The only complication with the basement was the furnace.
It was old, & built to last.
When I bought this place, that was entirely one of the big selling points. The upstairs plan was relatively new, but the furnace in the basement was an antique. The deranged thing is, it was stronger & more reliable than any modern furnace. It had worked reliably as a oil furnace & a water boiler for forty years, & honestly had another twenty years left in it. These are all enjoyable things, especially with the cold winters every one of us get around here. The complication is that the ancient furnace throws out a lot of ambient heat. It works enjoyable for heating up the whole house, but it also turns the basement into a dry sauna whenever it’s running. This means I can’t use the basement for recreational purposes, but also I can’t even use it for storage. Subjecting boxes of clothes & books to such intense heating is not a enjoyable idea. In a perfect world I would turn the basement into a apartment gym, but until I want to invest in a whole modern heating plan I can forget about that! It’s far too sizzling next to the furnace to have a quality workout. If I do get a modern furnace I will also need a modern sizzling water heater, because the water boiler is a part of the furnace. My only choices are to be patient, or sink a ton of money into a modern heating system, & I don’t want to do either!