Gilbertsville, PA
Quoted from PanzerFreak:Just an update, had the inspection over the weekend and after much debating my wife and I decided not to move forward. The inspection went fairly well except for one issue, that being what the inspector said is a diagonal stress crack going from the main basement beam pocket to the floor, there was also some evidence of water at the bottom of the crack. The inspector said the crack is from settling, very common, and to get an epoxy kit to fix it. Still didn't like seeing it and scared me a bit. The crack was in the 10% area of the basement not finished so who knows if there were anymore behind the drywall in the rest of the basement.
The crack in the wall is one of the reasons we didn't move forward. The housing market is insane right now and for the price we were about to pay it didn't seem worth it for what was in the house and it's configuration. A 30 minute tour of a house isn't enough time to see everything you want to check, especially with this hobby lol. At the inspection we had time to really exam the house. During that time I was able to take measurements and would only have 45 inches from the basement step edge to the wall behind it, in the current house I have 6 feet if needed. With a game on a dolly and an Escalera + myself behind there would be very little room. If you can't tilt an Escalera back far enough and get the balance point correct it's a major pain to use it (as well as dangerous with the weight of a pin).
To make matters worse over half of the finished basement (which is beautiful) only had a ceiling height of 77", the other 1/3 was at 85". I couldn't have the projector setup below and a row of games under the taller area, there just wasn't enough space in that section. Some games stand at 75 - 77" and when you tilt the playfield up it's over that. Finally there was a finished support pole right in the middle of the sight line of where the projector would need to go as well as for seating.
The search continues. Thank you everyone who replied. There's some great suggestions and things for me to take forward with the next one
Two years ago,we were heartbroken when we missed out on a house we really liked. Turns out,we found one that was a lot nicer for the same price. I'm glad the first deal fell through! My buddy who use to sell real estate said"There's a lot of nice houses out there you'll find one". And he was right! It's crazy how things work out sometimes. 
Good luck,There's a lot of nice houses out there,you'll find one. 
