Side note, watched Wheeler-Dealer last night. They did an IMS replacement on a 996. Bearing was going out at 65K miles. I will say if you're half skilled at wrenching (assuming you have the required tools) it didn't look terrible to do.
I owed the Tremor prior to Mitch. I bought it with 25K miles on it. It had rust even then. Never owed a truck that had frame rust and bubbles under the paint that wasn't 20 years old with 200K miles on it. You're argument over the "PO treatment" is invalid.