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And absolutely clueless

So I want to endeavor in to learning the piano. I know not much about music (has some feeling for rhythm but no knowledge of notes etc.). I have a 2-year old daughter who likes to "play" on my parents-in-law piano and I always wanted to learn the instrument but put other priorities in front of it until now.

The goal is to learn to play the piano and if I fail (and the daughter shows no further interest) to resell the product for the lowest financial loss. Since my initial budget is approx 1000€ the following options are currently of some interest:

-Buy new Yamaha YDP-162R (approx. 995€)
-Buy new Yamaha YDP-161 (approx. 900€)
-Buy second-hand Yamaha YDP-140 (400€) or YDP-141(600€)
-Buy Casio PX-750 (approx. 870€)

Other options and suggestions are welcome. I think the YDP-140 is interesting since it's the lowest initial investment but I wonder how big the resale value will be within 1 year?

TBH digital pianos are mini computers, and these things depreciate FAST.

I've seen PX850s about a year old go for £450 (retail at £800).

While on ebay there are people flying kites and selling 5-10 year old digital pianos with like £100 off the retail price they paid 10 years ago, you notice they never really sell them or they stick them on another advert site trying again and again.

Case in point the P155 somebody was selling it was advertised at £900, it kept on being advertised until it went down to £595. It took half a year to get here.

Your comment about "If I fail" and if your daughter shows no further interest, makes me skeptical about your level of commitment to this endeavor.

Learning to play the piano takes a high level of commitment for a very long period of time with little reward early on.
If you have not made up your mind to stay with it for at least a year (preferably 2) with regular practicing every day, the chances of you succeding are not good.

In consideration of that, I would suggest you keep your initial expense as low as possible and a good option for you would be the CASIO PX-150.

Good Luck

Best bet for minimizing the cost of ownership over a small amount of time is to buy a Yamaha (brand recognition makes it easy to resell) and to stay away from very high end models, as well as the lowest end stuff.

I'd say either the YDP 161 or 162 would do pretty well on the new side. Of course, buying a used piano means you can likely resell it for almost the same as what you bought it for, so it would be hard to beat the YDP141. Though the 161 and 162 have the more expensive Yamaha action.

My first DP was a P-80 that I bought for $900. I resold it on craiglist 7 years later for $600 and people were banging down my door for it. In my opinion that is doing pretty good. Compared to other electronics, DP's hold their value extremely well.

A big consideration is where you live. If you live in a rural area, craigslist won't help you much and you are likely not to get a good price. In a big city, the market is much more competitive and you lose comparatively little (I was in Chicago when I sold my last piano). Ebay you tend to lose more because pianos are not easy to ship and people just don't tend to look for big items like that on ebay.

There are loads of YDP 131`s on Ebay; Don`t know what they sound like (can`t be that bad) but they seem the most popular . . .you should get one for a good price.

It`s of note that years ago, your parents got an acoustic at (relatively) huge expense so the incentive to learn was that much greater.

It was enforced rigidly in some cases!

FWIW --

Learning piano as an adult is not easy. It can, however, be very rewarding. You won't know how you feel, until you start taking lessons.

In another recent thread, a brand-new Roland -- the F-20 -- has appeared as a challenger against the Yamaha and Casio and Korg in the "beginner marketplace". So you might want to add that to the list.

. Charles

PS -- I have a Casio PX-350. It would be a decent choice, IMHO.