stuff snipped
On the acquisition side, I'm a bit more comfortable, having run all the
scenarios presented by this group. I'm headed for the pre-buy on Monday, at
a Socata Service Center. I'd rather have a real annual done, but with the
last one completed in April, that seems a bit much. I've been advised to
have the flight controls pulled/inspected/lubed (apparently a problem area
w/ the TBs), which I'll have to figure out how to address. I sent the
escrow company all the info & the deposit today. If all goes well at the
pre-buy, closing is scheduled for 9 Jul.

.other stuff snipped

This assumes that the prebuy is going to spot every defect. It won't. An
annual inspection done by another set of eyes is not excessive, but it
will be at your cost.

The biggest perils at this point a undetected defects that are not
the subject of SBs, SLs, and ADs. And, defects that ARE the subject of
the above documentation. You should consider doing everything possible
to discover them now rather than later. This involves extensive
inspection of both the plane AND the logbooks/ADs/SBs/SLs.

Prebuy inspections do not require anyone's wrench ticket to be on the
line. An annual inspection does. In both cases, you are financing either
one, along with financing the consequences. So, some prefer an annual. I
like the idea that the Service Center is involved, even though their
inspection does not put any of their skin in the game if they miss
something. They should be knowledgeable about the type at least.

I got the seller of my plane to sign an agreement to pay for any ADs not
performed up to the date of the sale, even if I discovered them at the
next annual. However, without a sizable cash escrow, collection may be
an issue.

In my case, the seller was a man of very high integrity and the bird
turned out to be better than represented (as proven by the prebuy and 13
years of annual inspections). He actually held up the sale because the
carb repair work (one piece venturi) left the plane running 100 RPM
lower than normal. He refused to let us fly it or buy it until it was
repaired to his satisfaction, even though this took several attempts.

I hope you are as fortunate as I was.

Good Luck!
Mike