I bought mine about 5 years ago, and though I go through periods were I don't use it much (making tops) I'll then quilt of 3-4 tops in a few weeks. I know that as long as I want to make tops, I'll keep the LA for the quilting and won't buy a house that I can't make it work in. If I ever give up quilting, I'll give up the LA.
I'd suggest to get the robotics from the start. I enjoy doing FMQ, but it is a lot more work and I can only do about 2 hours of that and then need a break. However I can do 4-6 hours of robotics with no physical problems. It's really nice to get a quilt done in just a few hours with an all over robotic pattern. I bought the robotics two years after buying the machine. HQ keeps improving the software and with each update, I'm loving it more.