I've seen so many games $4K and under I'd much rather have than a Stern home edition:
Judge Dredd, T2, Demolition Man, NBA Fastbreak, Nascar, Pinbot, Taxi, Cyclone, Frankenstein, Lethal Weapon 3, Stargate...
I just think someone that's into pinball enough to build their own homebrew machine would really get bored and be dissapointed with a home pin, it's a lot of scratch for a bare playfield imo... Do what it takes to get the Pro if that's the choices you're limiting yourself to.