If option 3 is realistic then that is clearly the way to go.
Any kind of misuse / mistake can be very expensive. Overspeed the rotor, fail to stick within MAP limits, etc are all expensive to correct if you know about them, and dangerous if you don't know about them. unlike some more expensive machines the R44 does not capture exceedences and report them, along with the flight number, so that (a) you know it happened and (b) whom to bill.
If going for option 3 you might find a low-remaining hours / long years left model which would be relatively more value to you for sole use, as value depreciates according to hours / time remaining.