2000 Honda Civic Automatic Transmission very tight

Hi,

I am planning to buy this car, CIVIC 2000 4DR Sedan, From a guy in criag list, he is not the owner. I had a test driver, The car was very clean no accidents, and runs very smoothly. But the shift is very tight. When i asked the guy about that, he says , it was the same way when he bought from other guy, Is it normal. How much it would cost, to fix that, or it is ok drive like that. Please let me know.

Thanks,
Mathi