Good used quipment for my MOM!

RJ California

Oops! Re-post -- Looks like this is the proper discussion area for this question.

I've been in the sign business for about 20 years and I would like to help my mom set up a small embroidery and promotional products business in my shop. We just became active with ASI for the promotional products and we are thinking about getting into embroidery on a small scale with a 1 or 2 head machine.
I would really appreciate advice on good brands, etc.
Ideally I would like to find a good used machine from someone in a western state that would be willing to give us a little hands on training. I'd like her to be able to do caps and shirts of course. I'd like to be able to do that puff effect also (for our own sign shirts if nothing else ). We do not plan to do our own digitizing.
I'd like to keep my budget for a decent used machine with decent software at around $5000 +/- Is this possible?

Thanks for any help!