Government Auction

[Account Closed]

Help and advice, PLEASE!

I have never invested in real estate before but have wanted to for the last 10 years.... but now may be the right opportunity. There is a government USDA auction tomorrow at 1:00 on a property that I'm interested in. I've NEVER been to one before and I'm so nervous about the whole process. I've called the clerk's office, the USDA office, and the trustee's office. Here are the details that I have thus far:

1943 brick ranch (in a nice family neighborhood)
3 bed/ 2 bath
1020 sq ft

Estimated value based on tax value is $88k - $95k
Opening bid from gov't is $26,120

I cannot see the inside beforehand.

I looked at the register of deeds records online and see that the owner purchased the house with a USDA backed mortgage back in Dec 1999 with an $86,817 mortgage. No other records on the property so I'm assuming that there are no other liens to worry about.

I am supposed to show up with 5% of the bid price in cash or official check. So, if my max is $60k that I'm willing to pay, I need to just bring $3k. Then the winning bidder has to wait 10 days for any upset bidding. After that, I'd have 20 days to show up with the rest of the money.

Ok, so am I missing anything at this point? If it helps, I'm in NC. I've never done anything like this before and I'm scared silly but I won't learn without jumping in, right? How much would you guys bid on this house??