I might as well add our story. We had lived in a few rental property's in the area and wanted a place of our own. The neighbor had a place for sale but his price was way beyond our budget. He told me that the appraisal was $80,000 but he would let us have the acreage for the good deal of $60,000. I offered him $30,000 as that was what I could afford. He didn't accept it so I told him to put the real estate sign up and try and sell it. This was about April/June. In October he had a auction to sell his equipment etc. and the acreage was also auctioned. The bid would not buy the land. The bid became a real estate offer to purchase.
I still remember standing there with my heart in my throat. All of a sudden there was a bid for $25,000. Where did that come from? I never saw anybody. I found out later that another neighbor had left a bid of that amount with the auctioneer. The auctioneer worked for a while for a $30,000 bid and couldn't get it. I motioned for half and then all of a sudden I was the winning bidder at $27,500. The auction was over.
The auctioneer came to me and said that the reserve on the place was for $35,000. If I would raise my offer to $30,000 he would reduce his real estate fees and try to talk the owner into taking $30,000. The place was ours! We went looking for a mortgage. My mil gave us $15,000. We needed a loan for the rest which meant I needed an appraisal. I just happened to walk into the real estate office where unknown to me the owner had paid for an appraisal. The office gave us a copy and that was good enough for the bank. The amount on the appraisal was $32,200. We've lived here 28 years.
I'll add that possession day came and the owner and I took a walk around the property. (3 acres) I asked him if there was anything that he really didn't want me to touch as everybody has their pet projects. I'll never forget his answer. "Ernie, this is your place now!"