basements and such

A couple weeks ago I started looking at houses. In the process, I've discovered cute dogs, poorly designed, chopped-up homes, ugly kitchens, OLD stoves, lots of one bedrooms that market themselves as two bedrooms, great houses on bad streets, bad houses on great streets and some questionable basements, like the basement room walled off with wood paneling that contains strange cubbies and a very ornate wooden china cabinet put into the wall tackily. The floor is cement. The windows are barred off. Hmmm ... More interesting was the basement that I am convinced was a bar during prohibition.

Tip 1) There's a bathroom, but no real rooms.
Tip 2) Lots of ornate wooden half-walls that I can envision seperating booths/tables.
Tip 3) Back door entrance into basement area.
Tip 4) Large sink in basement.
Tip 5) A wine cellar area near the rear.

Time to do some real research. Who knew basements could contain such secrets ...