Iam a noob like you and i think you shouldnt buy to resell first because, the reparation, the trouble... do it for yourself and think your money is gone simplie. If you cant afford to "lost" 1000$ or more you better to look for an other hobby. My 2 cent.

And by the way welcome!!

I went this afternoon to check out the TMNT machine, and as Hippochrome said, it's not in 100% perfect condition. He said that it was missing a diagnostic button, but it actually isn't. The door has a space for one, but the game is only designed for two buttons, check the repair manual.

The display is a new one (relatively), but for some reason it quit on them last week, and only the odd line flickers on. They tested the voltage to the DMD, but it reads as 18V instead of the required 70V. Also, the poup manhole plunger recently got busted too.

I happen to like the game, been playing it for a while in VPinmame, but am worried that this game is giving up the ghost.

The back panel is really nice, I happen to like the seedy style as opposed to the usual cartoony TMNT style. If you haven't seen the TMNT back panel, check it out, it's awesome:
http://ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2509&picno=9799

I guess I'll just keep my eyes open for a good deal, no need to rush into this. In the meantime I can brush up on my skills with pay to play games, and Vpinmame.