Welcome from Maine, and am looking forward to the day when I can say I will be retiring soon. I always tell DH, with all my hobbies, I am only practicing for retirement, and quilting is definitely #1 on my list of hobbies.
I bought a Mega quilter two years ago on CL, and it is the small throat size, I only make lap/throw size or twin size quilts, so it works for me, and it was in my budget. I did extensive research prior to the purchase, and from what I found, value wise is 1200-$1500, depending on condition/maintence. The only trouble I had after running it awhile was the skipped stitches that turned out to be the sensor wheels, once I cleaned and oiled them, no trouble since. I brought it home, loaded the bobbin and threaded it with poly thread, and have never had any tension or other issues, knock on wood, LOL. I use Glide thread only, and have never had any problems. I have an external bobbin winder in the mail as we speak because I find winding a bobbin on it difficult with a quilt loaded on the machine. I never seem to preload enough bobbins prior to starting a quilt. Enjoy whichever machine you decide on, it is fun and I was never able to master FMQ on my sewing machine, so this to me has been a dream.