[PAPABEAR1126]

I tried to search and read everything I could in the archives here and Googled and read all could find, now I turn to a few of you who I trust on the subject since there appears to be a lot of wrong info. out there and because it changes and I am not up on the topic lately at least.
I need a domain.
I am considering buying an expired domain.
Is it really worth the extra work to try and find a good expired domain name?
Partly in the hopes that it has some partial benefit at least from helping in part to stay out of the sandbox, in part anyway as I know there are other factors with the sandbox such as incomig link quality etc. etc.

I have never bought an expired domain and want to avoid the pitfalls such as buying a penalized or banned domain.

I have been reading all I can find but hope for final summary from a few of you folks I trust, and possibly the url of a site that sells expired domains that are not a rip-off?

I read in one place to check the old domain to see if it is indexed in any SE's?
Check it on the way back machine to see if it was a legit site?
Do a who is followed by a previous owners name if it can be found to see if they have a lot of domains registered to their name?

Any other tips or thoughts?
Is it even worth my time?
Thanks gang!
Frank