my point to you is this:
-if you are counting on getting hired at a regional with 600TT and 100ME, good luck. i am sure it happens for some folks, and we all hear about JOEpilot who go ON with crazyazz low time, but realize who you are going to be competing against for those jobs. if it were all 600 hour pilots, great, but in reality you will be astonished by the variety of experience levels that a 600 hour pilot has to compete against for a job at a regional. i am not saying that you won't make it, but just be aware.
-more than likely, with your total time in this post, there are no GREAT career opportunities for you, even with 100 hours of seneca time, or what ever, you need more than just multi time. when i had students and was instructing regularly (over 100 hours a month sometimes) many of them were aiming for a career in aviation, and were always getting hung up on the multi thing.... should i go to ATP? they do all their training in twins.... should i go to ABC school, when i finish, i will have 200 hours of seneca time..... blah blah blah. the thing to consider is that even if you get the coveted twin time very early in your flying, it may be quite a while until you will actually get to fly a multi-engine airplane. will you even be current, let alone proficient in twins when you are actually competative for good jobs in terms of your total time?
-at 500 some odd hours you are barely halfway to being "employable" in all but fluke circumstances or third rate jobs. as a previous poster stated, a good goal with your hours might be aiming for the P135 mins. while your are building your total time (make it diverse and instrument rich), save your money, get a job tending bar if your must, and when you are around 1000 hours total, then buy what multi hours you still need. chances are that between now and then, small opportunities will pop up here and there to contribute to your multi-total, and you won't have to buy nearly as many hours as you need today.
-step up your flight instruction. if you are not flying at least 50 hours a month, and billing at least 80, you might consider changing schools. you may also want to consider instructing outside the school to augment what they are paying you. when i was instructing thru a school, they only paid me $17 out of every hour i billed. when i instructed on the side, i charged $50/hour and shared it all with ME!
-if you lack your multi ratings, get those. all the way thru mei. that will enable you to take advantage of opportunities as they come up. the only other hours that i would recommend "buying" right now, would be enough to meet the insurance mins for twin rental where ever you fly (provided that they are at an attainable level). you never know when being ABLE to rent the plane might come in handy.
-quality NETWORKING should be your primary goal right now. look around for the post about the "rouge v. professional." identify persons in your area that have the characteristics of the latter and befriend them. avoid the rouges at all cost. bend yourself into the patterns and ways of the professional.
-in the grand scheme of things, the money is insignificant. if you find yourself in some great position to grab an opportunity, but lack those 50-100 multi hours, get creative. you WILL find the money.
i am not trying to bust your balls on this, and my advice is probably totally irrelevant to your personal situation, but i hope you can see the bigger picture, in that there is more to getting hired than just 100 hours of bug smashing in a seminole.
-casper1nine
You need to do a better job recruiting students. I was an instructor in SoCal a few years back. I got my MEI and gave 500hrs. dual in less than 18 months. I was at a school with 1 (sometimes 2) Duchess'. We had 15+ instructors all wrangling for multi-time and our rates were some of the highest in SoCal. I got my buddy a job there and now he's doing ~40hrs/month in the Duchess. It's not the school (the place sucks), it's his attitude and professionalism that keep him busy.
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