Should I buy a domain?

A particular domain is available for purchase or at least they are taking offers. How can I tell it the domain isn't penalized, spammed to death or crap etc.?

Search domain.com in google and if it pops up, most likely isn't penalized.

Search domain in ahrefs and check it's backlink profile. Look for links that you personally wouldn't want a link from. If there are a bunch of these, domain is trash.

Search domain in archive.org and see what kind of stuff was on it in the past.

Also check with opensiteexplorer.org the domain authority and page authority and the backlinks.

neat tips on buying a domain...thanks