I may have a chance to buy a dream plane as my first plane, but I am worried that I'm not viewing this objectively.

I have always loved Mooneys, but specifically, I am fond of the early wood wing Mooneys. I am planning to buy an airplane, and I have mostly been shopping for Luscombe 8, Cessna 140/150s, and the occasional Grumman AA1B/C. I am aiming for under $100/hour operating costs, wet.

But today, I learned about this plane: A 1960 Mooney M20A, 1800Hrs TT, 700 SMOH. It has been parked for a few years but is currently going through an Annual. It is a few states away, so I will need to consider the cost of a ferry flight in my budget. I will be getting a list of what is found in the annual, and it will need some avionics work, mainly a new radio.

I am waiting for more information, but if I pursue it, my plan would be to prebuy, (if the prebuy checks out) then purchase the plane with a fresh annual, and have it ferried back to me. The seller wants a quick sale, so I am considering paying cash for this list, and then refinancing the plane to free up cash, and complete repairs/small improvements that I want but are not required to get it airworthy.

My primary concern is that I am buying a plane that I will not be able to maintain. Refinancing the plane will leave me with a good safety net to cover unexpected maintenance, but I would rather not have anything unexpected. Also, while I like the wood wings, there is no denying that a wood wing plane will be difficult to sell if I need to, and I am considering a career change to a commercial pilot, so there is a significant chance that I can find myself in a regional airline job where I cannot afford to own the plane in the next 2-3 years.

How terrible is this idea?