Can I make a deal out of this situation?

[Mathew Morford]

Hello everyone, 

I have a neighbor who approached me about his current situation. He has recently moved out of his property next door to mine and wants to sell it. It needs a decent amount of work. He does own 5.2 acres. This is a rural area. His house is still standing and the structure seems to be sound, but he said it needs a lot of work. I imagine it needs north of $30k worth of work. 

Zillows estimate shows it to be worth closer to $189k, but I haven't ran the ARV on it myself yet. He wants to sell it to me because he is old school and believes in friendships and only wants me to have it. I have the ability to get a HELOC on my current home to buy it, but I don't know if I want to try to purchase his home because it is in a rural area.

That being said, the place he is currently living was supposed to be sold to him on an owner financing contract, but the person passed away. The person who inherited it wants to just sell it and gave him 90 days to come up with $100k to buy the place. He is struggling to get that, so he has to sell his house on the 5.2 acres. He asked if I wanted to buy it closer to $100k. He might be able to make up the rest of what ever I can get. 

With it being in a rural area, is it possible to do a double closing on this? Has anyone had any luck with wholesaling in a rural area? I thought if I could get it on a cheaper deal, that I could possibly make some money off of it. 

The property is mostly trees and hasn't been logged. He was quoted $20k just for that, but never wanted to do it. 

Any ideas or suggestions would be great. 

Thanks,

Mat