Hello Annie and welcome from Germany. Crossing fingers for yours while you currently can't ;-)) Sorry, couldn't resist on this joke.
Just my 2 cents about your sewing machine question: A Pfaff 1471 sounds like a good choice and the price seems to be ok, if the machine still works well/isn't overly used. I'd give it a try, and if it works, I'd take it. Good luck and please tell us what you finally bought.