i have just gone through that same thought process, and decided on the Janome 1600P-DBX, which has the same throat size as the Juki, but I chose the Janome because there was only two Juki shops in all of MN and the closest to me was 1 hr away!
I think that if you have the budget for it, to get a new machine that is built for the quilting. I have a small Kenmore that i use for piecing and it has some decorative stitches, but it just was not made for the quilting so I got tired of fighting with the quilts and purchased them a new machine!
Good luck - and what i have seen with my research, that is a good price! I'm sure you know this, but there are two juki 98s - one is the 98Q and the other is the 98QE - there is about a $100 difference between the two machines...