The last thing I want to do is buy a site that Google has already banned or decided it is not worthy of receiving traffic. Besides asking the owner if it was ever advertised on a PPC network, what do I need to look out for or be cautious about?
i believe google checks the dates when domain names change owners, so it "should" be clear before they take any action against you.
this is not a definite rule, but in my experiencesm its always been true
start a campaign in adwords and see for yourself.. safest bet!
The site as it is now is definitely not set up for what Google wants. If I submitted an ad, chances are good they would label it a bridge page which would cause the problem I'm trying to avoid.
just out of curiousity..why would you need an aged site for adwords? Why can't you just randomly pick a site and advertise on adwords to build some history?