Not tacticool, and probably more limited aftermarket options, but I do love my Ithaca Model 37 Featherlight (old enough to be able to slam-fire it). But my bedside shotgun is a Mossberg 500.
Mossberg 500, 590, Maverick 88, Remington 870 are all great small budget options. Shotguns can be very versatile but you need to give real consideration to how you might want to use it.
What shotgun sports are you interested in?
There are a couple local places that have trap and sporting clay courses. My main point was not to limit my options and get the most functionality possible with an initial purchase. I realize if I start doing anything regularly, I will soon be looking for more and better.
Right on. Well if you are interested in shooting trap and or sporting clays, as well as home defense my opinion would be to take a few things into consideration. Buy something with a wood stock. A synthetic stock makes the gun lighter but the trade off is it results in more felt recoil, which will wear you down shooting multiple rounds of trap or a round of sporting clays. Also a synthetic stock may or may not be able to be shortened to install a better recoil pad.
For the best do it all, I would say either a Rem 870, Moss 500 or maybe even a CZ pump (870 clone) with wood stock. A barrel of at least 26" for clays games but most people shoot 28" to as much as 34" on target guns. But 26 or 28 will be a good starting point. Short 20" barrels can be bought for these guns to convert it to being ready to defend the home. The 870 will cost a bit more but overall fit & finish will be better, parts are plentiful and should you sell it or trade it in down the road it will hold more value.
Ithaca has always been one of my favorite shotguns for hunting. Have one in 20 gauge. Plus, bottom ejection. Left handed folks really seem to like them and Brownings for that reason.