiation. If you don't know a mechanic personally, get recommendations for one from people that you know. Twins are notorious for being cheap to buy, but very, very expensive to get into safe flying condition, and expensive to maintain. There are many, many aircraft out there that have not been properly maintained, and the list of deferred items can add
huge amounts to your initial costs. It is not at all unusual to see people budget 50% to 100% of their initial purchase price in the first annual inspection. Read that again - you could easily spend another $60,000 on your new-to-you $60,000 plane just to get it safely in the air. It is often much smarter to spend more money up front for an airframe that is in great shape, rather than buy a "budget" bird. Caveat emptor!
When you are analysing the cost of a plane, do not ignore the engine overhaul cost, or the "cost of money".
Engine overhaul cost will affect you in one of two ways:
1. You will have to overhaul an engine (or two) and it is a large cost all at once that you must have budgeted for.
2. If you sell the plane before doing any overhauls, the hours that you have put on the plane will reduce the value of the plane because of less hours available before the overhaul comes due. Buyers factor this into the value of the plane, so you should calculate it as a cost of ownership.
You
will pay for the hours you put on the engines one way or another!
The "cost of money" is another very real expense that many people ignore, to their regret. This is the cost of the interest on a loan, if you take one out, or it is the unrealized money-making potential that your dollars could have been making for you if they were not tied up in an aircraft. Note that my example above does not include this cost, and needs to be added to get the true total cost of ownership. This cost could be realistically assumed to add $20 to $40 per operating hour.
With those things being said, and keeping in mind that my example above was based on costs from 3 or 4 years ago, I would not be at all suprised to see real world costs for an economical light twin in the $175 to $225 dollars per flight hour range. Suddenly those rates from Air-Ben or Skymates start to make more sense when you figure that they can spread their fixed costs out over many, many more operating hours than a single owner could possibly do.
Do not, ever, count on appreciation of aircraft value. Sometimes aircraft values go up, sometimes they go down. Do not bet your financial calculations on values going up.
All of that said, I think that right now there is a pretty good buyer's market for aircraft in general, and twins in particular (haven't been watching real close lately, though). There are probably some pretty good values out there right now, but do your homework. And keep in mind that it may very well be a "buyer's market" when you go to sell your bird as well!
(edit to add: also keep in mind that the insurance rates we paid were based on higher experience levels than you'll see as a newly minted multi-pilot. Your rates could be much, much higher. Get a quote!)
Finding something safe, equiped for IFR, and not requiring major maintenance in the very near future might be tough in that price range . . .
