Black Hills land auction declared ‘no sale’ after confusion

Talk about it

RAPID CITY (AP) — An auction for 40 acres of land in the Black Hills was declared a “no sale” Thursday after the man who made the winning bid realized he was bidding per acre — not for the whole parcel as he had thought.

Matthew Astin, 21, of Hermosa, bid $2,550 during the Thursday morning auction for 40 acres of land west of Deerfield.

Shortly after bidding ended, Astin realized that the bid was per acre, and he could not afford to pay the 20 percent earnest money due immediately or the $102,000 he had actually bid.

Astin, who works for a local concrete company, said he and his brothers planned to use the land for grazing.

Tags: black hills, news, updates, land, auction