This is tough, I just went through this recently for a car for daughter and still open for replacement for our Volvo, so much stuff and with a lot of miles and many owners.   
For my daughter, I bought a one owner 2002 civic with 120,000 miles for $3500.  Overall, it seems ok, however a couple weeks later, I needed to get the 5 speed manual transmission rebuild.  I was pretty ticked, cause Honda are pretty durable...  Not really, so a rebuilt transmission and new clutch put me right at the $5k mark.  The next week, the ac quit working and I am not going to mess with it now.   
I will you luck.  I noticed you work for a dealership, so I would hope you could get a better used deal than some of us than on the open market.