One of the important things I've gathered from reading the posts throughout the forum is the absolute need to take a cold hard look at it from several positions, financial, practical, economical (vs renting) flexible (can I eventually sell it) and finally, do I really just gotta have it!
First off, trust me - yes, you do gotta have it. Ownership is absolutely W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L ! That said, there are things you can do that will make it all cheaper. The first thing you can do on the "make it cheaper" list is to buy a GOOD one to start off with. In my book a good one is not just one that looks good, has good equipment, good radios and checks out mechanically good from your inspection, but also one that shows good maintenance and repair history going back at least 5 years/couple hundred hours of flight.
An ideal find for me would be a plane that checks out in inspection, has no corrosion, low time engine, good paint windows and interior and good appearance and has had a LOT of work completed/done on it in the past few years/past few hundred flight hours. The more money spent on it in recent times, the better because that is all stuff that someone else paid for that you won't have to (hopefully) because its already been fixed.
Another bit of advice is no matter how excited you are when you see the plane, don't let emotion get the best of you and make you buy it because of the heat of the moment. Its is very exciting to buy a plane and it is very easy to make wrong decisions due to this excitement. This also applies to the, "well I already am here and spent the time/money to see it so I should buy it now" vs. holding out for the best plane that you might not find for another 2 months. That decision could cost you thousands and thousands.
Ask me how I know all these things (been guilty of all of the above).
Anyway - have fun - airplane shopping is almost as fun as flying itself ! ! (sometimes)
