Buying a house from an estate sale

[Joseph Leonard]

BP Community - give me some ideas here:

I found a house listed on Craigslist listed as an estate sale. An older man passed away, did not leave a will and now his kids are having to sell it as an estate sale. The seller told me they have to sell it at the appraised value which is $80k. This figure would not make sense with the amount it would rent for. The house also still has a loan on it (amount unknown right now - working on finding that out) which the kids have been paying on.

I need to get this house substantially below $80k but it seems like the lawyers of the estate or whoever is handling the estate won't allow that to happen. I need to get it at around $48k-50k max. The seller I spoke with seems pretty motivated to sell it because like I said they've been making the mortgage and utility payments on it and they have no use for it. Any ideas here BP community or is this pretty much a lost cause?