I was thinking along those lines not long ago and bought an RV-4; I wasn't disappointed.
A little restrictive if you're large or want to carry a lot of luggage.
An RV-8 gets round those problems, but would blow your budget.
Falcos - very nice - but complex structures likely to need more TLC; and probably over budget.
There are a couple of nice RV-4s on the market at the moment - asking a bit more than your target.
PM if you need to know more.