expansion error?

[Unregistered]

I wanted to expand..offer to do so if with 30 neighbors, only lacked one...so got two instead....then the offer was GONE! This happened around level 21 or 22 also. Now.I have to spend 40 gems or LOTS of money to do the same thing....What gives?

[Mel19]

You still need to spend gems or coins to purchase an expansion. They aren't free. You need a minimum number of neighbours to "unlock" the option to expand using coins, which you did. When you got your 30 neighbours the option to expand using coins was "unlocked". The cost of expansion will get more expensive each time.