Many very good points so far.
I will add that looking at two or three other planes with a knowledgeable assistant will help you to see what is important and give you a better sense of one being better than another and what to look for.
A few tips.
These planes are rarely close enough to compare side by side so take plenty of quality pictures of pretty much everything you can. Especially the inside of the wings looking for corrosion. Coastal airplanes will almost always have some, how much is too much is tough for this midwesterner to say. We have very little of that here. Southwestern dry state planes have almost none, but may have other affects from heat and sun.
Paperwork such as logs are very helpful, and valuable to a point. There are some planes that seem great on paper but have serious issues. Buy the best airplane, even if it doesn't have the best paper trail. Early logs missing is not a terrible thing to me, as long as the current overhaul is included in the current logs.
Buying the very best airplane you can afford tends to be cheaper in the long run than expecting to fix this and that and end up with a gem. Gem's cost an astronomical amount of money. Buying a Gem used is normally still cheaper than creating one.
All these birds had some minor damage whether indicated in the logs or not. Don't let that throw you off track. Good repairs should be noted but are occasionally omitted to protect the guilty. This is part of the reason the bird is more important than the paper.
You will have something go bad after you buy it, or at least have a component you will decide to replace. It's pretty normal on every plane except that perfect gem you pay dearly for.
Anytime I can buy a plane under that V REF number, I'd consider it to have a spare plane. I think that number was low. I do hear about planes selling for ridiculously low prices now and then. I don't believe them all.
Good luck in your efforts
Jim
