Well, the problems I had with the deal that went sour were: 1)The contact person was too busy with his job to stay on top of the boat with the dealer. 2)The dealer retired and sold the business to others. I had a tough time trying contact my guy and get him to find out what was going on. I was a bit nervous with $10K good faith money on the line all this time. Of course the draw backs from taking this route is that you are dealing with a stranger (is he honest, able and dependable?). Also, does he treat his boat as just a tool or as a new car because you don't take possession for close to a year. I have a friend that did exactly what you did and went back to Arkansas and bought a two year old Z20, other than a few scratches here and there is very happy with it.