Introducing Our Piper M600
By Michael Repka, Instrument-Rated Pilot, DeLeon Air Force
The Newest Addition to the DeLeon Family
Over the past few years, we have seen a significant spike in affluent homeowners selling their Silicon Valley properties and moving to lower tax states. Currently, the maximum state tax rate in California is 13.3%, but there have been recent proposals to increase that number to as much as 16.8%. Thus, high income taxpayers have a strong incentive to move to states with much lower, or no, state income taxes. Some of the states that have benefited from this phenomenon are Nevada, Wyoming, Washington, and Texas – all of which have no state income tax – as well as lower tax states such as Utah and Arizona.
Obviously, homeowners consider many factors beyond just taxation when making these moves. They generally look for weather that they enjoy, housing options they find attractive, and activities that suit their interests.
In an effort to provide the highest possible service to our clients, DeLeon Realty has started a new initiative to help transitioning homeowners. Beyond extensive research into these attractive areas, we have also traveled to these destinations, looked at real estate, and discussed and developed strategic alliances with top agents in these areas. To date, we have opened offices in Lake Tahoe, Nevada and Scottsdale, Arizona.
2020 Piper M600 Turboprop
One of the many considerations that Silicon Valley residents face when looking for homes outside of this area is the ease of getting to and from the Bay Area. Most of our clients still have relationships, charitable endeavors, board meetings, business activities, and friends throughout Silicon Valley and beyond.
While our old Cirrus plane has been very functional for my speaking engagements and client meetings around California, it lacked the speed and comfort to service clients in areas such as Austin, Scottsdale, and even higher elevation airports like Truckee and Jackson Hole.
Recently, DeLeon Realty purchased a 2020 Piper M600 business aircraft that can take our clients to these locations in style. The M600 provides far more comfort and luxury, with cabin-class seating, cruise flight as high as 28,000 feet (Flight level 280), pressurization, a powerful turbo prop engine (a jet engine that is enhanced with a five blade prop), and airstairs to get into and out of the cabin. Plus, strong tailwinds at these higher altitudes can result in cruise speeds in excess of 400 mph. An added benefit of this more robust plane is that we can take an entire family, and their luggage, to explore new areas. Also, because the turbo-prop includes reverse thrust, the plane can comfortably operate out of Palo Alto Airport’s short runway.
Features of the M600
We selected the Piper M600 for a variety of reasons, but one of the main attributes was remarkable customer comfort and safety. Not
only is the plane pressurized, which eliminates the need for supplemental oxygen at higher altitudes, it also features Piper’s new Auto-Land feature. In the extremely unlikely event of an emergency, the plane has the ability to declare an emergency, analyze all of the available airports, consider weather conditions and runway lengths, communicate with passengers and air traffic control, land the plane, and bring it to a safe and complete stop – all without any input from a pilot.
Additionally, the M600 features Garmin’s latest G3000 avionics suite. This system is not only very powerful, with on-board radar and terrain awareness features, it is also remarkably user friendly. Within my first 100 hours of flying the new plane, I already felt very comfortable with the new interface.
Although our new interstate initiative will initially be available only to Platinum sellers of homes valued at over $5 million, we hope to expand this benefit to an array of clients over the years to come.
