Yeah, When I bought my BX I was looking at used and the price was ridiculous. If you could find one at private sale and save the HST, you might work out ok. But most ended up back in the hands of dealers so you were paying HST anyway. And then you were only saving maybe 10% on a 5-10 year old machine. On the upside, buying new, you don;t have to worry about depreciation so much since they hold their value pretty well. In the end I ended up financing at 0%.I am shopping. But, the sticker shock is real.
If I average out my contracting costs over a decade it may be more prudent to let someone else do it. I don't know where we'll be in a decade and being saddled with a piece of old equipment may not be something I want to deal with.
The skid steer made short work of the problem.
I debated buying one for years and in the end I'm glad I did. Much quicker to cut the grass - though not as fast as a zero turn would be. For the winter I have a rear mount blower and keep the loader on the front so I don't end up with huge piles (though it sounds like that's a bonus for your girls