Not only did i buy used heads, but i bought 40 year old stock used heads. Probably about 8 years ago or something like that, a friend of mine sold me my heads. He told me he got them off a guy in South Carolina who was running them on a "600hp dirt modified car". He likes to talk so i never believed that part, but they did have some extensive port work done to them and 1.94/1.60 valves installed. The catch was that each head had a bent exhaust valve and would need replaced. I gave him $250 for them and they sat in my closet for years. I eventually got the valves all replaced which cost me another $450, but the machine shop guy commented me on the port work and said he hadn't seen hand porting like that in years so that was reassuring.
In the end, they did make respectable power. The guy who did my tune was pretty impressed and even showed me where he had dynoed other cars with aftermarket heads that made less power than my car did. The moral of the story is that i've now spent $700 to be able to use these heads, and for that much you could easily get some very nice used Twisted Wedge heads or something comparable that should make as much power plus be able to be ported further and make even more, plus drop 50lbs off the front of the car.
So as far as buying used, just be sure of what you're buying. I didn't expect to have to replace all the valves, but upon further inspection there were more than just the two valves bent. If they came off a known well running car, i'd just install them and go with it.