Words of wisdom!
So, we all are dying to know what the "good deal" is priced at? Spill the beans! :P
Yes pieds are in demand. They are one of the morphs that make people that don't even like snakes say, "whoa." Of course there are others that can't stand the looks of them. The best part about having a female pied is what ever you hatch out will be 100% het for pied. If you hatch out a male lesser 100% het pied like you mentioned, you could possibly breed him back to her the following season to try for lesser pieds. That sounds promising to me.
I came real close to purchasing a 50/50 white female pied off fauna for $575 shipped. That's the lowest I've ever seen them listed, but of course it was a hatchling. I didn't go for it because I'm trying for my own pieds this year.
For the right price I'd drive 4 hours.