I just had a quick comment about pianos. We bought one last year for DD and decided to go with a nice once because we knew it would get used (even if she didn't play seriously, which was never really a consideration). It has been great; she plays and composes.
However, the place we bought it from has a rent to buy program so you can try me out and see if the child sticks with it. There is no extra cost for renting over buying except you have to pay the delivery fee; it's actually a great deal because everything you pay in rent goes towards purchase. We only decided to buy to save the delivery fee because we were fairly sure we wanted to buy.
I don't know if there is an option like that near you, but it may be worth asking around. They also allow you to trade up for a nicer piano at a later time at our store; I think piano sales are relatively low these days, so promotions may be more common than they used to be.
