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Welcome to the forum Valve seals are possible issue, but piston rings can wear prematurely - I would do a compression test before parting with cash. Ask the current owner what grade of oil they are running - should ideally be 5w-40 Quantum Platinum - if they are running a thinner grade of oil it could just be rinsing past the rings. Also running on low octane fuel can lead to burnt valves - ask the owner what they have been running The rocker cover is a Cam box - to time up the cams you need to lock them in place, the tool isn't expensive - but an even cheaper option is you can use drill bits. But if you go the whole hog stripping the cams out, there is no woodruff key on inlet cam for the VVT pulley - this does need 2 special tools to align. The video below is a 1.4tsi engine rebuild, bottom end and head are similar to AVY - only thing to take extra care is rear seal, it has the timing ring built into it, you don't want that going in wonky - I really like his threaded rod trick for landing the RVT'd sump and rocker cover in correct location:

The price should reflect the engine could need a rebuild.