I bought a fully restored STTNG here on Pinside and couldn't be happier. Yes it cost more but plays and looks amazing.

Forgot to mention, if you are new Chris Hutchins and Bryan Kelly both do exceptional work. All restorations are not created equal.

If you want a fully restored pin, and would need to farm out the work if you bought a fixer upper, then YES it makes dollars and sense to buy one already done.

I suppose it depends how long you have it. The more it is used by you, the less it will be "newly restored" for the next buyer. I've owned a couple, and I wouldn't get one with the expectation that I'll get my money back out. You buy at that level to enjoy it yourself. In most cases, expect to take a hit when it comes time to sell.

It's only 'not worth it' if you feel you would be overpaying and have cheaper options. Maybe start a thread asking what a xyz pin is worth, with condition being stated.

If I'm a Newb, I recommend buying your pin of choice, manuals, schematics, tools, parts, tool box, and learn to perform the work hands on. I did. Fixing is most often just as satisfying as playing. Sense of ownership is vastly increased.

If getting back all of your investment is important to you, restored machines may not be for you.

They are not always a bad choice or depreciate any worse than a nib, many times as long as they have been maintained they will do better than nib at holding value. Market forces have more to do with demand and the depreciation.

All pins appreciate and depreciate differently. Almost all depreciate. It doesn't matter if it's restored.

If you're looking to get into the hobby and don't want to fix or work on pins, I'd recommend a NIB or HUO Stern.

There are so many variables that I wouldn't want to generalize. Pins go in and out of fashion, among other things.

I know I have more money in my freshly restored Tales of the Arabian Nights than I could hope to get back out of it--that is, unless I sold it immediately, which I have no intention of doing. Putting a lot of money into fixing up something old is rarely a good bet financially (unless, of course, you got an exceptionally good deal on the item in the first place).

I feel like in most cases you'll lose money when it comes time to sell- but if you are in the high end restoration market, do you really care?

If you commission a high-end ground up restoration from a professional, you are unlikely to get your money back...particularly in the new age of remake anticipation

If you do the job yourself, it's a lot of work but the sense of accomplishment is immense. I've done a few mid-end restorations myself and it was really gratifying.

Typically the best deal is finding a high-end ground up restoration that's being resold. Resale HEP restorations typically sell in the 8-10k range and they usually cost much more originally.

Depending on the title, your top number could be a few thousand more. I don't think you're gonna find a 10k HEP MM anytime soon.

Unclear...maybe. I can tell you that I have a HEP AFM that I'm fairly certain wouldn't fetch more than 9-10k. I've seen HEP CFTBL sell for 6-7k! With MMR, I would be surprised if you'd get much more than 10k frankly. I guess 11-12k is conceivable...

I can tell you're new to Pinside. Give it some time. Pretty soon we'll be talking about what the hell is holding up The Hobbit.

A pinball machine, full restoration or not, is not an investment. Plan on losing money. If you break even or make a little in the long run, consider yourself lucky.

You will almost certainly not get back what it costs you to have a restoration done. Most people have no idea how much labor is involved, let alone what is required to find game specific parts (time+money) and even standard replacement parts.

Like I said...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-tz-black-hep-14k-or-best-offer

You know, I give him some credit. The subject was goin a bit off-topic, and he flat out shut that crap down.

If anything, we need more people like the OP here. We herd cats and chase headless chickens when it comes to going off topic here. Wouldn't be surprised if we start talking JPOP, DP, JJP, Stern price increases, price bubbles, P.C. posts, or LIONMAN soon right in this very thread -____- ....

I think it's pretty funny to see the stream-of-consciousness stuff in a thread. Best one: Hobbit updates turning into a discussion about cars.

Classic stuff.

I bought a fully restored MB as my 3rd machine. Very happy I did as it was not only beautiful but also fully functional and low maintenance. The low maintenance aspect was partucularly good since I'm still new to repairs etc. The previous owner who did the restore also volunteered to help if there were any issues, which also gave a peace of mind.
Starting with a beater with plethora of issues is not for most people, restored machine can help avoid early frustrations

Well Beezle, I'm glad you brought it up. Let me tell you about fly fishing...

Too many factors. Market fluctuations, restoration quality, title popularity at the time, latest release being a great seller or not, etc.

Depreciation is on the minds of most whether we admit it or not, but usually not driving our purchases, thank goodness.

No doubt people can ask whatever they want for their HEP. In Florida, I had an opportunity to purchase a HEP TZ for 10k not so long ago. Have no idea if it was as nice as the example you forwarded, but 14k is richly priced for TZ. I decided to keep my HUO example (and I doubt it wouldn't fetch over 8k).

It's all a matter of choice and opinion. As for me, I could never own a "players" machine in my house. That being said, I have room for maybe 5 comfortably so I prefer those 5 to be top notch. I just bought a HEP IJ, and if it wasn't for the fact that it was nicked on the cab upon delivery and now I need to do a totally new decal I would be extremely happy.

I know, total run on sentence but you get the point.

I think I would only buy a fully restored EM as these things are a pain the arse when things don't work.
I had Australian Pinball Restorations restore my holy grail Surf Champ and it is damn beautiful and plays better than new. I have restored many SS-DMD machines and they are pretty fool proof to work on an information is easily attained.