Am I right that, assuming one can find a caster with the spell and level, it should be possible to purchase a casting of Permanency for 450 gp, plus the additional cost of whichever spell was going to be made permanent (which casting one could probably do for oneself if he had the spell?) If that's true, it makes permanent spells a pretty good deal even at relatively low levels before casting permanency for oneself is possible. I just want to check and make sure I'm not missing something!
The cheapest spell you can make permanent has a gold cost of 2,500 gold. That's not exactly a good deal.