Newby looking for some advice.

[Theodore Allabaugh]

Hello, I'm fairly new to real estate investment and have a question about a deal I'm working on.First let me tell you a little about myself.
Ive been trolling this site now for several months and finally decided to become a member. Ive been reading everything I can for the past 10 months or so on real estate investment and kinda feel like I have a bad case of the head spins from information overload.
I'm 26 years old from Northeast Pa and I'm a full time college student studying business at a local college.I have a full-time job that earns me a little under 30k a year before taxes.I own my own home outright with no mortages or liens.I did own my own retail business for 3 years and I really love everything about business.
As far as my REI experience goes, I feel like I have a pretty solid start for my age.I purchased my own home as a forclosure roughly 3 years ago and have been able to pay it off after selling my business.My home unfortunatly is not worth very much(under 40k).I also assisted my brother in purchasing a house for his family last year off of an auction site.It went pretty smoothly for the most part.
Ive been trying to get off the sidelines now for a while and already missed out on one deal.I chalk it up to me being hesitant and timid.The house sold very quickly.I regret not making an offer on it but it's a lesson learned.

Ok, now for my question.I found another house that I am interested in. Ive talked to the owner briefly and only seen pictures so far of the inside of the house.I walked around the outside of the house.The outside looks in good shape and the pictures out the inside look good. I will be touring the inside this weekend.
The owner said I can do financing through them and he said he wanted a 35% down payment.He is only asking 18k for the house and property.The 35% seems kinda high to me.He claims the reason for sale is that his late mother owned the property and he does not want to deal with it.
So what do you guys/gals think of 35% down?What are your thoughts?Any advice would be greatly appreciated.Thanks for reading.