Question about purchasing a piano as a beginner

[autumn grief]

Hello, i have recently begun seriously studying classical piano however I only have an electronic keyboard that was given to me as a gift to play on.  Naturally I am beginning to want a real piano.  My quesiton is how much can I get a functional and decent sounding full scale apartment sized piano for used?  I do not have thousands of dollars to invest in a piano at this point of my life and I dont see it becoming possible in the near future either.  Is it possible to get a decent used piano for under 2,000$ ?

[Glyptodont]

First of all, I am no expert.

Alas, the dealers in our area rarely sell low-cost used pianos.  They will sell name brands used at about 2/3 the full price.  Example:  A Yamaha upright that lists at $6000 is being sold used for $3900.  This won't help you.

To stay under $2,000, perhaps you could check the classified ads and go out to people's homes who are selling their old piano.

For an apartment, you could perhaps get something small like a spinet.  I know spinets are not highly recommended for their tone and action, but that might be adequate for your needs.  They show up in classified ads used. 

You could probably judge by inspecting a piano if it has had moderate family use, as for kids' lessons, or whether it is an old beater that is falling apart.

One thing to expect is that family pianos being sold will probably be terribly out of tune -- "little Tommy stopped taking lessons six years ago and no one has played it (or tuned it) since."

Don't jump to buy the first one that you see, and don't buy on your first visit.  Think about it for a day.

Good luck=--  I think it can be done.