In article . com,
Greg Copeland wrote:

I've been shopping for a plane for a while. I'm hoping I found the
one but the engine has given me pause. The engine is 17-years old.
It has ~700 hours on it.
[snip]
The
owner refuses to negotiate on the basis of these concerns and leaves
me nothing to mitigate some of the potential risk.
[snip]
Comments? Would you consider such a deal? The mechanic's advice seem
sound?

I wouldn't buy this airplane unless it was priced as a runout engine AND
I wanted a runout. But it sounds like the owner doesn't want to appropriately
acknowledge the time since overhaul.

Unless you are looking for a rare bird, patience will be rewarded. A friend
of mine spent almost three years looking for a cherokee 180 and found a
real beauty. It had the original engine and some 1700 TTSN. IOW it was
WAAAY beyond calendar TBO. He got about 5 years before he had to
overhaul it. And now he has a very low time 180 with a low time engine.

Anyway. Good luck

--
Bob Noel
(goodness, please trim replies!!!)