i'm of the $100 - 175 mindset, and plan on the big ticket items eating you alive. must have title, must be in what i'd consider B+ to A- condition at the very least, otherwise keep looking. read below but I have no issues with you paying $250 if its b-, has title, working gauges, complete pump that needs rebuild, trim parts.... and of course you have a plan, if your just going in willy nilly "i want a random jet ski project" then you should probably wait for the next $250 special to pop up.
with that said... we see them quite often for $200-400 complete (but needing lots of love) so this is not a steal by any means, and one of the reasons I think this is that if you don't have a doner ski right now, your still going to be better off looking for a doner ski to fill in all the missing pieces, and it probably won't cost that much more than this, which means the initial purchase might end up being a mistake assuming the donor hull isn't in as good of shape.
if I have a hull (and i've had a few) in my back yard, and its missing motor/electronics and god knows what else (pump ? rebuild? driveshaft... exhaust... non working gauges ? just for starters) I'll PAY somebody $10 to come get it. The last hull I had that fit your generic description I sold to a guy for less than the cost of a 12 pack, and all he really wanted was the DESS post, I talked him into taking the whole dam thing for the same price, helped him load it in the truck, and hi-fived the wife when I got back inside. (no title)
