My first post & questions about my first land buy

[Kurt Von]

Hello all! This is my first post. I'm located in the NYC metro area in NJ. My plan is to do my investing in the Adirondack area near Lake Placid, my favorite place to escape to.

My current situation: I've been out of school for a few years. No debt and have a decent amount in savings so far. I'm looking to buy some land and have a small cabin built which would ultimately be rented out via Airbnb. My expertise is marketing, media, automation so I have a solid plan to market my future cabin.

So I guess my question for everyone would be: I have been looking for land over 6 months so far and when I'm upstate I always take a look at the places I like. I have only found one that I really see some potential in. It's set in a beautiful location with gorgeous tall pines. The location is fairly ideal but it does sit on a main road so do you hear some noise from traffic. I had found this property online awhile ago but it was pulled by the real estate agent. I spoke to him and it seems like it wasn't getting any traction. It was then listed for sale by owner. I called him and spoke with him briefly and he had just listed it that day with another agent. I immediately called the agent to get some more info on it and to see the deed. 

After looking at the deed, it seems like the property was acquired by the state due to tax foreclosure and then turned around and sold the the current owner for $2,500 and its listed at 35K right now. What a deal for the current owner!

I am considering making an offer on the property given I find more info on any restrictions/covenants it may have. I personally believe the property will sit for sometime given it's by a main road and the property doesn't have much space for a large property. However for what I'm looking to do... small cabin for short term rentals it seems like it would fit well.

So my question: if I decided to make an offer do I come in very low (cash) considering the guy picked it up for only $2,500 and the property is likely to sit given it's past history of not getting any traction / real estate turn over.