That annoying that your buddy is Bogarting a lathe he will never use but a least it is inside so someday in the future it maybe useful. I know of a few machines that were stored under tarps for a "couple days" five or more years ago that are boat anchors now.
The prices for machine tools right now seem to be down from what I have seen in the past, I'm guessing due to the slow economy and people having time to clean up and sell stuff that has been sitting in their garage or out buildings. I have seen some decent lathes on craigslist for 1k-3k depending on make and condition. I actually found an almost identical copy of my lathe on Ebay for under 3k, of course it is 500 miles from me. If you are brave enough to play the industrial auction game you can find some screaming deals, but be aware of buyers premiums, rigging fees, etc.
Of course a lot of the best deals are word of mouth, someone has a lathe they don't want anymore and will sell for a low price to someone who will use if and then they don't have to deal with people from facebook/craigslist. But you have to know someone who knows someone who knows someone to get those deals.
They will never beat a $400 mini lathe on price especially once you factor in running electrical and making/buying a phase converter for 3 phase machines but if you can swing 3x to 5x more money you could get 10x the machine.
And I'm not trying to be an elitist, mini lathes have their place but there are other options for those that are interested.