I don't remember exactly how long my piano search back in 1995/1996 took, but it was several months.
My search started after I played in a recital at my teacher's house. My teacher had a 7 foot Kawai in her apartment. On the way home, my wife said "If she can get a grand piano into her apartment, we could get one into our house".
The next day I was on it!
I started at the Kawai dealership. They had an RX-1 that I really liked, but I wanted to try some other pianos before buying.
I tried pianos at many piano dealerships. I read Larry Fine's Piano book. I kept going back to the Kawai dealership and liking that RX-1. The salesperson kept telling my how much like a Steinway the RX-1 was. I was in the process of learning about piano brands and I really didn't know much about Steinway and I wasn't considering them at all, but the comparisons with Steinway made me curious.
(Note to piano salespeople: DO NOT compare pianos you sell to pianos you don't sell, especially if the customer doesn't ask you to. That Kawai salesperson ended up selling me a Steinway from another dealer!)
I went to the Steinway dealership and the salesperson there was incredibly rude so I left. I played an old used Steinway at another dealership and had an ephiphany: this is what all the recordings I listen to sound like! I decided I had to have that sound! I realize now that this was Steinway's artist program strategy working on me.
It took at least another two months from deciding I wanted a Steinway to finding a used one that I was willing to buy. I ended up with a 1951 M in very nice playing condition. It has been a great piano for me! By 2021 it was showing its age so I had a bunch of work done on it and it's now better ever!