No cold air return.....advice?

My husband and I are first time homebuyers and are rather clueless to the what have you's regarding home repair/appliances/etc.

That being said, we are really interested in a particular home, but just got the inspection done and there are basement issues.

The house was built in 1900, so we expected some. One of them, being the biggest ticket item was an older furnace (23 years old, but ran fine and burners looked good and seemed well maintained) with no cold air return. Neither of us knew what this meant, and the inspector explained it mostly and gave us a liberal estimate of what having it done would cost.

The home, if we purchase will have a home warranty and I know they vary from state to state, and from warranty to warranty. And from what I am gathering on the Internet, it seems cold air return issues are a problem in most older homes.

If it were you, would you completley back away from a home with this problem? Because of the home warranty, we are doubting that the seller will lower his price....but Im not sure if cold air returns are something commonly covered/repaired/installed in these situations, because it seems you can live without it.

If this made any sense, and you have any advice, I would love to hear it. Thank you.

I would look into an efficency test on that furnace. Technology has advanced over the years, and even a clean-looking furnace can be a poor performer. If nothing else, the test will give you a hint of what is worth doing with the furnace, and possibly give you some leverage with the homeowner.