THANK YOU EVERYONE! I appreciate your insight and advice so much! All your information is memorized and I feel SO much better prepared for my next venture. (I apologize for not responding sooner - things at work went totally ape crap and kept me hopping over the last 36 hours.)

Yesterday I had just enough time to arrange for an excellent resource to inspect this VX (a trusted friend of a trusted friend.) He is someone who could also hand over payment in person IF the VX turned out to be a keeper.

I'm already in contact with another seller a little closer to home so.... hopefully something good will happen soon.