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My father-in-law is very interested in buying my mower off me. I've only owned it for 4 weeks. I bought it for $1900 + put $500 into it for repairs. It's a Husqvarna LZ 5227...somewhere between 2008-2010. The dealership I brought it to asked how much I paid for it and when I told them $1900 they were surprised. They said that the bagging system alone is worth that and that I got a crazy deal. I know nothing about mowers...so that was surprising. My father-in-law has wanted it since the second he saw it. I am debating selling it to him and spending a bit more and upgrading to something newer...but not too sure yet. I have no idea how to figure out the proper value of the machine. This is my first zero-turn mower, and i really love it. I can't believe how well the bagging system works....my lawn looks so much cleaner since using this. Can anyone give me an idea how much it's worth? Everything works great. Any help would be appreciated.

merkaba said:

My father-in-law is very interested in buying my mower off me. I've only owned it for 4 weeks. I bought it for $1900 + put $500 into it for repairs. It's a Husqvarna LZ 5227...somewhere between 2008-2010. The dealership I brought it to asked how much I paid for it and when I told them $1900 they were surprised. They said that the bagging system alone is worth that and that I got a crazy deal. I know nothing about mowers...so that was surprising. My father-in-law has wanted it since the second he saw it. I am debating selling it to him and spending a bit more and upgrading to something newer...but not too sure yet. I have no idea how to figure out the proper value of the machine. This is my first zero-turn mower, and i really love it. I can't believe how well the bagging system works....my lawn looks so much cleaner since using this. Can anyone give me an idea how much it's worth? Everything works great. Any help would be appreciated.

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Whatever price keeps you in good graces with your father-in-law.
Certainly not more than you have in it.

I could sell it for $4500 today.
If you was to spend $5000 on a new mower you would not find one as good as what you have.

Carscw said:

I could sell it for $4500 today.
If you was to spend $5000 on a new mower you would not find one as good as what you have.

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I agree with Carscw completely.

merkaba said:

My father-in-law is very interested in buying my mower off me. I've only owned it for 4 weeks. I bought it for $1900 + put $500 into it for repairs. It's a Husqvarna LZ 5227...somewhere between 2008-2010. The dealership I brought it to asked how much I paid for it and when I told them $1900 they were surprised. They said that the bagging system alone is worth that and that I got a crazy deal. I know nothing about mowers...so that was surprising. My father-in-law has wanted it since the second he saw it. I am debating selling it to him and spending a bit more and upgrading to something newer...but not too sure yet. I have no idea how to figure out the proper value of the machine. This is my first zero-turn mower, and i really love it. I can't believe how well the bagging system works....my lawn looks so much cleaner since using this. Can anyone give me an idea how much it's worth? Everything works great. Any help would be appreciated.

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To look at a picture and tell someone what the mower is worth is ridiculous. There are to many variables to consider to do that. For example what make engine is on it, how many hours are on the mower engine, what's the mowers actual age, what condition is it in mechanically... drives, spindles, the pto etc. Even if a dealer check everything out and said it was fine you have no guarantee that tomorrow with how old the mower is that that something major could go bad, like a drive unit.
Considering that the new Husqvarna 52" commercial is $5599.00 whats an 8 year old Husqvarna 52 mower worth. My opinion would be if your father-in-law would give you 1900 + your 500 in repairs for the mower and you wanted to sell it I'd grab it and run. Or I'd keep the thing and mow with it till the wheels fell off.

$4000 easy without a engine on it.
I am going to take your pictures and post the mower on Facebook for 24 hours. For $5000 I will snap chat all the comments I get.

The mower has 1500 hours on it. I just had all the spindle bearing replaced, new blades, and the blower bearings/fan all upgraded to the latest version that fixed a bunch of issues with past versions. The shop went through everything else and didn't find any issues anywhere. It's been used, but it's been maintained. It works great. All the specs are below. I believe it's a 2008 or 2009. If it's worth 4500/5000...i'm going to likely sell it for that instead of sell it to my father-in-law.


Their blurb about the mower:

The large frame LZ Series mowers were designed with the needs of the lawn care professional clearly defined. Utilizing a vertical engine arrangement, coupled to a rock-solid uni-frame chassis, these zero turn mowers offer a super low center of gravity, simplified component servicing and reduced heat to the operator. Wide rear tires and oversized front casters round out the package and make the LZ series very stable and comfortable to operate.

Carscw said:

I could sell it for $4500 today.
If you was to spend $5000 on a new mower you would not find one as good as what you have.

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That's interesting....what would you recommend for an 'upgrade' with a bagging system similar to what I have? I don't mind spending more money if needed. I'm also not opposed to purchasing something else used...just newer/lightly used (1-3 years old). Is there any benefit technology wise to upgrading to something new(er) vs spending some money on this when the time comes?

Also...the original owner paid around $8500-9000 for the mower when he purchased it new. I believe this was without the bagging system.

merkaba said:

Also...the original owner paid around $8500-9000 for the mower when he purchased it new. I believe this was without the bagging system.

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I would keep this mower.
You are not going to be able to match it with a newer one for under $7000.
Truth be told a new mower ( any brand) is not made as good today as it was 6 years ago.
These guys that buy a new mower every year or two are paying more for a cheaper built mower.
I run 4 toro mowers full time. My wife keeps saying go back to the husqvarna.

If it cost over $8500 then, it will still cost over $8500 today for the same quality.. Maybe more.

I have been staying out of this one to date, but I will have to agree with the last couple of posts.
To get a true comparison you have to forget about the numbers of dollars & convert it what you are really spending, hours of labour.
Prices have come down & so has the quality but the value in hours worked remains fairly constant over the short period.
So if it was $ 8000 ten years ago and labour was $ 20 / hr = 400 hours ( 10 weeks wages ).
Thus a mower of equivalent quality will cost you at least 10 weeks wages at the current wage level .

Naturally I have used Ozzie hourly rates to do the above illustration.

As it is family member there is family politics to consider & I ain't going down that path.

While it may have been serviced well there are all sorts of things like deck mounts that are most likely flogged out and these are usually weld on items on commercial mowers so deck restoration can easy cost more than you paid for it.

merkaba said:

The mower has 1500 hours on it. I just had all the spindle bearing replaced, new blades, and the blower bearings/fan all upgraded to the latest version that fixed a bunch of issues with past versions. The shop went through everything else and didn't find any issues anywhere. It's been used, but it's been maintained. It works great. All the specs are below. I believe it's a 2008 or 2009. If it's worth 4500/5000...i'm going to likely sell it for that instead of sell it to my father-in-law.

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If the mower has 1500 hrs on it I wouldn't look for it to last much longer without some kind of overhaul a long with other things. The problem you are going to have trying to sell it and get any amount of money for it will be the hours on the engine and the age of the mower. I look at that mower and I see a mower that will nickel and dime someone to death, I mean it's already cost you $500 and what's the next expense or repair going to cost you.
I know people are taking about the quality of the mower but what is quality worth in repairs vs a new commercial for 6 or $7000 with a 3 or 5 yr warranty. If these guys think it's such a great buy at the price you're quoting then sell it to one of them and get your money.

Ya, at 1500hrs, its not worth $4500+ to me.. Maybe $2500, which what you have into it.

That said, you have the unit now, bought at a decent price, and its running and mowing good. I would simply keep it and use it. Maintain it the best you can and when something major breaks then go get another one. Depending on your usage and mowing style, it could last you several more years and be well worth the money. Using and maintaining this one will also allow you to learn ZTRs, what you do like, what you dont, whats a compromise, etc, and allow you to be much better informed when you go to buy a new one.

Wow I just now found out that 1500 hours makes a mower no good. I better bring all my mowers to the scrap yard.
This mower cost $8500 new. If you spend that much on a mower and think 1500 hours is a lot then stop spending that much.
Most lawn care guys would have to buy a new mower around every 18 months if they only kept them for 1500 hours.
Keep this mower and put another 1500 hours on it.
I buy used mowers all the time and resell them I know what they are worth.

Midniteoyl said:

Ya, at 1500hrs, its not worth $4500+ to me..

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Carscw said:

Wow I just now found out that 1500 hours makes a mower no good. I better bring all my mowers to the scrap yard.
This mower cost $8500 new. If you spend that much on a mower and think 1500 hours is a lot then stop spending that much.
Most lawn care guys would have to buy a new mower around every 18 months if they only kept them for 1500 hours.
Keep this mower and put another 1500 hours on it.
I buy used mowers all the time and resell them I know what they are worth.

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Read it again.. In the end, its worth what ever you are willing to pay for it.

Midniteoyl said:

Ya, at 1500hrs, its not worth $4500+ to me.. Maybe $2500, which what you have into it.

That said, you have the unit now, bought at a decent price, and its running and mowing good. I would simply keep it and use it. Maintain it the best you can and when something major breaks then go get another one. Depending on your usage and mowing style, it could last you several more years and be well worth the money. Using and maintaining this one will also allow you to learn ZTRs, what you do like, what you dont, whats a compromise, etc, and allow you to be much better informed when you go to buy a new one.

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You say at 1500hrs, its not worth $4500+ to me and I think that's the way most people will see it, especially considering the price difference between it and a new unit. That's why I said if he could get his father-in-law to give him the money he paid plus the $500 he invested in repairs I'd take it or keep the thing and run the wheels off it and then get a new unit. Personally I'd just keep the thing if it was doing as good a job as he said. I would have to believe that the guy who had the mower and sold it for the $1900 figured he did pretty well to get that much.

Thanks everyone for the input. The mower really is quite overkill for my yard. It takes me literally 30 min to mower my lawn. If i can get between 4500-5000 for it...i think i'll sell it and switch to something newer, with a smaller cut. I posted it on craigslist today. We'll see what happens. Otherwise...i'll keep it, and enjoy it. Does anyone have any recommendations for what a good upgrade would be that has the ability to add a vacuum bagging system like this one? I have dealers all within 30-45 minutes from me, so brand is not a big deal. Cleaned it up a tad for photos today