Asset Management & Recovery

Peter Gehres from our firm was recently featured in the Ohio State University Alumni magazine.  Peter works with us as a real estate agent and auctioneer for residential and commercial properties.  He also has a unique expertise in pottery and is known across the midwest for his semi-annual pottery auctions.

Below is a link to Peters recent interview as part of the OSU feature.

 http://www.ohiostatealumni.org/media/Pages/gehresvideo.aspx 

My friend and workout partner Judge Michael Holbrook is running for his second term as a Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge.  Judge Holbrook presides over all levels of criminal cases as well as civil matters over $15,000 in value including various real estate related matters.

Next week the Committee to Re-Elect Judge Holbrook will be hosting a fundraiser at Scioto Country Club.  I encourage you to come out, meet the judge and get involved in the local government races and political process.  Please see below for details.

Today's post again stems from a question asked by an Active Rain reader.  

Question - I'd love to know how much auctioneers make each year.

Answer - This is a difficult question to answer as there are many types of auctioneers all over the country and the value attributed to a dollar differs from area to area.  For example, I'd need to make 3 times as much if I lived in New York to have the lifestyle I have in Columbus, Ohio.

All things being equal, the amount of money an auctioneer can make is directly related to the value of the items they sell and also their role within the auction process. 

Many auctioneers will earn a commission based on the gross sale value.  Large auctions of antiques, collectibles or machinery and equipment can easily reach into the millions while smaller auctions can have only a few thousand dollars worth of goods for sale.  Real estate auctions can range from a few thousand dollars into the multiple millions of dollars as well.

There are also auctioneers who earn a living as a "bid caller".  These auctioneers do not generally book auctions on a commission basis, but earn an hourly or daily rate for their services.  Usually their main responsibility is to call or chant the sale.  Professional bid callers are commonly employed at livestock auctions or auto auctions although they are employed in other business lines as well.  One of the auctioneers in our firm is predominantly a professional bid caller, but also books some of his own auctions so the rule is not that hard and fast.

A professional bid caller can probably make a minimum of $100 per day, plus travel expenses all the way up to $1,000 or more.  Starting out, however, new auctioneers will often work for free in order to gain experience.

When booking an auction on a commission basis, the amount of work and value of the asset needs to be reviewed in order to properly set your rates. 

I don't think it would be appropriate to discuss commission rates however I have seen some auctioneers charge fees that are a lot lower than real estate agent might think they would, all the way up to a situation where the seller will give the auctioneer the item for free and the auctioneer makes it disappear, ie. a 100% commission. 

I can tell you that I am currently seeking an auctioneer/broker/finder to be responsible for business development on our commercial real estate auction side.  I would expect the right person, devoted to prospecting and finding good leads that I could close into auction listings, should earn a minimum of $40,000 and reasonably in the mid 50's.

Today's post stems from a question asked by another Active Rain reader.

Question - I am very curious about the whole foreclosure/auction process and how it relates to REALTORS (like is there any chance for a REALTOR to escape with his/her commission in fact if s/he is the person who found the property and has done the legwork and is under an Exclusive Right to Represent with a Buyer??)

Would s/he accompany the client to the auction?

Possibly there is a way to pull a property back from the brink and keep the commission that has been earned...could you do a post about that? 

Answer - More times than not, the county sheriff will auction off the property on a set date at a set time.  Columbus, Ohio is in Franklin County and our sheriff auctions are every Friday morning where over 200 properties are offered for sale.  It is extremely rare to see an agent in the room with a buyer, although it does happen.  In this situation, any commission that may have been offered by the property owner during a listing period would not be paid.  The property is not being sold by the title holder.  It is being sold by the sheriff pursuant to a court order directing the sale.  The terms of that court order would be followed and likely will not include payment of a buyer broker fee.

If the agent had an Exclusive Right to Represent and took a buyer to the sheriff sale, they should be looking to the buyer to pay their fees.  

Sometimes a lender may elect to engage a professional auctioneer to conduct the foreclosure auction in lieu of the county sheriff.  I don't know if all states allow this, however in Ohio the foreclosing party has the option of the county sheriff or a licensed auctioneer.  Ohio Revised Code 2329.151 states the following:  "All public auctions of goods, chattels, or lands levied upon by execution shall be conducted personally by an officer of the court or by an auctioneer licensed under Chapter 4707 of the Revised Code."  In this type of action, it is possible and even likely that the auctioneer is going to earn a commission for selling the property.  Often, but not always, the auctioneer will be willing to pay a co-op to any agent that brings a buyer to the auction.  In the foreclosure auctions we undertake, a 3% buyer broker co-op is offered.

It is possible to pull a property back from the brink and that decision will be made by the foreclosing bank.  The bank will usually want a guarantee of a closing.  In the situations I have been involved with, the lender will want the property to close in advance of the sheriff auction or to have the contract be non-contingent with a large non-refundable deposit tendered.

Last week I felt more like an accountant than anything else.  Financial models created for management operations of 4 buidings, 2 receivership actions, the next 6 months of corporate marketing expenses, adjustments in staff payroll, 3 auction budgets for portfolio proposals, analysis of buying vs. leasing a new car and a couple of negotiations with contractors who came in with higher numbers than we wanted.

This weekend is going to be a ton of fun with spreadsheets identifying the net return on asset sales utilizing various terms and closing dates then drafting counters that fit the desired financial profile. 

Frankly, I am thrilled that we are not taking over operations of a poker club that is having a big partnership dispute.

About a month ago our auction group was hired by a local bankruptcy trustee to sell a residential property at auction.  The lender objected to the offering for a number of reasons, but basically they didn't want the property offered absolute and regardless of price. 

After receiveing the objection, the trustee asked me to testify in bankruptcy court in Columbus Ohio regarding the benefits of utilizing absolute auctions vs. reserve auctions.  This as an opportunity to get a bankruptcy court ruling that auctions are good and absolute auctions are even better.

Since the impact of the decision would carry so much weight in future cases, both the trustee and I prepared diligently spending hours researching data, developing a spreadsheet showing holding costs, etc.  The whole 9 yards.

So we show up at the hearing, spend 2 minutes with the banks attorney and next thing I know the objection is withdrawn.  Long and short of it is that we win.  No hearing.  No decision. 

I love winning, but would have really loved making the argument and being able to say that the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Ohio believes that absolute auctions are better than reserve auctions.

Oh, the answer to the question?  Basically, reserve auctions don't offer the prospect of a real deal and absolute auctions bring out the greed in people.  The greed drives people to show up at a sale.  The more people, the more excitement and the more bidding.

That's the short version anyhow.

Since the fall of last year I have been working extremely hard on growing the auction side of the business.  It has fallen off a little bit as we have taken on more and more receiver work.  There were just not enough hours in the day to take it all on.  We were able to hire some great people and this has given me the opportunity to re-focus on the auction division. 

Wednesday was a full day at the Ohio Auctioneers Association summer conference and the afternoon session was a panel of 3 bankers and one insolvency attorney talking about what they wanted out of service providers.

It was interesting to find out that the bankers receive calls from approximately 150 brokers and auctioneers each year, but only work with 5-6.  That means that their vendors, in their opinion, are in the top 4% of the people who contact them. 

From working in this arena most of my career it was also interesting to listen to likes and don't likes about their vendors and prospective vendors.  It was good to sit in and have my guesses reinforced.  Like most people, bankers and lawyers don't like:

• Too much calling
• Fluffy postcards.  They don't care about cat training tips or new chicken recipes.
• Negative talk about others

What they do like:

• You understanding their job and how the process works.
• One stop shops
• Not bothering them with little things
• Data

If anyone is interested, I'll be setting up CE classes for the fall for Bankruptcy and Receiver Transactions as well as Prospecting Bankers and Attorney's.  We are working on a Central Ohio Schedule for live classes and possibly webinars.

I just returned from Chicago last night and I think it has been decided that we will not expand, at least right now, outside of the Ohio region.  Being based in Columbus, Ohio we can get to almost any location in the state in about 2 hours.  Indianapolis is just a little farther.

By staying in Ohio and not expanding right now we are able to continue to keep overhead low and remain able to take on smaller projects.  In 2009 we had over 30 receiver projects with asset values under $200,000 and sold over 300 lower valued inner city properties when smaller investors we not able to keep up their investment.

If we expand, there will be more time spent on the road with more expense in travel and time will be spent in transit instead of working on a project.  We'd need to turn down the smaller project and wouldn't be able to assist our clients.

It seems like staying local is more profitable.

Our office has been appointed receiver over a few new projects that will soon have property available in Columbus Ohio.  John and Dan from the brokerage side will be handling the listings.

• 3 Office Condo's in Hilliard from 1400sf to 1750 sf.  $90/sf or lease fr $8.25.
• Gas station + retail space at Stelzer and Agler $685,000 +/-.
• Car wash / drive through liquor + industrial on Refugee and Old Courtright.  Not priced.

We also have 3 office condos in Dublin that are about to be abandoned from the bankruptcy.  900sf - 1400sf.  CHEAP at $70/sf.

Also, if anyone is looking for a nice 3br/2.5 ba with partially finished basement, we know of an absolute steal in Trabue Woods.

The 365 unit apartment building is in contract, but there are more coming so get with John if you are looking.  We have 48 units still available that are a total rehab project.

Lastly, the boat / RV shop is going to be coming up for auction late summer but can be sold in advance.

I'm out for the next couple of days, but you can reach John at 614-226-2001 for details on any of these projects.