Here are some numbers for you that might apply to a 172:
(admittedly I'm a little out of touch now but they'll be close enough)
Insurance - let's say $500 a year
Tie down (though a hangar would be much better) $35 a month - $420 a year
Annual - let's say $600
So your annual total is already aroung $1600 - and that's if nothing breaks (which is VERY unlikely).
Now a 172 should burn around 8 gph, at around $2.50 - say twenty bucks an hour.
Wet rental is in the neighbourhood of $60 an hour, so it'll cost you say $40 an hour extra to rent
So what this means is that you have to fly your airplane for about 40 hours (1600 / 40), before it even breaks even for you. After that, you'll save $40 an hour, for an investment of severalthousands of dollars.
And remember this ignores replacing failed components, financing charges and airline tickets just to get over here.
Anyone care to comment?