There are so few choices in my area (NC,SC, lower VA) for EMs its depressing. In your opinion, are they all in collections? Or being snapped up so fast I miss them? I started searching State to State and noticed Pennsylvania had a decent selection on Craigslist.
The price factor always comes into play as well, I'm sure everyone has noticed the same machines languishing with high prices. But some over priced offerings disappear quickly. Is the Market that hot now for electromechanical? With the thousands of these things made there has to be hundreds stored up somewhere, or have so many been destroyed over the Years they are this rare?
Has Pinside and the internet been so successful with training EM Techs that the complexity no longer holds the fear factor?
Or have speculators entered buying up everything and holding it in storage,anticipating a future windfall?

I appreciate it Zacaj, and agree, to someone who understands the repair process an EM is a great thing.
But you are in NY, and I notice there are a lot of machines available Statewide. This must be a regional thing, either NC is a hot Market or we just didn't receive as many machines back in the day.

I read some recent Threads across Pinside and think I have a few (but not all) the answers.
Flippers inspired by TV shows.
A "Network" of aficionados buying and trading within a circle.
Fear over Node Boards has made older machines (including SS) much more desirable to collectors and Players.
People using cell phones to quickly search perceived value, usually hitting Ebay with its speculative prices.
A resurgence of Commercial Bars featuring vintage Arcades.
Still,the regional thing is mystifying.PA,MA,CT,NJ,and I would add Ohio is where the machines are, too far for me to drive.
Maybe I could settle for a 1300 dollar Darling, or that Superman toy for 20 bucks. NC is dry.

You may have hit on a very important part of the puzzle bonzo. The many games I remember at Carolina Beach,Nags Head and Topsail Island were probably destroyed along with the piers and bars by many hurricanes and floods over the years. In other words,they didn't migrate Inland.
After I get my Toyota Van my range will probably increase a few hundred miles, just for the adventure!