First of all, welcome to the Forum & a big Happy Birthday to you!

My suggestion, since it's a small town, is to visit the courthouse & take a look at deeds for the surrounding properties (assuming price is public info in your area). Then, you'd have something to show the owner to bolster your conversation. Alternatively, tax assessments will give a price relationship of one property to another (although maybe not exact market value). You have knowledge of the auction prices locally & those may also support your offer.

Preparing & taking with you a list of things the home truly needs & a realistic estimate of their cost is another suggestion for a negotiating tool.

It sounds like you live in a casual & intimate area (meaning that folks all know each other if not well at least by sight). Normally, I'd not make these suggestions but in an area such as yours, sometimes, just straight talk is best. If they know you, then they'll also know that your intent is not to insult them.

At this offer price ($60K) versus a $30K purchase price plus a guess at $5K for the upgrades...that's not a bad investment over 15 years.

What would you 'guess' - timate market value to be if the property were completely restored? That's another way to back into a realistic value in present condition.

Good luck & keep us posted.

Tricia

I agree with Triciae...if you can justify your price to the seller, I think he/she is more likely to accept it and not be insulted.

How about hire an appraiser to do the appraisal for you? Then show that to the seller?

This would be an appraisal without going inside, measuring, etc. If the appraiser can see some inside photos or get some specifics from you, maybe that would help.

Thanks for the quick replies. Yes I have researched assessed values, and they are in the high 40s, mid 50s.
Homes are suppossed to be assessed at 100%, but our assessor is quite conservative in this area when it comes to older homes.
Most of the homes in this area are in the 1930s vintage, and well kept but not extravagant. Farm houses mostly, but
well manicured, etc. Has anyone here ever used Zillow.com?
It seems like a good resource for a)aerial photographs of properties, b)public assessment, tax, and sales history information. This is what I used for my info, and I checked it against known info for my own current property and it seems accurate.
To answer Tricia's question, if this house were completely updated/restored, I would guess that the market value in this area would be between 75 and 85k depending on how extensive the updates, etc. My in laws purchased a home in this area that had been completely reworked, for 85k. It is possible that the plantings, unique character and lot location might squeeze another few thousand out, but overall the market just would not bear a buyer if the price grew beyond that. There is a hole in the market from the 80's/90s up to the 200k+ mark, that's just the plain truth.

The main thing to check out is structure. You mentioned a basement, you might check for water damage, actual damage to the walls of the basement, termites and/or wood ants, asbestis, animals, insect, bats, etc in the attic etc. Especially in a rural area, little critter seem to get into places they shouldn't. Make sure, if your area requires code inspections, the work done was done under permits. Also what about the water and sewer system, pipes. Good luck

Our mid-sized city functions much like a small town. You've done your homework, so the next step for us would be to call them up and meet for a cup of coffee. Open ended conversation like, "Hey, Joe. I'm really interested in the home you have for sale but I'm a bit confused by the prices of the other homes in your area. Can you tell me a bit more?" And then see what he has to say. You may or may not want to proceed further, but since it's a "know everyone" type of situation my first contact wouldn't be an offer or anything to try and prove he's wrong on the pricing. I'd let his responses guide how I would proceed.

Gloria

I'm w/ Gloria--I'd try to have some more open-ended conversations, so you're not committed (bcs in that size of community, and a 40% difference in money, I think you would end up insulting him), and so you get an opportunity to warm him up to the idea that you want to offer only a little over half of what he wants to get. And you can get a sense of whether he's at all willing to bend.

And it gives you a chance to educate him about the market (talking about your in-law's house and their price tag, etc.), and he can still back down, or at least be ready for a lower price.

His place has only been on the market a couple of weeks--he's probably not ready for a 40% price drop. And you *are* interested right away; that's worth a little more.

Zillow doesn't have a great track record here. I've not personally used it, but lots of people who post here have found lots of errors.

Be sure your research includes recent sales (like your in-laws', but other people's too). That's where I've heard the worst stuff about Zillow.

There's another post here pretty much the same as yours. It's probably on the 1st 3 pages of the forum. There was a lot of good advice from what I remember