Jim,
Yeah it's tempting that first house we came close to putting an offer on. It had some major issues back in 1989 when we checked it out. The basement was mostly a shallow affair maybe 5 feet or so with dirt floors except for the area with the furnace. The main supporting beam had a major break in it. It had also had an electrical fire which caused some minor damages.
The elderly owner hadn't done much in the way of upkeep, we probably should have had a structural engineer take a look at it. Odds are jacking it up and putting in a couple of I-beams would have done the trick.
At the time ours would have gone for about $120m + this one was listed for $140m. Renovated overlooking the lake in the current condition probably close to $1.5 million today.
We probably could have gotten it in decent condition with an outlaw of $60m at the time....water under the bridge.