Trying to keep it in the Family

[johnnymac46]

I am currently looking into buying a second property, its 150 acres in Kentucky. Its typical rolling hills, huge fields, massive trees. This property has been in my family since at least the 1860's as far as I know. As long as I can remember we have been having family gatherings, reunions, christmas' here. My grandfather recently passed away, and to save family disputes and other problems with splitting the property between 7 children it was decided to auction it off.

Here's where I'm clueless...

I own a home in Virginia, which I bought in 2008 with a VA loan. I understand how buying a house works. What I dont understand is how to buy a house that is up for auction? If I was to buy this would I need to have the money in the bank(pay cash)? or do I just need to get approved for and have money for a down payment? I dont personally know anyone who has bought a house/farm at auction. I can't contend if someone with an unlimited budget shows up and wants it. So I'm hoping for a little bit of luck to be on my side when auction time comes.

This is going to put a huge damper on the Camaro but it means more to me and my family, and seems like the right thing to do. I dont want to see the farm get bought up, split, resold and trashed.

As usual thanks for any advice or help with sorting this out I'm workin the Google machine to try to figure it out on my own as well.