As someone whose primary musical genre was Irish traditional until fairly recently, I've spent a lot of time with fiddlers and played fiddle very briefly myself. What people have said about bows is absolutely correct. Fortunately, there are now good carbon fiber bows that cost less than a comparable pernambuco bow. As with most instruments, getting a good fiddle has its rewards in ease of playing and quality of tone. Around here, there has been a real shift in the availability of fiddles/violins. People with fiddles worth a grand or two were having a hard time selling them because there was a flood of wealthy kids whose parents thought that they should start on a $10,000 violin. So, above $5,000 was all the local dealers seemed interested in. There are scads of very decent violins laying around in people's attics. But everyone thinks their violin is a Cremonese masterpiece (hey, it says Stradivari on the inside) and many are in godawful condition. Separated tops and backs are an easy fix as long as they're intact, by the way. If the back has popped off but is in one piece, that instrument may be a real bargain and it's not a huge problem to fix if everything is in good shape.
There are also decent quality Chinese violins now on the market. Eastmans get a lot of respect and are affordable. That might be a good option as a first violin because it should be reliable, decent, and affordable. Hunting down a bargain from among the under-the-bed specimens can be fun and rewarding but might better be left for a time after you've developed more of a sense of what you're wanting a violin to be. Also, remember that string choices have a pretty substantial impact.
Hope these ideas help in your search.