A boat can usually always be an endless pit of money. Sometimes you get lucky, but sometimes you don't with used. The big key with the steering cable is to look at where it's located in the boat and is it accesible without lifting motor? Just helped my girlfriend's Dad take one out of his, and you could NOT get to disconnect the cable without unbolting the motor. But he has an inboard. But, sounds like you have an outboard, so shouldn't be too hard at all. Tuneup is fairly easy, clean out the carbs, change the plugs, water test, a few misc. things. I did it all on my sled I had.

Sounds like it isn't too bad. If you go professional on tuneup, you're talking some $$$, I do believe when I was looking, they were asking between $300-$500 for a boat motor tuneup. I ended up buying a book and doing it myself. I'd say find a person who can do any mechanical/structural assessments on the boat. Will only cost you about $75, but in long run is alot cheaper then buying a boat that will cost you $2000 in repairs to make seaworthy. I'll see if I can find the # of guy I used. He did a good job, and steered me away from some REALLY bad boats.