Hi Jason,
Hopefully some folks will post soon. I love to see what other's might do.
I have several butterfly koi and one regular (I prefer the butterfly koi). I would suggest checking out any local Koi clubs, they can give you a good lead on where to get them. If you aren't into showing them there is no reason to get "top of the line" fish...even the pond quality ones are beautiful. I paid between $8 and $12 for them...they were about 6" in length and are now aprox 18".
Becky