Welcome to the sail ring, a podcast dedicated
to real estate brokers, agents and America as
top option years that keep the markets moving.
Join your host, Sean and Tri as they
talk with most successful realtors, marketing and technology
investors and influencers.
Welcome to the sail ring.
Burt I need to get a rally towel
that says the silver ring on it, so
can just yeah yeah.
It just starts swinging it above my head
and during that intro.
That would be hilarious. A rally tail.
Alright. We'll order those. The sail ring rally
tails, get yours now. Mh. But not yet.
We don't have them. Yeah. Don't don't ask
for any yet.
Mitch Hill, he is gonna join us in
the studio. We're gonna talk about equipment in
auctions,
equipment sales and get a little market update
from Mitch. They see
an not thousands, but hundreds of thousands
of, dollars,
millions of dollars, worth of equipment that is
selling annually and those guys have their finger
on the pulse of what the truck markets
are doing, what the tractor markets are doing.
So,
sure you hooked up, or are are you
with us?
Yeah. Sean, I got. How are you doing,
brother? I'm doing good.
It's... We appreciate you taking the time to
join us. I know you guys are busy
up there in Nebraska
at Sand hills right now with everything that
you have going on.
But,
we we genuinely
appreciate you taking, you know, 20 30 minutes
to talk with Tri and I today and
kinda give us a market update, and then
maybe we dive into auction time,
tractor house, some of the services and and
make sure that, our listeners
understand.
What what's being available? What's being provided to
him? Yeah. Oh, absolutely. No. I appreciate you
bringing on this is always enjoyable.
A couple times you've done this in the
past. Tell
everybody that may be new listening in because
you've been on the show before, but give
us give us a little... Brief intro of
Mitch Alt, who you are, what you do
and and who you're with? Yeah. No. Absolutely.
So Yeah. Is as Sean said, like, I'm
with Seeing those Global. And so San Global,
the the parent company of of some of
the brands you're probably familiar with, like tractor
house, machinery trader truck paper. And then on
the auction side, we have all auction time
and equipment fax.
And so I've been with the company for
almost 20 years. I started
started the tractor outside as a rep,
years ago, working with all the dealers in
the area and then transitioned
into taking over our entire
auction side of the business now, and then
help on our our financing leg as well.
And so
is is kinda Sean
mentioned earlier, you know, because of, you know,
our different marketplaces,
you know,
you know, he said millions, but we have
billions,
of dollars that, that roll through us annually,
You know, just on the retail side, we
have, you know, upwards of a hundred and
50000000000 that transact between the ag construction
and transportation markets. And so
all of that goes into, you know, the
insights and the different tools and, you know,
datasets sets that we can can look at
to, you know, really tell you what's happening
in the market and and, you know, give
you that insight to
you know,
relay relay that to your your cons consumers
and and make decisions on, you know, what
is the best approach to liquidate when it
comes to liquidate and equipment and and what's
gonna get them the biggest return.
You know, I had a conversation with an
auction near the other day, and he had
during the conversation.
He said, well, yeah. I I know auction
time. I've heard of, it's just, you know,
some of these companies have been around a
lot longer and
they they just
I I think maybe their platform more mature
than auction time,
and
and, you know, because they have a lot
more buyers, a lot more sellers. And I
said, Do you actually know who Sand hills
publishing is? I mean, are you familiar with
the company?
Auction time is an online bidding portal that
they have, but
And this guy was about my age. Okay?
So now I'm gonna scroll back to the
late seventies,
the the eighties,
You know, we had a little quick shop
there in town called the Mini mart, you
could go into the Mini mart back then
at any given time, and there's a rack
right inside the door with
truck trader, regular trader, tractor trader, magazines, and
they were free and they were all over
the country. You know, coast coast. You could
just Yeah. Go into a restaurant or into
a quick shop, and pick these magazines up.
And he goes, yeah. No. I used to
read those all the time when I was
kid, and I said, That's auction time. That's
the same company. Because what?
And I I like that is Sand hills
publishing. They've been in the equipment industry. Right?
Agriculture.
Heavy construction over the road trucks. They've been
doing that stuff forever,
you know? And
So this this vision that you have is
like, well, I think they're doing great, but,
you know, they kinda just emerged in the
last 10 years. No. They were the runner.
They they were the company that set the
pace for everybody else. Yeah. Yeah. It's kinda
funny bring up the print like that because...
You know, print is still a huge part
of our business. Mh. And, you know, the
the media in general, you know, purchase portrays
purchase portrays, you know, print to be dead.
And, you know, in in our industry, like,
with trade public
publications, it's still flourishing in our in our
distribution,
keeps increasing on a on a weekly monthly
basis. And so, you know, it's it's changed
a little bit where, you know, people, yeah.
They are still buying, but it's turned into
more of a physical search engine. And so
the more that we print and the more,
like, distribution we get out it, those places
you mentioned, like, the, you know, the truck
stops and the feed stores, gas stations places
like that,
you know, where our buyer base is visiting,
the more web traffic we have. And so
it ultimately drives people to the Internet, you
know, on the places like tractor house, you
know, truck paper, machine trader auction time, you
know, to go look at more equipment, and,
in turn, you know,
drives that people to the to, you know,
your exposure and when you are having an
auction on auction time. And so it it
this print world really works full circle with
the web and is still, you know, very,
very valid, you know, and why we, you
know, print millions of publications on a, on
a weekly basis. Well, I think very valid
the right way to say it because nothing
transitions like a light switch. Right? It's not
like, okay. Well, next Tuesday,
nobody's listening to radio anymore, Yeah. Everybody's gonna
move over to
and end into videos.
But Radio is gonna shut off and not
and be non existent next Tuesday. Right? It
doesn't work like that.
So
as people
transition and you shepherd them over, right, to
your right websites and web technologies and you're
you're delivering, you know, the the resources and
and the marketing
through a different venue
there are still people in non Urban America
and in Urban America that pick up print
marketing
and read it because that's what they've done
for 30 years.
And Yeah,
I I think it's still gonna be very
relevant. It's gonna
transition over time. Yes. We're definitely headed that
direction, but you can't cut off your left
arm just because you have a right arm
now. You. Know. You you gotta keep both.
Well... Yeah. Unless I 1 arm out there
that I've... I apologize for that analogy, but
you... But you understand what I'm saying is,
it it doesn't make sense to just cut
off that that That type of marketing Yeah.
In print and and say, well, we're just
a hundred percent on the web now.
And the inverse of that is, if you
go to most with these large auction companies
that are now online, you know, they're having
online sales and say, hey, how long you've
you been around? Well, we started the seventies
Like, well, let's go back to 19 70.
What's your website look like?
Well, we didn't have a website. Right? Yeah.
That's because we're transitioning over to something different.
You're still a great company. But you still
gotta offer, you know, for your print reading
clients out there. You you still have to
have, something to shepherd them oh, or to
your online technology?
Yeah. You're you're totally spot on. You know,
it it... It does... It it drives people
to the Internet and to their websites and
know, I know I mentioned it, but it
does bring, it kinda of full circle, you
know, back to where they're probably gonna buy.
Because technology has changes so much where, you
you know, with with them driving from print
to the Internet. They... It's so easy to
look at, you know,
we go back even, like, 5, 6 years
ago, You know, you know, to have 20
pictures on a listing. That was a big
deal. Now we're seeing listings, you know, with
a hundred pictures and there's videos and there's
3 6... See.
You know, spin
views on it and, you know, there's there's
so much more added benefit to, you know,
build buyer confidence when you can get them
online, but it's it's driving them there. Right?
It's getting in there. For sure. The other
byproduct that's came out of,
technology
is the ability to
compress data to bring data in and and
to look at it,
in sales and in market trends. Mh. You
know, coast coast by state by county, by
different
equipment types and I'd like to get into
that portion of the conversation with you because
I think that is maybe 1 of the
strong suits of a company, like auction time,
tractor house where... Sand hills as a parent
company is you sell
and move so much equipment in the marketplace
that you get a really good glimpse to
What's,
what's not, you know, which regions are working
and what equipments working in different parts of
the country?
Yeah. No spot on. You know, in the...
And we're kind of in a unique time
in the market right now just as a
whole,
you know, as we're we're kinda... We're getting
past the, you know, post pandemic, you know,
you know, what what are we 4 4
and a half 4 years past it just
over 4, you know, since March of 20
when it hit. But, you know, a lot
happier... Katrina is in here cough and while
you say that. So I don't know maybe
it's kinda... Maybe it's coming back right now.
Yeah.
But that... But like, that market that market
data, you know, I I spend a lot
of money to... Time, you know, helping, you
know, my my reps that work with auction
years. You know, 1 of the things I
love most is is helping them, you know,
close deals and and and getting consignment, getting,
you know, getting more equipment for them to
sell and and I think that market data,
you know, that's the number 1 thing I
like to explain is is looking at the
first thing I like to explain is looking
at the broad
overview of of what's happening in the market.
So then you can figure out
you know, what what makes the most sense.
To liquidate this... The assets for the biggest
return. And,
you know, right now, you know, we... In
in pretty much March of 22
that was the that was the lowest inventory
levels were,
because when when the pandemic hit,
inventory fell off a cliff because new production
you know, came to a halt. Right. And
used inventory just kept diving. Nose diving. And
between ag construction and transportation, you March of,
22 was was the pivot point where we
hit pretty much the lowest levels that we've
seen, you know, in decades in the in
the use
inventory market.
Trucks was the first 1 to react,
you know, when inventory levels, you know, hit
low and and started their upward trend. Truck
values reacted immediately
to that, and prices started nose diving.
You know, we fallen pretty much, all the
way back down to what we'd say is
a is somewhat of a normal level now...
Or there's not as much volatility in the
market.
And so... But what the segment that it
does have the volatility right now is the
ag sector. Mh. And that's what's getting hit
pretty hard. And it's and it's driven by
late model, you, you're you're, you know, 1
to 2 to 3 year old, you know,
units out there that are stacking up on
dealers lots and And, when those things aren't
moving, you know, the the the cost of
those machines and
these days is is so high.
The auction market is is getting hit, you
know, pretty heavily. But those price... You know,
those those units, you know, they needed to
come down because their prices were inflated, but
you know, that market right now is the
1 that's that's correcting the most.
What do you think driving that? What do
are you think? Inventory levels? Yeah. Yeah. So
supply and demand. Right? Too much supply out
there. Yeah. There just too many choices to
look at. How's the interest rates affecting that
Mitch.
I, you. I think you got... Well interest
rates is a huge is a huge problem
out there. You know, it's hard to find
financing. You know, you're you're you're... Guys with
really good credit, you know, they're they're gonna,
you know, be in that, you know, 7
to 8 percent. But if you if you
venture off a little bit from there, you
know, it goes up, from there. And so
you you factor in interest rates and you
factor in
commodity prices on top of that. And a
lot of these guys have upgraded and bought
in the last, you know, several years,
you know, people are are holding tight, especially,
you know, farmers are, you know, smart with
their money. But I I think 1 of
the big driving factors, and I don't I
don't know if it gets talked about enough,
and and I don't have any any background
info on this. But, like, You know, the
size of the machines these days, even when
you go back, you know, to the the
last cycle and, you know, 16 17 when
we when we had a little bit of
a downturn. But, The size of these machines
are so big. And
you know, we were looking at class 678
combines back then, and now we're, you know,
09:10 11, we're were big... Combines with big
capacity.
And, you know, it's like, is it's... Who
is the second buyer for these big machines?
Yeah.
And so, you know, there's only so many
huge farmers out there and we keep pumping
out really really big, you know, units on
a on a yearly basis. And so you
know, where is the appetite for those,
you know, those 1 to 2, 3 year
old machines that, you know, are coming, you
know, good hours, you know, good use machines,
but, you you know, and there's still new
incentives out there and people are still buying
new, but, not everyone needs
needs as big machines that are are hitting
this used market. And I think that's what
causing a lot of this,
on top of the interest rates and and
commodity prices at units just stacking up right
now. I think in the farm sector, you
know, we had this conversation yesterday with some
people, and
there was a lot of loans that we're
taken out 3 to 5 years ago that
were adjustable rate interest loans that had a
balloon on. Those balloons are now coming due.
Mh.
We're you know, they're 3 to 4... Or...
Excuse me, 3 to 5 year arm loans
that are now or 3 to 5 years
from,
the the inception of those loans and now
that they're coming due, They're looking at, you
know, 7 percent interest rates,
they they don't have the cash flow to
cover those. So I think that there's going
to be
some transition, you know, and some tightening in
those Ag mark. Gets unless we can see
loan rates start to adjust. And
this gonna sound crazy, but, you know, you
go back and look at a 40 year
look. Gets The average loan interest rate. The
average lending interest rate was 6 to 7
percent. Yeah. My first 2 houses were both.
Yeah. 7 percent loans. So it's not disproportionate,
you know, right now, Mitch in and Tri,
it's not disproportionate that where the the lending
rate is maybe at. Is let's argue that's
pretty close to where it needs to be.
Mh. But he had dropped down to 2
and 3 percent, and a lot of loans
were made at that time and they were
doing it based on their cash flow projections.
Yep. Okay. Today, those interest rates have corrected.
They've went back to kind they've normalized, I
guess, would be a way to say it.
They weren't prepared for that. Yeah. Yeah. And
they say we don't have enough cash flow
to cover that interest rate with this balloon
if we have to refinance. Yeah.
And then tack on the the cost of
machines these days too. And if 5 either
a 3 to 5 year inflation cost and
the machines inflation in and everything. Yes. Yeah.
You know, cost of entry, you know, since
the pandemic is up, like, you know, for
a new machine, like, almost 30 percent, Know,
on a lot of these assets. And so,
you know,
You know, a 600000 dollar combine now is
is 900000 to a million bucks. Yeah. Know,
you got planter same way. They're they're so...
Things are so expensive.
We've got the popular categories on auction time
up on the screen on the big screen
right now, and then
I think if you click on all categories,
there's a ton of them in there. You've
really dissect
the equipment,
the asset classes and types and there too.
Specifically what somebody wants to look at
or look for. Even in the truck market,
there's 1234
or 5, There's 5 different categories
under the popular categories,
probably more under all categories. So
where I'm going with that is 4 talk
to us a little bit
about that platform, and I think the uniqueness,
actually, before we get into that,
I'm gonna backup up. Tell us kind of,
what's moving really well right now. I don't
wanna move off this market watch update until
we...
Just kinda give us the highlights. Like, if
I was gonna list to equipment right now,
what's the what's the setting ducks out here
that that are moving well?
You know what to be out... Like I
I it's it's kind of a...
It's kind of a tough question because, like,
we're seeing it across the board, like, everything
is moving, but it's all based on what
your what your expectations and where you're pricing
those units at. Right? Do, you know, if
if you're an auction year and you're... Everything
and you're really in tune, you know, for
a seller, and you you you understand that,
you know, auction price is true market price.
And your price and something, let's say you
are gonna use our our method to retail
the wholesale the auctions something and give that
guy an opportunity to, you know, retail it
for period of time and end up cascading
to an auction if it doesn't sell. If
we if we price anything at 10 to
15 percent over auction priced you know, it's
probably going to move fairly quick because dealer
pricing is is substantially higher because they traded
on that in a time that, you know,
values were higher because we're we're falling so
quick, like in in ag right now. And
so
the, you know, the, So it it it
really kinda depends, you know, where where you're
pricing that stuff as as far as how
quick it's gonna move. You know that... The
construction yellow iron. I know we haven't touched
on that yet, but,
we're we're really starting to show signs of
of inventory levels climbing and really
taking that upward turn right now. So that
market's is gonna continue to soften.
That retail and auction gap is widening,
And so it is showing some more volatility.
But
you know, using the tools out there to
really understand what auction price is today.
And, you know,
figuring out how quick the market is moving
whether it's up or down is and determine
how quick we need to move that is
is the unit's gonna sell and it's gonna
bring close to that. It's just, you know,
how, you know, what the asset is, and
and it how quick we're gonna look at
some of that. Mitch is the construction markets,
their construction equipment is it still early enough.
In the game that if somebody's thinking about
dives and so that they need to get
it out there on the market right now.
You said it may be softening
from you know, based on on some things
some factors and and possible trends you're seeing,
in the future. But, you. Is it a
good time to get that stuff out there
right now is market still pretty fat.
Yeah. I I would advise you to... If
you got something you're looking to sell, look
to, you know, let's start those conversations, you
know, sooner than later.
We've seen the the the medium duty cutting,
like, your skid series as mini exporters back
some of that,
kind of more mid midsize equipment. You know
that's been correcting for a little while. Skid
gears right now, there's a record amount of
inventory out there on the market. And so
that's that's really softened, you know, pretty substantially.
Now, we're starting to see it on your
bigger units, your ex do, you know, wheel
loader. That's the market that, you know, the
higher price units is starting to starting to
correct. So, yeah, if you do... If you're
looking to sell something,
you know, you are gonna get a... You
know, auction price today
is going to be a retail price in
potentially a few months.
So
you know, it's something to, you know, keep
at the back of your mind there.
Tell your friends, you get your information. Changed
on the Za ring.
So let's talk about the benefits right now
of the platt. Form itself. And I think
1 thing that's happened in the industry
that,
away from, you know, what the markets are,
things we talked about is the way form
that we're selling equipment.
There are still yards.
What we call auction yards or equipment yards
in the industry where You have
consolidated
consignment sales and people are bringing that in
and having large
disposition sales.
But today,
for the guy that wants to sell a
full line of equipment or
3 pieces or 1 1 truck, 1 combine,
1 tractor,
this platform
allows them to participate in a much, much
larger cell with incremental pieces. They can drop
those in. You're closing sales every Wednesday, which
I I think you're conditioning, you know, equipment
buyers, Hey, If you're looking for something next
Wednesday, we have another sale.
And there's thousands of pieces of equipment from
across the Us go and and look at
it. Yeah.
Yeah. That's just a. I think that's gonna
revolutionize, you know, the equipment industry over time
because what's the number 1 thing that people
want,
sometimes even above price is convenience. Yeah. I
can just go in there on my mobile
device or my computer and I can... Purchase
equipment and have it chipped to my doorstep.
Yeah. You know, you're spot on, and and
the convenience is a big thing and, you
know. The pandemic, like, really kind of, you
know,
it...
It it evolved this in this by... You
know, the buying habits of of you know,
the people actually buying and and built... You
know, they have more confidence of buying sight
scene, and, you know, they were forced to
you know, use the Internet, because there were
no physical sales. Everything got shut down there
for, you know, for, you know, quite a
bit of time, you know, as a whole.
And so you know, using their using their
phones, you know, 75 percent of our traffic
is from a phone, you know, versus a
computer, and that keeps that keeps growing,
And so
you know... Yeah. The convenience side of it
is is is huge. And, you know, and
you hit on a very good thing, you
know, with with using the auction time platform.
Form. Whether you have 1 piece or you
have a, you know, complete, you know,
farm close out sale or, you know, contractor
or liquidation or whatever it may be form
you you can join up on a on
a on a Wednesday sale that we have,
you know, and we have thousands of pieces,
you know, sell. So you're... It's still your
own event. It's still your, you know, you're
selling for that customer. It's under your name.
It's still... Everything remains the same, But you're
part of a bigger event. As a whole
which is, more eyeballs and and, you know,
more, you know, potential buyers, you know, looking
at that equipment. Then you can showcase it.
There's ways to up upsell that equipment, you
know, you can,
call it out in the upcoming magazine, so
you're circulating...
Next auction of upcoming equipment, you can buy
ad space in there.
You can do videos. You're basically become the
eyes and ears for the buyer,
on the ground, it comes down to the
quality
of photos and videos and description and the
confidence that you're instill in buyers or potential
buyers of that piece of equipment by... It's
still hard work. You still gotta go out
and put in the work to get a
good product, in, And I I think there's
some auction companies
and specific auction that stand out. Even in
this system, you see they consistently do a
better job.
Of marketing themselves and their and their product.
Yeah. Yeah. Hands down. Hundred percent. Yeah. No.
You're... You there again, you're you're spot on,
you know, the representation of a piece of
a equipment is, you know, it is pans
down number 1. Like, I... You know, I
kinda joke around sometimes, but, like, pictures is
the most important thing. First impression, videos is
number 2. You know, I I not... I
don't have any proof on this, but, like,
I think very few people read anymore. Like,
some of that description. Yeah. Like, if it's
it's a... You know, they they put a
lot of trust in that representation, the picture.
And part of that is that, you know,
buyers are so much more educated, you know,
on on what they're looking for. And Yeah.
That they can go through the pictures and
see that thing running, and and they get
everything that they need just from that, and
and they don't, you know, they don't read
as much. But
you know, as far as that marketing, you
know, it's what really sets, you know, and
not to try to
pump auction time, but, like, that integration between
tractor house machine trader truck paper. And all
our other brands, you know, We we include
with all the listings, the the print publication.
That's all tied into it.
At no additional charge, but those those listings
showing up at the top of the searches
of tractor house machine trigger truck paper
you know, we have... For those... The the
amount of traffic that visits visits those sites.
You know, we had a... Last year night,
you know, I mentioned, we had a hundred...
Over a hundred and 50000000000 dollars of equipment
roll through those. That's a lot of people
that needs to be on those sites on
a on a daily, you know, hourly minute
basis. And so driving all that to these
auction listings and getting that... Exposure really, you
know, widen that that reach and, you know,
buyers are are less loyal to their local,
you know, environment and they're more confident buying
from you know, wherever it is. If if
that's the piece they want because it's easier
to get it transported. It's easier to, you
know, find financing, and there's there's different tools
out there for them to get that piece
and build conference around us. So you need
those... You need that reach. You need that
tractor house. You need that machine machine your
machine trader
reach out there to to, you know, gather
many bidder from his wide of a distance
to, you know, create competition. Right.
All great points, Mitch. We need to hear
from our sponsors, but we're gonna be back
in a couple minutes, and I wanna, kinda
dive in a little bit deeper on
transportation, the equipment financing,
and then maybe we'll clarify
for the listeners,
the the key points of difference between tractor
house and auction time and what the best
advantages are we'll be back in just a
few minutes with Mitch Y.
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We're back in the studio, we're talking with
Mitch Hill,
auction time, tractor house,
and
I don't know what else this cat does,
but probably
Some other stuff that he happens to do...
Got a business out of his garage. Also.
I don't know what that might be.
Mitch, you're given us some great information, and
I wanted to just kinda quickly.
Dive into
like,
transportation services because that's 1 of the things
that happens whenever I buy something online as
I either have to go get it, or
if it's large, and I don't have the
equipment, maybe it's a huge whenever planter or
a combine. I'm gonna contract that out and
have somebody haul that to me. Mh.
You have
transportation services.
Yeah. Absolutely. You know, it's a it's a
value added service, You know, that we... That
we have. It's called Freight star.
It's a proprietary, you know, brand of ours.
Where we have a we have a whole
team of reps
that work with this product,
you know, to... And and and it's all
a digital solution. You know, It allows you
know, either the buyer to go plug in,
you know, what point a to point b
is and and what the asset is or
or allows the seller or the auction here
into, you know, if if the if the
bar is like, hey, Can you help with
transportation? And, you know, it's not something that
you normally deal with. You know, we we
have we have AAA
whole... There was a whole ton of
transportation companies that are part of this that
bid on the... That bid on the... The
actual loads once they get posted, and then
you're able to accept a load that that
makes the most sense. And and all these
guys are are vetted and and insured and
and and guys that are legit and so
it's not like flakes. We we do all
that on our back end. But and It
just basically takes the busy work out of
transportation and and gives you an option
outside of someone, you know, if they if
if they do wanna go shop it on
their own, they... You know, obviously, they can.
But it's a solution to make easier for
you guys. That's a pass through solution that
you can offer to your clients, You know,
because they're actually the... The buyer and the
seller, the 2 that are gonna wanna work
out transportation. Right? And as an auction here,
you can... This is something that's provided to
you through auction time.
Maybe they elect to use it, maybe they
don't, but those resources are clearly a value
add. The other 1 that I'm seeing on
here is financing, equipment financing.
And that's, you know, we just talked about
the interest rates and
the the the shift in the markets are
gonna become more important for creative financing. So
having a financing arm as another value add
to your clients is is gonna be very
valuable.
Yeah. You know, So the financing, you know,
it's it's something I'm I'm actually personally involved
in, very heavily,
you know, and and it is solution. It's
very kinda similar to that Freight,
the way it's set up, but it's it's
set up, there's a there's a whole bunch
of lenders that are part of the the
the currency finance program. And so you know,
when when someone does apply for financing,
you know, we're able to, you know, see
see what what their their borrower profile is,
and then
and then work directly with that lender, you
know, on a very quick
basis
to to get that guy financed because every
lender has a different appetite for different assets
and different, you know,
borrower types. And so, we're able to narrow
it down to who makes the most sense
is gonna finance is the quickest. And then,
you know, I have a team of reps
here in Lincoln in in Scottsdale in our
office in Scottsdale that that work directly with
the the potential borrower to
to get that financing and and and get
the,
either get them pre approved for the auction
before, you know, the things... Before the unit
sells so that they're ready
and already are ready to go or if
it's, you know, post sale,
you know, and they... For whatever reason they
didn't get their ducks in line before, we
can, we can hopefully, get them finance whether.
And we can do this for guys with,
you know, a credit all the way down
to, you know, guys that, you know,
might have not the greatest credit for whatever
reason. We we typically have an option form.
So we're talking about a platform
that you're pitching to a client right now.
And you... You've shown me... We have an
online auction, you know,
you know, billions of pieces of equipment annually,
or dollars worth that's being ran through this
platform,
we've got
transportation services. We've got equipment financing services,
but 1 of the most valuable,
because at the end of the day, what
is somebody most concerned about whenever they're gonna
auction a piece of equipment, especially expensive equipment?
Is I have a lot of capital tied
up in that. I wanna exit that piece
of equipment with as much capital recovery as
I as I possibly can. Yeah. Can you
give me some confidence
into what combines are currently bringing online or
tractors are over the road trucks for,
this type of a Peter bill, you know,
day cab truck
that has virtually no miles on it, and
I need to sell this.
Having examples of those trucks that have sold
recently either traditionally through tractor house
or through auction time. Yeah. I think is
an invaluable solution that we personally use that
when out of all of these third party
add ons,
or I say third party.
You being the third party provider, but the
add ons, we use this 1 the most.
Yeah.
And that's we evaluator. Right?
Yep. Yep. It's fleet evaluator side of it.
You know, and that's that's an invaluable part.
Like, it's it's so important, you know, that
you that...
If if I... Any auction... If I was
an auction engineer, you know, then not... And
this is what I do on a daily
basis, helping guys close, you know, deals with
cons.
You know, is running that. And set... In...
I think the most important thing is setting
the expectations right, from the beginning,
you know, that And because then you're... You
know, then you can provide you figure out
from there what... You know, where are they?
Is is this... You know, is this a...
Acceptable form. You know, are they... Or they
think their stuff's work too much or to,
you know, you know, you really... You can
really gauge, you know, where they're at
and, you know, what they owe on it
or or how they, you know,
wanna liquidate it from there. But, yeah. Setting
those expectations are huge in that that product
fleet evaluator gives you that it's free.
And it uses all the data that, you
know, that we have on the back end
to fleet
we actually tested on a weekly basis to
a 1 percent fleet air. So it's it's
it's very... It is very spot on. Well,
that's 1 of the first things we talk
to clients about is there's no guarantees in
the auction business. You know, if you're gonna
have an auction, have an auction if you're
ready to sell it, we believe
in the marketing model because, you know, most
practitioners that have been around for any period
of time,
they bought into it. They see the benefits
of ama, a buying audience and having them
competitively bid on it. But when you can
also back that up and say, listen, Even
though there's no guarantees, what the pricing may
be, I pulled a fleet evaluator, Mh report.
Here's 23 other tractors truck combines from 7
states that have sold in the last 6
months, and the price swing is 36000
to 54000
dollars low and high. That's kind of where
these 23 items have brought in the last
6 months to a year.
You're instill a lot of confidence in that
person that, okay. That that I'm letting my
guard down a little bit.
I'd rather have the high side than the
low side. But III
understand the margin now, and I can I
can live with that? Let's move forward. So
I think we're we're basically buying confidence and
and building coffee. Dance and our clients when
we present a tool like this.
Yeah. You know, and it... It's nice to,
you know, you show them that and there's
some visuals that come with it and some
charts and You know, it's... It it really
does validate your services more and and shown
that you're, you know, you are... You know
what you're talking about. Mitch a lot of
people are very visual, so it makes it
easier warm to understand too. Yeah. Yep.
Totally agree. Let's talk a little bit about
tractor house and auction time and how those
2 programs and and warm apartments play together
when a piece of equipment comes in the
door because I I think there's a lot
of misconceptions about what the options are.
Well, I just put it on auction time,
and I have to wait till, you know,
3 or 4 Wednesdays down the road, and
I sell it. Well, we have some other
options for you.
Explain what those options are.
Yeah. So, yeah. You know, tractor house... Tractor
house is our retail side, just like machinery
trader and truck paper. You know, it's where...
Your... Buyers are able to go and and
look at units that are for sale.
You know, now when it comes to auction
time, auction time as a time to auction
platform.
Where units are going to sell, based off,
you know, it's an auction. And so, you
know, the nice thing with us, you know,
obviously, having ownership of both of those products
we integrate them together or... We basically integrate
the auction time in the tractor house. And
so, you know, we put those time listings
on the retail side.
Because, you know, if people have a mindset
of, you know, when they when they see
a listing that's gonna be on auction, They
think they're gonna get a deal. And so
they are attracted to that
type of asset. And and so when we
mix
you know,
whatever it may be a a john deere
40 20 old tractor, you know, and there's...
We got hundreds of for sale on tractors
us when we mix an auction unit out
there on the top of the searches of
of the John deere 40 20, you know,
tractor
you know, it's... It it creates a lot
of interest and a lot of clicks and
a lot of activity and a lot of
people saving it to their watch list. You
know, and and so that that integration between
the retail platform and the the auction platform,
you know, is huge. And so
That's... That that drives a lot of traffic,
you know, straight to the auction,
side of it when it when it is
gonna sell on that.
Specific Wednesday.
But, you know, outside of it, you kinda
hit it on, We do have different other
ways to sell. We have a
basically in kind of a a timed waterfall
cascade
approach where you can retail units for a
period of time. And so,
if let's just use that 40 20, for
example, You know, it's probably gonna bring, you
know, 9500
to 12 grand on the auction. You know,
But let's say you want... You wanted to
try to get 15000 out of it, You
know, on the retail side for a couple
weeks.
You know, and try to expose that to
those those retail buyers because there are buyers
out there. There's
there's guys that just buy at auction. There's
guys that won't ever look at an auction
because they think it's, you know, something's probably
wrong with it. You know, I would never
touch a touch and auction You. So they're
only a retail guy, which they're, you know,
they're gonna pay more for there's typically about
a 30 per... You know, 25 to 30
percent gap between
auction and retail price.
And so it's let... Let me ask you
real quick for the tractors are setting retail
on a lot. Are there other financing
options and, you know, a lot of people.
Oh tend to, yield towards... This is a
cash transaction. You know, whatever you bid today,
you're you're gonna pay for. That's that's the
amount you're paying on the retail side on
maybe tractor house side, if I say, well,
I I would give 17000
or
70000 or whatever for this piece of equipment,
but I need some financing. If they're can...
Financing falls through, they're not maybe obligated to
buy it. Is that fair?
Yeah. It's spot on. You know, It's kind
of a a negotiable
transaction versus auctions of, you know, not negotiable.
It... You know, you're gonna pay the price
for it that that it was... Last bit
on. So...
But The other thing that I'm hearing whenever
you said that is, let's say there's
there's
I don't know. 60, 40 20 tractors that
are in in the retail side right now.
2 or 3 of those are getting... And
ready to be in an auction, and they're
in different locations, and maybe they're equipped differently.
You know, one's One's diesel, you know, whatever.
What the situation is.
That if they receive good bids. If they
receive solid bidding, and the market was found,
and this is what the pricing models are
you can look at those again on the
retail side and say, you know where with
the the market's shifting a little bit. 40
twenties are maybe not bringing as much or
they're just killing it in the market. They're
bringing twice, you know, what they're worth.
There could be some adjustments in the retail
side. It kinda beta test, at spot checks
market sometimes and says, what's a 40 20
actually worth? Mh. Yeah. On the auction block
and now we can go back and look
at our retail side and ask for some
adjustments.
Market Yeah. Well, yeah. You and your spot
on, you know, and the and all of
that all of that real time data you
know, goes into the evaluation tool that we're
talking about. Because today's sales affects tomorrow's values
and, you know, auction is is true market
pricing today. Retail pricing typically lags august shin
pricing, you know, 3 to 4 months because,
you know, there... There's a motion tied into
it. There's there's more decision making, tied into
it. We're auction is
There's no decision. It's what someone pays for
today for it. I can't tell you how
many times I've been at an auction where
a guy was a really good caretaker.
Well thought of in his community,
and he'd have a a 44 30 tractor,
a 44 40, you know, and and than
not the market, but more importantly, the neighbors,
you know, showed up to support his equipment
sale, and that tractor brings 15 20000 dollars
more than it's worth. Yeah. You know. So
sometimes that... And that is the All lure
to an auction for sellers is
not always getting, you know, a substandard value,
for their property. But more importantly, if I've
been a good caretaker, people know that,
and they come out here to buy my
equipment. A lot of times it can out
for pace
what the retail market is for some of
that equipment
because of the
the records, the ports the the care taking
of it and and just the reputation of
that equipment. You know, we don't.
I'm glad you brought that up because it's
We don't see it enough, but, you know,
telling that story is is huge. And, you
know, it's something that we've... We see every
once in a while with an online auction.
Where, you know, actually interviewing the owner of
that machine, if it's that quality of a
machine and there's a story to it, post
a little video if he's willing to talk
about it because Yeah Know, it instill, you
know, confidence with that buyer and it creates
less question marks
when they actually, you know, can see, you
know, where...
Where did that piece come from? And yeah,
I'd love to see more of that. You
know, we don't see it a ton, but
III would anticipate as online continues to grow.
You're going to see it more of that
so besides the things we sell in auctions
of the I
and and, you know, being able to dictate
the terms and and to have, you know,
your way to sell that's in a short
time period and extract market value is the
all lure to an auction. Of good high
quality equipment that's been well taken care of
is that it brings more than it's actually
worth because of pent up demand
you know, you know, the capital markets maybe
are are are there the the capital in
that marketplaces is there and people competitively bid,
well past where they should have. Yeah. 1
thing that rarely would ever happen on a
retail market is you have a 250000
dollar you know, John deere your combines setting
on a lot, and a client comes in
to buy it off the retail lot and
says 4. Listen. That combines too nice. I
wanna give you 300000
dollars for it. That generally does not happen.
That's
only at auction or are you gonna see
that scenario? Yep. Now. You're spot on.
So what's next? What's coming up for Sand
Hills and and
auction time, tractor house,
all of these great services. You got anything
kinda
in the kitchen right now that's that's cooking
that's getting ready to be released that you
wanna talk about.
You know,
you know, our... We're all... Always progressive, You
know, we we continue to dive in into
more niche markets,
you know, obviously, tractor machine trade and truck
paper our core markets, but voice know, we've
we brought in a lot more kinda sub
markets within each of those getting into,
you know, on the construction side, the lift
side, the forestry side, the crane side, you
know, the ag side, you know, we got
you know, we're getting into some of the
turf equipment. And, you know, breaking out some
of those niche markets, but, you know, I
I think that the the what's new and
coming, you know, for auction engineers. You know,
this whole Ai artificial intelligence is is for
real. And, you you know, we're able to
better... You know, we have more visibility into
buying habits of buyers and, you know, getting
equipment in front of them that they wanna
see,
you know, and we can get more, you
know, predictable on what assets we think they're
gonna be bidding on and buying. And so
that's only gonna, you know, help strengthen
you know,
your auction and, you know, the visibility on
tractor hours. And when we can really tailor,
you know, a specific buyer, what they wanna
see and and and really strengthen that side
of it. And so there's a lot on
the Ai side, You know, we could probably
have a whole session on that as a
whole,
and even even tying into equipment values and
things like that. But,
you know, there's... There's a lot of excitement
here in the in the next, you know,
several years, even just this year alone.
I'm looking at the Rv side right now.
Yeah. And I'm... I'm thinking about taking a
vacation. So
Yeah.
And I'm You know when that buying lazy.
Even for your vacation. And I'm too lazy
to sleep in a tent. It oh, No.
Nobody sleeps tents and you. What are we
talking about? Nope Yeah. No. Once you hit,
like, 35, you can't sleep in a 10
anymore.
Is that back won't allow it anymore Oh,
you're okay. It's medical. It's not illegal though.
Yeah. Sorry.
I got a ticket for sleeping in a
tent. I I just think funny that you're
talking about taking a vacation and buying an
Rv for your vacation.
You're you're talking about taking it's more than
1 vacation when you buy an rv, Sean.
I think so.
I think so. These these look nice. This
is
And you guys are getting into a lot
of different Yeah. Stuff. But lots stocks in
here. Mh. Livestock stuff. Hey. You know, it
It is a good time to probably the
the Rv market. Been probably hit the worst
and the... Of of all markets out there.
It's it's soft because it's very much a
consumer driven product and
it's, you know, during during the pandemic, everyone
bought Rv. And then because it couldn't do
anything. And now they realize oh, Lord, we're
not using it, and so
trying to sell it. And so that market
being consumer very driven is it's...
There's a lot of inventory out there. So
there's there is some deals out there. That
makes me as an Rv owner, very happy
to hear.
Because that means I'll be able to actually
find camping spots again.
When all these people sell theirs off, I
can still go.
For sure. It's it's been a whole problem.
People book out sites, like, years in advance
for years of time. And
all these, you know, parks out there just
don't have anywhere to go For. You know,
people like me that say, oh, I wanna
go sometime in July next year, You know,
There's no way to playing around that. So
I'm happy they're all selling. I just found
the 1 I need. It's a 19 72
Win
Indian d 22. That's the 1 for me
right there. I want you to click on
that and show the inside of that thing.
Because I guarantee it's all orange and green.
Maybe. That's what I'm after.
Yeah.
That's funny. It's it's my vacation.
Vacation.
Mitch, if somebody wants to reach out to
you and have a conversation, how would they
get a ahold of you, my friend?
You know, I... I'm an I'm an open
book.
You know, you can you can
call our 800 number ask for me, you
know, shoot me an email mitch dash helmet
at c hills dot com.
Or mitch at auction time dot com gets
to me too.
You know, I'm... I love to help people.
If you if you got a package, you
need help closed, you know, to and you're
not familiar with auction time services. Yeah... I
love jumping on calls and and helping you
get that deal because it's it's a win
for all of us. So...
Yeah. Definitely reach out.
We really appreciate you being on today, that
overview of the equipment markets,
auction time tractor house all of the services
that are being provided and available folks. Go
check it out.
Auction time is doing a great job, and,
Mitch, we appreciate you joining as the
Yeah. Sean, Tri, I appreciate it. This is
always was a good time.
That's it for this episode, ladies and gentlemen,
we'll see you next time inside the sail
ring.
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