You may well find a good used piano that will meet your needs. You have to be a savvy shopper, because there is lots of trash out there, but I've been astonished at the low prices I find from time to time for pianos that have a lot to offer. Within the last year I've picked up two different Yamaha P2's for $50 and $100. Both of these pianos had rough cabinets, and were about 35 years old, but neither of them showed excessive wear in the inner components. Both will play very well with only very modest reconditioning. Both of them I found on Kijiji (which in my area is more popular than Craigslist.)
The key is to limit yourself to the most reliable, consistent brands, and monitor your classifieds for a while. I would suggest, for instance, that if you look only for Yamahas and Kawais, you can expect to do rather well. Decide on your budget in advance, and don't be embarrassed if its low. Someone will have a piano that they just want to move. Don't be put off by a piano that is badly out of tune, but if individual notes have widely diverging pitches, it is a danger sign. It's a really good idea to pay your piano technician to check out the piano before you purchase it. You might even have your technician, if the verdict is good on the piano, tune it where it sits and put off for a while the cost of an extra service call. You might lose a bit of the quality of the tuning during the move, but again you might not. The Yamahas and Kawais, in my experience, have moved well.
If you're in more of a hurry, place an ad yourself. Be specific as to what brands you are looking for, and indicate what you are prepared to spend. If you're prepared to spend up to $1000, say so. If you're prepared to spend only $500, say so. What you're after is a piano that the vendor is happy to dispose of at well under market value. These pianos are around! Maybe someone will see your ad, look at their Yamaha U1 that is sitting there unused, and say to themselves, "A big screen TV would look really good in that spot!"
If you're in a rural area and the distance involved makes the cost of a professional move prohibitive, paying movers to move the piano out of the vendor's home into a vehicle you are providing is a viable option. I can give more detailed advice on this to help you do it safely.
Floyd Gadd
Manitoba, Canada