Transcript
Speaker: DC government made me sell a couple properties that were worth millions of dollars and they made me open the bidding up at $20,000, which was just ridiculous. yeah it was It was horrifying. Long story short, all the properties sold for you know in the millions. And the opening bid, the only regret I've ever had is having an opening bid too high.
Speaker: I'm just going to say, let go of the stigma of auctions being scary. um They are definitely, what I like about it in a sense, you have a date and time that you're going to know that 123 Main Street is going to either sell or not sell. And I love that, you know, compared to, you know, a traditional property, like you were just saying, you you don't know really what's going on or when it's going to go under contract. I get a lot of calls when we're marketing like, hey, do you have something you can tell me that's off the record? And I'm like, no
Speaker: It's all online. like Please just read it. Real quick, let me chime in. Our grandfather, he's 92. He'll still come into work every single day. Oh, wow. Yeah. So Alex's son still comes into work every day. So my grandfather, Carly and I were talking about this yesterday, um told me very, I doubt he remembers this, but he told me very specifically that there is no transaction ever that is worth your reputation. Correct.
Speaker: Doesn't exist.
Speaker: This episode is sponsored by First Home Mortgage.
Speaker: All right, and welcome back ah to the next episode of my podcast. So I have considered changing the name, but I'm not going to. It's going to stay. All roads lead to real estate for now, at least, everybody. And I'm your host, Matt Ryan, again.
Speaker: and And today I have some local celebrities. So if you're in the Maryland area, there is a very good chance... you have seen their signage up at some point. and And this is the Alex Cooper Auctioneers.
Speaker: And so now everybody around here, I don't care if you're in real estate or not, at some point, they have to be familiar with your signage. I i would say that's pretty safe to say at this point. Yeah, it's out there. They might not know exactly precisely what you do, but they know of you. right That's for darn sure. And so I wanted to bring in because I recently had ah ah the opportunity to to do my first ah deal with them and went through the process. And I co-marketed a property with them and I got to learn a whole lot about it. And I've ah been on the buyer side a couple of times with you on commercial properties that you guys have.
Speaker: have listed and and auctioned. And so this was my first time to kind of be on your side of things and I welcomed you here to the podcast. So thank you both for joining me. ah Thanks for having us. yeah And so I got a twofer guys. So I have ah two folks with me and I have Matt Cooper and Carly Cooper.
Speaker: So this is a family business and I'll give you a quick intro here So Matt is currently acting as the CEO for the company and Carly is an auctioneer and associate broker, um also helping to run the company. And so this is, I believe you're the fourth generation with this business, correct? Yep.
Speaker: So started in the twenty s 1924. 1924. Who's counting? Who's counting? Hey, not to brag, but our little dairy farm was 1923, funny enough. yeah So also fourth generation, but i would I would reckon to say your business is slightly more successful than our dairy operation, um which doesn't really operate anymore. So you clearly are doing better. um So, all right. So welcome to, obviously, to the podcast. And is this something you guys do often? Do you get out there on the podcast scene very, very frequently? I've done one, so this is my second time. Okay. Only ever listened, never been on one. Look at this. It's inspirational. So I'm glad to kind of help highlight, I think a little bit about your family. I don't think, and I can speak because I can speak specifically for myself. I didn't know exactly what you all did, how you did it, um what it is, what it's not. um And I think everyone has probably a a snippet of what an auctioneer might do. And a lot of it's probably from TV.
Speaker: Right. yeah Storage Wars, those kind of shows, like all those those shows, Quik or even eBay. That's <unk> a lot of people use that analogy with our auctions. Yeah. and And I got to hear your spiel with a client and it was really fascinating to me because I've never heard the spiel. so I'm going to invite you to kind highlight some of that here to educate people. But um I just I wanted to first kind of get into a little bit about the history of your family business because I think that is fascinating. There just seems to not be quite as many of these in existence for a lot of reasons, obviously. It's generational, you have to have people willing to do the same trade.
Speaker: And it, I don't know, it's not always great or glamorous, right? Once you're in it, especially growing up in it. I already found out from ah my 13 year old daughter that she doesn't want to work at Alex Cooper. OK, great. Grant's my eight year old son. He's he's on board. But yeah, it's you have to want to do it.
Speaker: Yeah. um I knew from a very early age I was no farmer for the same. reason You just know this isn't me. I couldn't do it. um And so I wanted to first, this is going to be interesting because I don't typically have two people here. So you either can jump in here, yeah either Carly or Matt. I wanted to know what it was like from your perspectives growing up in the business. So being in the fourth generation, do you remember what that was like as a kid? Do you remember your parents or grandparents? Like what memories do you have of being in the auction family? Yeah. mean, well, just to, so we're five years apart in age. Matt's five years older than me. So, um, just growing up, you know, we were always included whether, you know, we first started with Oriental rugs. I always remember going there and playing on the rugs while, you know, our our dad was working at least six days a week, you know, growing up six days a week. Um,
Speaker: And, you know, but he like we would always go play on the rugs. We would hang and watch the auctions, um you know, prior to the Internet really becoming big. It was, you know, that the there's a group that were just literally with the furniture. This is, you know, the next lot or even with the real estate. You know, we weren't doing the online real estate. um It was more. i mean, i don't know if you want to dabble into that a little bit of like, it would you just.
Speaker: i I think we'll get there. I mean, mean, I mean, growing growing up in a family business and our family business was, yeah, it was the center of conversation. It was all consuming. um i don't know if we have enough time and in here. It could be done with a lot of therapy. oh lot of Yes. But but um no, i mean, i mean,
Speaker: ah I personally kind of always knew I'd be in the family business. i I didn't. Yeah. Yeah. I, I always loved going there. I mean, I was there well before I could drive.
Speaker: um I did pretty much every position. I was janitor. I moved furniture. i was a cashier, um was there on weekends. And that was here in the Baltimore County town location. Yeah. I just was always doing it. And, um,
Speaker: you know I loved it. I mean, there's some pros and cons, obviously, with family businesses. It can be very tough. But um for me personally, ah you know my dad liked it and my grandfather liked it. I'm very close with them. and we you know it just It's part of my identity. Well, it was fascinating to to walk through your space because you see all the old black and white photos. Yeah, in the entrance. Right in the entrance of what it was like. And it was just everybody was all dressed up. They're right on the on the steps of the property you're auctioning off. It was it's exactly from like a movie studio.
Speaker: It's unbelievable. I mean, that was before my time, obviously. But yeah, the 1950s. Yeah, everyone's in their top hat. Sure. Dressed very spiffy. Right. So, yeah. Yeah. And then we'll get to it. But everything nowadays seems to be online. So those days, it just, you know, it feels very different, probably. Yeah. It's it's very different. Yeah. Yeah. and in In a good way. i'm I'm happy. I think it's offered more opportunities. It's very different, though. And just to to put some context before I ask Carly to answer the same question, how how would you like in terms of the size of the business? Are you still considered a regional player in the auction space or to me, at least being in this Baltimore County bubble, you're one of the biggest or most successful, but I don't really know your space that well. Yeah, I consider us medium. Okay. I've made up a category. Sure. um You know, I think i think ah locally in Maryland and D.C., we are the largest player, um you know, by by volume two.
Speaker: So, yeah, I mean, and and and at some point we should we kind of have like two and a half businesses under the Alex Cooper umbrella. Yeah. But we now sell in, I should know this number, it's either seven or eight states. We do real estate and we've really been branching out, but the the fine art business is just in pretty much Maryland, DC, Virginia, a little bit of Delaware.
Speaker: um But you know when you're dealing with personal property, you have to bring it back to our gallery. Right. So you're a lot more limited. you Geographically. Having boots on the ground is not enough. You need to bring the items back. Right.
Speaker: So interesting. Okay. Well, i was just curious about the size and scope. it You just never know in terms of what Yeah. I mean, we have... about 45 team members, you know, across all the divisions in our company. um It's been as high as the mid 50s and probably been as low as like 30s. Right. So, you know, I'm talking about over a 20 year period. Right.
Speaker: So. OK, well, that's good. So, Carly, to help explain from your perspective, right, what it was like um growing up. I mean, I was more of an arts, like an art school girly. So I always found a lot of gratitude in you know regards to all the art we've been around, but I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with my future in a sense. I didn't have the, I needed to work at Alex Cooper Auctioneers, you know, um but I always worked there part-time, especially through college. um you know i was I actually started out in the
Speaker: photography department. So I was doing a lot of the product photography. And then I ended up in about 2012, I started doing real estate photography for Coopers. And I realized like, oh, I actually like this. I think it's very interesting. yeah And it's not the same repetitive process every single day of, you know, this, you know, just photographing items. You're going into people's homes and helping them start a chapter. So it evolved from there. And I started to, at that point, I think the the personal growth of, you know, finding like, okay, cool, this is our family business. I want to be in this. I realized that. So, you know, it definitely, it took a little bit more ah footwork and realization for me, but I'm happy I went through that because I love it now. Are there any other siblings or now just you two? Just us. Just us.
Speaker: Yeah. Interesting. Some dogs, yeah but they're unemployed. Yeah, exactly. For now. Yeah. oh So that's that. So that's neat. So I guess when i I guess you both technically worked forever, essentially at at the. It's a good description. say so. I guess when were you given permission to have a more, I guess, important or explicit role in either management or were you just, you know, let's just say a grunt for a long time or did, were you allowed to take on more responsibilities even like as 18? I mean, or did did that take a while?
Speaker: titles and professionalization in our company i'd say is a newer development um you know i think at alex cooper and it either resonated with you you know as a colleague or not if you did something and you were really good at it and it was successful, you then became in charge of it.
Speaker: Got it. So you better be careful what you're good at was kind of a joke. um You know, there wasn't necessarily a career track or this or that. I mean, we've got some really beautiful stories of people that have worked with us for, you know, 20 plus years that are just awesome. And, you know, they, uh,
Speaker: just started at the bottom and ended up you know doing really you know yeah doing really cool things. So um it's it's a bit more organized now, it's structured, we have HR, we've got a little bit of a layer of management. ah so um But it was it was pretty free reign. If you could do it and you could do it professionally and and be successful, um the world's your oyster.
Speaker: Well, I think that's some of the charm, right? In the beauty of a of a family type business or ah an own that's not that corporate structure. I started in corporate America and hated every second of it. And those did either of you ever take a big corporate job and have a traditional boss and a cubicle and all that? I interned at Fox 45 up on TV Hill for a summer, which was awesome.
Speaker: um But, you know, other than that, no. yeah It's stifling. So for all there's so many ah like I wouldn't say horrible, but there's so many yeah have conflicting feelings I have about a family business. And now that I own my own small business, it's you all of it rolls downhill, right? The S thought, you know, rolls downhill. So for better, for worse. Right. And and so being in the family, i are there any dynamics that you had? Like, i I'm always fascinated by when there's a, you know, the family of who takes control and when, and if there's any succession plans speaking or, because I know you still have, right? Your father's still in the business, correct? He is, yes. Is he attempting to give you more responsibilities and back further away? Or is he, so yeah I'm going to be here forever and deal with it? Or how does that work?
Speaker: So it alright if I answer this one? Yeah, of course. um So the succession plan happened. Okay. I'm managing member of the, and I guess majority owner of of of the company. There's still other partners, etc. um that are and incredibly valuable. I mean, and on a day-to-day basis, it's not really something that we use to operate. Like, it's not like, oh, you know,
Speaker: Paul has the final say or Matt has the final say. like i mean I think that's important in a company to have that. It's so very rarely comes to that though. um you know It would take a lot for us to do something that we don't agree upon.
Speaker: and And normally one way or another, we chart a path forward. um you know Our goal right now
Speaker: Our, my dad and my uncle, which is the third generation, um one of them is retired. ah Two of them are still working and they said they were going to slow down.
Speaker: haven't really seen the slowdown. There's ebbs and flows. There's ebbs and flows. You know, okay my goal is for them to do what they want to do when they want to do it.
Speaker: As long as that allows us to continue to put Alex Cooper in a good position, service our customers. I mean, you know, like if they just both left tomorrow, that would actually be very problematic. I would say we're not ready for that. Right. um I mean, the company would continue, but that would not be ideal. Right. So ah we'll see how long that goes. I mean, they're both in their um late 60s. My dad just hit 70. Right. Yeah. So I've got to have my dad's age. Right. So um that's good. aggressive Yeah. Yeah. um you know But they they love it and they're really effective at what they're doing. um COVID was a huge eye-opener for them of what they could do remotely. right and And we're blessed to have a great team.
Speaker: mean, we have a really good team. So, you know what you can do with a phone 40 years of relationships and is is is a lot. Well, it's just, it's interesting as well, because when you see, and this is what this is what happens to multi-generational companies, is there can be a challenge, and that's why I was interested with the succession plan, because with technology and with, and now that with AI is coming, and we were just discussing the potential studio you might build, and these are things that maybe the previous generation might not value as much, because it's not something that might've been important to them. And that's why it's interesting to see if they push back and say, I'm not spending that money, or I think that, you know, or if that's not an issue at all.
Speaker: let me yeah Let me chime in our grandfather. He's 92. He'll still come into work every single day. Oh, wow. Yeah. So Alex's son still comes into work every day. So with that being said, um i don't I don't want to speak for our father, but I feel like he'll be in it for a little while because just the example that his father has set, you know, um and then i jumping into like, you know, technology and whatnot.
Speaker: um I think that's also giving them the flexibility to hang out a little bit longer. because they're able to, I mean, look, last week, technology-wise, I was camping and I was able to still work for my computer with no service and I had a Starlink and I was able to still do some transactions, you know? So but it's compared to just marketing in, let's say the newspaper for an auction. short You know, we're now literally, you can you can do it anywhere, right which is wonderful. That's awesome. Well, this, I mean, heck, that was a lot healthier of a response than I was even prepared for, you guys. That doesn't sound bad. No, I mean, and I just remember Paul, you know, who's the president of the company still, he always told me, just finish what you start. yeah um You know, sometimes I would be over a budget.
Speaker: I would always be late. yeah But, you know, we we iteratively did a lot of things. he, he He very often would say, i disagree, but if you want to do it and you're going to see it through to completion, right you know, like when we did our online bidding site in 2015, know, I don't know, what was it like?
Speaker: it was over a million dollars, which with inflation, that's probably 10 million now. I'm being sarcastic, but but but it was lot of money. Not really. But yeah. And and he he he used a metaphor that that I still use. He was like, it's like if you built a a race car, you know, he's like, hey, it's a custom race car.
Speaker: I don't want to see it in the parking lot. right This better be out on the track and you better be pushing it hard. um I don't want to see it parked in the parking lot. So... and That was always his thing. I i think that's i think he was supportive. um Maybe that's a very circuitous way of saying he was supportive. Right.
Speaker: Well, it's challenging to make decisions and it's hard to get everyone to say yes, especially when it's in a situation like yours when there's not one you know person at the top just you know shaking their stick saying this is you fall in line. We're doing this. I mean, it it happens.
Speaker: You know, I mean, a company needs that. We have that. But I i at least, you know, i mean, I've been there 21 years, at least when I was there, um i felt like that didn't happen a lot.
Speaker: Right. Well, how do you think, because from my perspective, right, so I'm in real estate and I have seen many, many, many ah auctions and and you list them online. So a lot of other people that are looking in our geographical area, like you said, Maryland, DC and a variety of other states now,
Speaker: ah when they see an auction, what should they think of? Because I get calls, and I mentioned this to you, Carly, the first time we spoke about, you know, if the starting price is a opening bid price, I don't know if everyone's even aware of all of the general mechanics And one of the things I wanted to get to today is not just the mechanics of what this is, who's it makes sense for, right? Who should consider this as an option? Because I think it's shocking for some people to realize really high end, high net worth individuals choose auctions. Right. all the time. And so hard to value properties that could be beautiful, stunning properties are auctioned, right? Because there's not three comparables we can price it to. And so I've always, I just, i wanted to get an insight from you guys that do this every day um about first off the mechanics and and then kind of going back to
Speaker: help us understand who this makes sense for, because I think the antiques, we understand that, right? Like that to me makes logical sense. Why you auction that help people understand why auction makes sense and why so many people choose it either both commercially and in my world, which is the residential side.
Speaker: So who feels like trying to tackle that one? I think, I think I can say go for it. Yeah. Yeah. Go for it. So yeah, Let's see, a couple things. So I think one thing, when you traditionally think of real estate auctions, you're thinking of ah foreclosures.
Speaker: um You know, I mean, that's, and actually I think that's where our business started, um was doing courthouse sales. Distress products. I don't think we got really into the voluntary auctions until sometime, I think, in the mid-90s.
Speaker: so The foreclosure auctions is the distressed. um And the you know the general idea behind that is it's an involuntary sale. So you know this is the mortgage holder and they are ah you know the the homeowner or the property owner if it's commercial you know isn't paying the mortgage the deed of trust instrument and in there uh there's an ability for a trustee ah to and every state has different rules it could be judicial non-judicial it's a way for them know it's an asset-backed
Speaker: mortgage, there's a way for them to take possession of that asset. So that's very different than a voluntary auction. So that's kind of why I wanted to bring that up. And I also think that's where- What do you do percentage-wise? Do you still do more distressed?
Speaker: Well, by volume, much more foreclosure. Okay. um you know Yeah, by volume. I mean, i mean yeah yeah, by volume foreclosure.
Speaker: And the advantage to the bank or the mortgage holder that chooses that option, is that simply because they don't have an option? That is the legal way to, that is the remedy. That is the legal remedy to to address it. Every state and even every county you know has certain regulations and rules. You have to have legal advertising. In a newspaper for X amount of consecutive weeks. Correct. You know, there's, there's there's they don't have, if that's,
Speaker: you know been through yeah know i'm sure hundreds of years of of of iterations in the legal system and you know in 08 and 09 there was the robo signing crisis and the financial crisis and right you know going back in time governor o'malley stopped all foreclosures and you know i mean it it can get very political and they can change the rules right most recently in covid understandably foreclosures were paused right so um so So that's how I think auction got, I mean at the end of the day, auction's an auction, it's a methodology.
Speaker: um That's how I think auction got a reputation for distressed property. um the voluntary auctions would be a property owner that is looking to sell a property and there are you know it's a it's another way to sell which is another another vehicle it's another way to do it uh... so that that at the core of it is and and i'll answer about who it's for but at the at at the core of it it's you know competitive binning determines the market value and and in and traditional brokerage accomplishes the same thing i mean i'm you know especially when the market's hot i'm sure matt you get five offers on a deal i mean in a way it's
Speaker: Kind of like an auction. It's part of my script that I've developed over the years. Just talking to sellers is that they think they choose the market price of their home. Well, I'm going to sell my house for eight hundred and fifty thousand. That's what I'm selling for, Matt. And I said, that's interesting. Like, are you buying your house back? How can you be so certain that's the price? Well, I'll sell it. I'd be like, are you really like like really going to sell it for that? The buyers choose market value and it's up to the seller to either accept that reality.
Speaker: It could be a very positive reality. Maybe it's way more than you anticipated. That's a great situation to have. But that reality sometimes is not what we want it to be. right And it doesn't matter. You bought it for X and you added Y and now that's your Z price. that doesn't That's not how this works. Yeah.
Speaker: so So, and I think we can talk about a lot about that, but just to to try to answer the question, who who's it for? you know, for the people that are listening, sure but that they probably understand generally what it is. I mean, who's it for? And I think you'd be surprised with that. I've explained on your auctions because they they will call because it's listed on the um MLS. People will call and say, I'd like to tour this property and I'll buy it for 350.
Speaker: And then you explain to them, it's an auction property. That's the opening bid. And I have to explain to them what it all of that. okay So i that's why I wanted to include that today at some point. yeah um Because I don't know if everybody understands that. Okay, sure. Yeah, absolutely. Who's it for? So i ah um gonna we have to talk in the two silos of foreclosure and voluntary. Sure.
Speaker: Foreclosure properties are are really for... seasoned i mean you have to start at some point so it might be with a mentor it might be with an attorney a title attorney that understands it i mean these are properties where uh you don't necessarily get possession at closing um it might be at that point the previous owner or maybe there's a tenant in there they they become an unauthorized occupant um you know and you have to evict them you have to evict them if there is a tenant and they had a lease with the old owner i mean
Speaker: There's a lot of legalities depending on the jurisdiction. So this is your very first transaction and as an investor, no be very careful. Yeah. um You're almost certainly going to need cash or you're going to have to be working with a private lender that will underwrite and close on a foreclosure asset because a traditional Well, you can't get in to do an appraisal. Right. It's an involuntary auction. Beyond that, and this is a big one, is risk of loss is almost always with the...
Speaker: auction buyer. So ah'm going to use an extreme example. The buyer ah it puts it under contract at auction. The trustee accepts the bid on behalf of the bank. um you know The court needs to go to ratify it. So you're waiting. it could be 60 days, 90, 120. And the homeowner, and they are the homeowner at that point because it hasn't closed,
Speaker: turns off the AC and turns, you know, puts concrete in the tub. It just doesn't matter. Whatever they do, there's risk of loss. So I'm not trying to freak people out. I don't think that happens very often. Um, you know, what I've heard from a lot of seasoned foreclosure buyers is,
Speaker: um Buying one or two is probably not the greatest idea. You probably want to have five or six going because there might be one or two of them that don't make money. But if the other three or four you know are double, triples, or home runs, in the grand scheme of things, you're going to be up.
Speaker: You have to have enough at-bats yeah to get enough runs. Because there's some curveballs that can be thrown at you if we're going with the baseball stuff. Yeah. Yeah, I always say the same thing about Section 8 investors. If you have one Section 8 property and you go through it and it's in a challenging area, blah, blah, blah, it's really challenging because you could have a nightmare story and you'll never do it again. yeah So for most investors, I encourage them to play it very safe that first time or two because then it encourages you and you understand. yes sentence Section 8 versus market is two different businesses. yeah it's it's They're both landlords, but it's it's two different businesses. And you have to be ready for that and i've I've actually done a podcast with someone who has hundreds and hundreds of doors in Baltimore area just in that space so if anyone's interested we have that ah in in the catalog here but getting back to the auction so. So so who's who's it for for the foreclosures? Yeah.
Speaker: Probably a cash buyer or someone that's very liquid and you know somebody that is able to navigate legal transactions. Can they do a home inspection to verify condition? No, because if you actually set foot on the property, you're trespassing. It is an involuntary auction. yeah Now I know people go to the homeowners or the tenants and say, Hey, here's a hundred dollars. Can I walk through your what if the tenant has six months left on their lease? Can you kick them out the moment you take possession? Every jurisdiction has a different law for that. So I couldn't blanket answer it.
Speaker: Got it. Yeah. So I couldn't blanket answer it. Um, But as a buyer, the reason you're willing to take all those risks has to be enough of a discount to merit this. Do you have a general idea of typically what that discount percentage is? Great question. So i'm I'm smiling right now because people ask me, like, can I get a good deal at auction? yeah I see people get great deals. I see people pay about what I think it's going to go for. And then I have property sell for so much money.
Speaker: that I think that there's a typo. You're scratching your going, what is this? yeah like Like, what the heck are they thinking? so And I think the same is for brokerage. I mean, I've done investment properties that I bought on MLS, and I yeah did well with it. I mean, you know so i mean i I think that there can be good deals.
Speaker: um I don't think buying at an auction per se means that you're getting a great deal. I would like to reiterate that because I get all the time from folks that are trying to become investors or even that are they want a foreclosure only, or they want a short sale, or they have to have it distressed or else it doesn't make sense. And I'm like, why does that matter? What matters is the numbers. Correct.
Speaker: And also the risk associated with this is quite high. Yes. And you can't see it in advance. There's no So you have to, it could still make great sense and people still buy them, but you really need to know yourself. There's people that are tremendously successful at buying foreclosures. So yeah, tremendously, but it's it's a niche and it's gotta be something you' you're prepared to do.
Speaker: And so, but from the perspective of who hires Alex Cooper auction to do this, it's gonna be institutions, banks. Correct. you know So it's could you do it? Has anyone ever hired you that ah that owns a private note? Let's say I sold my home. Do they ever say, listen, they're not paying up, I need to- Absolutely. okay Yeah, we foreclose on seconds. We do a lot of condo foreclosures. mean second mortgages? Yeah, yeah, second mortgages. Yep, yep. We do condo foreclosures. And condo always gets paid. Oh yeah, they're that's safe. They're they're they're front in line. So yeah, so so that that's the foreclosure buyer.
Speaker: um the The voluntary auction buyer, You know, what I always have to remind my team and and and my sellers is most of the the auction buyers for for voluntary is somebody that just wants the house or wants the building or wants the apartment building. and it's at auction, so they gotta deal with it. yeah like i mean i mean that's i I wouldn't necessarily, for foreclosures, I do think it's a specific type of buyer and there are like auction buyers.
Speaker: I think for auction, it's just another way of buying. yeah um So so with with our voluntary auctions, I think it's for anybody. um You do have to be comfortable that there's no financing contingency.
Speaker: um There's a ton of people where they're not worried about that. you know as long What does that mean for people to understand? With our auctions, you have to put down either, depending on the price range, typically it would be 10% deposit. If it's a couple million dollar property, we typically do a 5% deposit. It's non-refundable.
Speaker: So there's no contingencies on financing, inspection, So the auction, I want it today and it's a million bucks. I owe a hundred grand today. ah Well, it's your money. It goes into escrow and it's towards the purchase price. But if you are unable to close on the deal for any reason, well, if the seller can't provide clear and marketable title um with a voluntary auction, risk of loss is with the seller. I have, look, you we sold thousands of properties. I've had fires. I've had, you know,
Speaker: The most common one is actually pipes blow. And please people yeah don't let your house go below 60 degrees in the winter. or when i leave yeah Every winter. Yes. We have a house or two that that happens. And and so if i sorry buy I volunteer, I'm sure that happens all the time. yeah And then they don't know. So, so yeah so, so, so, um, but you're saying just a, to clarify the risk of loss. So if I won the auction today, but I don't take possession or let's say for 30 days, the title doesn't transfer during that period, the seller is still on the hook to make sure it's winterized or yes if someone burns down, it's on them. Yes. And we're we're not talking normal wear and tear. There's a scuff on the floor. Right. We're, we're, we're, we're talking me major issues because the property is sold as is. Got it. It is sold as is. um Do they get any inspections whatsoever?
Speaker: Yes. and so and so So in the voluntary auctions, we typically have guided tours. um I also try to take, I call them not sexy photos. I should i should trademark that. um People want to see the HVAC. They want to see the sump pump. They want to see the French drain. They want to see the circuit breakers. Are they federal Pacific? What is the amperage? these like yeah Show me the attic. Show me the roof.
Speaker: you know When you're looking at a traditional marketing brochure, that's not something that would be there. You want the wide angle, glossy. Typically during the inspection period is when that's all addressed. i it's not that it's not important, but that's not what's front and center. right With the auction, the study period, you know if you want to call it that, I'm bringing that from commercial property, but the inspection period, let's call it that for residential folks, yeah is is during the auction marketing period.
Speaker: ah I have had plenty of buyers, you know, with permission ask what at that point they weren't buyers. They were prospective purchaser say, hey, if I wanted to bring in a inspector, can I do that before the auction? And I always urge my sellers to say yes. I mean, there's a huge difference between saying something's as is and um you know a closed book.
Speaker: it's It's two different things. right so Especially with commercial properties, too, we have leases, we have profit and loss statements, we have the licenses that you need, i mean all of that. and And if there was repairs done to the property and capital improvements, you know ah All that stuff, I try to show bank records. I mean, all in advance. So there's less surprises. So if you do win, you have run a lot lower risk of of backing out or having an issue. Our job is to get a buyer to put down a five or 10% non-refundable deposit when they go under contract. And in order to do that, any sane person would would want to feel comfortable. Like they they they, you have to remove the unknown. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: so So that's what we do. And yeah i think it's pretty simple formula. I mean, I mean know it it just i know what they need. i know what they need to show their lender because most of our properties are either a 45 or 60 day close. um And you really should be able to close a residential deal on 45 days. And you really should be able to close a commercial deal on 60 days. um And actually in our commercial deals,
Speaker: We've started building in unilateral extensions that can be exercised by the buyer to give them an extra 15 days. or buyers yeah um Just to give them the comfort that, you know, if a curveball goes their way, they're not going to lose $100,000. So they're financing, you know, first choice is turned out to be, that's what happened to us. The first choice didn't work out and the rate was crazy. They had a switch and they needed more time. So, yeah so we're straddling the world, you know, we're trying to provide the seller, just talk about them for a second with, with a time and a place and we're getting the market to compete in front of them. I mean, I, say to them that, Hey, this is kind of the, for the buyer and the seller, it's kind of the closest thing you're going to get to like a stock ticker of the value of your house. And you're going to get it in real time, which.
Speaker: can be very anxious, anxiety-ridden to see it, but yeah um it can also be a lot of fun. i was yeah How do we do that every day? It's like a roller coaster. I was just thinking about that. like i mean Every day, it's the unknown. And I guess just to chime in, like I strive on transparency when it comes to you know when we're marketing, because that's important because there are buyers.
Speaker: in residential, you know switching to that, there are buyers who will maybe buy it without walking in the first time. like There was a house we have under contract and I know that we were opening the door for the buyer and he never saw it yet.
Speaker: so yeah I sell apartment buildings where people are buying them based off our photos. yeah So just transparency, like that's something we strive on. Like I, I, and you know, i got a lot of calls when we're marketing, like, Hey, do you have something you can tell me that's off the record? And I'm like, no, it's all on online. Like, please just read it. Like everything I know.
Speaker: That has been a liability yeah perspective. That makes sense. Yeah. But reputationally, I can tell you, you're not going to be in business over 100 years if you guys were consistently doing something like that was not above board. Right. That's just facts. We like especially our little market. We were a relatively small marketplace compared to other parts of the country. And so reputation matters um here.
Speaker: yeah And so I can just tell the fact that you're still here, still doing business. And you're my my my grandfather, Carly and I were talking about this yesterday, um told me very I doubt he remembers this, but he told me very specifically that there is no transaction ever that is worth your reputation. Correct.
Speaker: doesn't exist there there could be and and it was interesting because when he told me that I was much younger um and now that I'm in a leadership position and you know there's a lot of money flying around there's a lot of people that want to work with us and utilize the platform and you see opportunities to cut corners and be gray about things which you know i guess I didn't really see you know 15 years ago in my position and now that I see it right I'm like oh wow like we have something that you you can't buy that you can't mark like oh ah it's a trusted company like you can't say like trust me bro like you know yeah it's it's something that you have to get over time and so yeah i'm very quick away very quick to walk away from situations that are bad because
Speaker: It's just. And sellers sometimes don't understand they're putting us in positions because I feel I'm in the same boat in that kind of respect. But auctions, I imagine it's even more. The possibilities are even greater potentially for them to sometimes tell you things and you're like shaking your head like now you just told me all these. And then they're going to tell you not to disclose it. My transaction team. You can't do that.
Speaker: My transaction team's nickname is the FBI. Yeah. like We don't say that. well I just told everybody. But like, yeah, yeah. yeah and and Internally, we joke around Courtney and Molly are the FBI. yeah Well, we just want to make sure that everything, you know, our trust, but verify. Yeah, that just everything is transparent, that we're honest. And, you know, if there's something that pops up, it's we didn't know about it, to be honest, until that popped up. well and It's in the best interest of the seller. That's what I always try to remind the sellers is that if if we're going to either take care of it prior to if it's something we can handle. But what's not in your best interest is to know something that's really a material fact about that house that's wrong. Oh, yeah. Or that property or the and then not disclose it.
Speaker: Try to hide it. That's even worse. And like patch it up with a little bandaid. That's why I like taking photos. I mean, one of the things that we do is we have an in-house photographer and I like to tell buyers, hey, these weren't leasing photos from a year ago. This is, or, you know, this wasn't the photos from the last time the house sold. Like my,
Speaker: team took these photos two weeks ago. And if you walked in the property today, pretty much this is exactly what it's going to look like. Right. And sometimes sellers are like, oh, can't you show this picture because the room is so messy now? And I'm like, but that's what it looks like. Right.
Speaker: Well, and so do you think that, because this is a question that that if you could answer honestly, are like the pros seem to be, I can get a really fair marketable idea as to what my value of my property might be, right? I know that once you guys do your marketing, everything's done, everyone sees it. In 60 days or however long you're, 45 days, however long that marketing period is before the auction, at that point, unless it's a reserved auction, I'm selling my property. Which like every property is. I mean, we should talk about reserve and absolute, but yeah. Well, explain that too. But I just, I would just, that is something that you can't guarantee, especially with unique properties or other, like you can't say in 45 days, we're selling your house. yeah Like regard, like that's, that's a huge perk for a lot of people. so yeah, but so I think, I think, and just to go back and answer the question um that that the voluntary, the voluntary auctions, I just think the buyer is anybody. I mean, I think, I think what it's not a good fit for and what I tell people, it's not a good fit for if you have a house
Speaker: that's like 150 to like 250, 300, and it's a FHA buyer or a VA buyer, and they're kind of like a first time homeowner, and they don't have the 10% to put down, and they need all the inspections. Like those are great,
Speaker: products, those starter, I guess I'm almost kind of saying starter homes. It's just the reason it doesn't work is because of the financing. Yeah. Like those buyers can't perform on the auction terms. right And so when those properties like if there is a property that is a mess and that's a great investment opportunity and you could buy it for 100, 100 into it and sell it That's a great auction property. So I'm not saying lower value properties are not good for auction, but if somebody really needs that three and a half percent down or zero percent down, they just can't participate in the auction. And so I'm always careful to guide buyers and sellers. They're like, this is probably really better for brokerage because
Speaker: Or you'll find a cash buyer, but they're not going to pay retail for it and why would you give that money This was what I was leading towards is that, you know, I would see some of the concern. Those are my positives about why auction makes sense. But I always think of some of the considerations would be you are limiting your buyer pool. You don't have quite as many buyers that are capable of even participating. That's a part of my that's a part of my pitch, though. And I'm yeah honest about that with my sellers. Well, it depends on the asset. on On those assets, yes. I mean, I would say on some other assets, sometimes I think, especially when we partner with ah with an agent, you can really expand the exposure that the property gets. But but I think for first scenarios like that where, the yeah, it's not the right tool. Right. not you know it's it's That's why a lot of times these higher-end properties are going to have exceptionally qualified buyers, right? More so, or 10% is the minimum they're putting down. Mm-hmm. I'd say the majority of the folks that I work for, and this is even at all the way up to a million dollars and beyond in terms of residential, most of them put down 5% or 10% max.
Speaker: Okay. The average is not 20% down. I don't know why. I just, that's what we're ingrained. And most people think that I'm putting 20% down minimum. That's not average. Okay. And I think that is, uh,
Speaker: That can be challenging understand, but a lot of people put down, I have lots of doctors, which is crazy, that buy these very expensive homes with 0% down or 5%. Yeah. Because their income is more than capable of paying the payment.
Speaker: And so they'll put almost nothing down. And so um so this would be challenging for those guys. but absolutely but But it's still, there's plenty of people that can perform. And so I think there's always- Well, and you could you could, now getting in the weeds, but you yeah if you had the money to put the 10% deposit down You could get the cash back at closing. I mean, you don't have to.
Speaker: it's It's just the E&B. If you've got 100% financing. But you had a 5% or 10% deposit to participate. that gets As long as you close, the seller doesn't care. Right. That makes sense. Yeah.
Speaker: That makes sense. so but But you bring up, I mean, that's great. that was yeah know news to I'm not a buyer's agent. So, yeah I mean, that's that's that's I never really see that. I mean, I guess I see on the HUD the money that they bring to the table. But truth be told, I'm paying more attention to the seller side. right Well, i I want to try to. One of the reasons I want you on here is because I think the idea for most agents, they are very nervous. They don't know most of these questions we're asking. You're in this every day. This to you is like almost common sense at this point. Most aren't familiar with the process. We sound like idiots in front of our clients because we really don't know and we don't want to call and ask. So I oftentimes see people skip through them and don't even offer it as a potential possibility to their client because they don't know. Right.
Speaker: and you will co-op with agents as well and that will be like so they so the more traditional way that buyer agents get paid can still be facilitated um i know there's all these laws with it so i don't want to get too deep down the rules with what all that means but the the point is you can still bring buyers here um as an agent and of course yeah and i don't even know if everyone is fully aware of that And you can also co-op, which is what I did earlier this year. We used to be able to put it on MLS. Now we can't. So now the buyer's agent has to ask.
Speaker: and And then we tell them. Say that again? Like with a conversation? Yeah, the buyer's agent, we used to put on MLS that there was buyer's comp. comp Like broker co-op. right now Now we can't.
Speaker: Yeah, now you have to actually call and say, hi, I'm considering bringing a buyer. yeah Are you guys working and paying? I think, though, over time, I've gotten, in a sense, trained to that kind of phone call where I can feel out, ah you know, a fellow realtor who's a bit uncertain. And i I ask them, like, hey, is this your first, you know, dip into the to the auction realm? And sometimes they're like, yeah. And I was like, look, I'd rather you pick my brain now than you pick my brain when we're under contract and you realize that your client can't perform so i'll take the time sure you know prior to the auction like you know ending um and this is for the non-distressed sales this is not foreclosure this is you know the non-distressed traditional auction sales that we do um i'll take the time just to discuss it with them because i do think it's important you're right but yeah and then i also say to the fellow agents i was like look you worked probably more in traditional
Speaker: you know, real estate than I do. So just, you know, we'll teach each other something. And every agent out there that's listening to this, you need to have some general understanding what we're discussing because I'm telling you right, firsthand, I went back when I was a a young man trying to do this, i I would avoid the things I didn't know. So new home construction, i started in it, but I didn't think to always mention it during buyer consults. This is something you guys don't deal with, but if you don't do it, if your client sees new construction and you've never mentioned it, no idea anything about it, they're gonna walk in and not use you and they have to you have to be registered. Likewise, if you never mentioned auction as a potential strategy, it might not be what they ultimately buy through, but they need to know you can help them as an agent. right And just otherwise they're gonna potentially sign up and participate without being included, which as you know, if they're not registered, you're not gonna pay them, right? They weren't involved. So you have to make sure if you're an agent, you'd follow the process. I love that phone call. Two weeks after a property goes under contract, this is where I need you to send my check.
Speaker: who Who are you? Yes. exactly I had a realtor the whole time, Jane Smith. and Yes. I don't know Jane Smith, but, um you know, she's representing me. Yeah. Can she get paid?
Speaker: yeah And I mean, I i will say that I'm very lenient, even though it's technically up to the broker. We are extremely lenient when it comes to when that agent fills out the participation agreement. I just say, get it in before the auction Always. That law always really helped us because now all the agents are used to including it in the purchase agreement. yeah um So that has been great. Like actually, since that law has been into effect,
Speaker: I can't think of anybody... like I was probably having like every other month an agent that felt that they were slighted. sure yeah Since that law... What has it been, like a year? It's been about a year, yeah. It hasn't happened once.
Speaker: right Which is great. So that really helped me, because I think now everybody's cognizant. If I'm signing a contract, and this isn't in there, Yeah. And so if you're not an agent, you might not know, but we have a form now that states how much as a buyer's agent, you're essentially charging your client. And then at least in Maryland, that amounts can then be covered by the other broker. They'll say the listing side, or in this case, the auction house, they can cover up to and not more than that agreed upon amount. So it's
Speaker: It's like a lot of lawyers, a lot of money was spent basically to get to that conclusion. But what I like about it from the buyer's agent perspective is you have to have a conversation of what you're worth, what your services are. And a lot of times back in the day, it used to be, you don't have to pay me.
Speaker: because I'm a buyer's agent, you're good. And that's literally the only conversation that was had. That's how we stepped in this mess in the first place. Instead, you should say, this is all my services. Oh, by the way, I can represent you in new construction, in in the event you like an auction. I list my services and what I and my team will plan to do throughout. This is justifiably what that should represent in income for me, right? This is what I charge as my fee. Oh, and the good news is,
Speaker: Most of the time majority of that if not all of it will be covered by the other side It's a very different conversation, but at least you could say oh well you do things and you might be a credible professional mean on the soapbox you tell I this I deal with this It's like why don't you tell people what you do and why you deserve to get paid right not I do this for free. Yeah But I'm going to go back. I want realtors to call us before the auction ends. I'll answer any questions you have. No question is ever too silly. But I want you to ask me those prior to any contract with your you're buyer being signed. That makes sense. Please. so Yeah, I mean, so you you identified the the biggest...
Speaker: Valley that that I am trying to build a bridge to um in regards to, you know, a real estate agent. Literally, I think they're called but real estate professionals are are. Some of us are are supposed to be knowledgeable. Yeah. And and what you said um has been echoed by countless other agents where I'll have like a 30 minute conversation with them and they're like, wow, I think this auction is a great tool and I'll bring it up in my listings and you know hey if one out of 20 people think it's a fit that's great you know it's just something that I can bring up right and then they freeze because the cusp the client will start asking them questions correct and they're not an auction expert right and so I i created a um uh a document which I probably should change it into a video um that's that it's
Speaker: pretty plain name, convert your listing to an auction. um And yeah and the idea that is it i think the the idea of it is is that the agent and the the client are reading it together. And I'm kind of like a narrator in in in the room that you're reading this. and And the idea is just to get it to the point where they would say, hey,
Speaker: I don't know. I just don't think this is something that I vibe with. um Or, you know, hey, okay, I think I get the gist. and And then, you know, the real estate agent would say, okay, well, let's let's let's call Matt then, or let's call Carly or call the Alex Cooper team and let's let's talk more about it. um So that's something that we really need to work on. Well, and the highlight here is the agent who already has the client doesn't get cut out of this. And I think they sometimes think they will. So you can co-market with Alex Cooper auction house. That's the point. I love doing that. yeah yeah So they think they, oh, if I even introduce this as an idea, I'm not super familiar with it. And I guess I'm getting cut out. That's kind of what's going through everybody's head.
Speaker: I give agents options because sometimes the agents that are calling us could be extremely burnt out from their sellers. And, you know, so I do give them the option. I'm like, hey, we can do a simple referral or would you like to cooperate with us? And what that means is, and I love it because there's two brokerages because we're also licensed realtors at Cooper's, even our transaction team, we're all licensed. So we follow all the same rules, laws, everything. um But I love that we can both go on the mls together and we're co-listing so both of our brokerages are out there and i think that really works with marketing because it's you know both of us could be getting the calls and just you know that's double the people for just time we're we're here just for
Speaker: time at this moment. And I think it's great, but it also helps um in the long run if you do have a property that might not be moving, you know, and we're cooperating together.
Speaker: it also helps collect data and information for that for all parties, you know, to because this current market is definitely shifting, as I'm sure we're all paying attention to that. So it does help to collect that data and information when we cooperate together. And it's a good idea. You mentioned it earlier. i think both of you might have mentioned this, is that you should be at least familiar enough with this as an agent to make sure you mention this as an idea all the way up front.
Speaker: Not that you're doing it, but I'm an expert. I know all these different options in my tool bag, right? right I'm just not choosing to pull out that hammer yet, but I have that hammer. right And you don't need to find anyone else because you already know I and have that hammer in my tool bag. Yep.
Speaker: So I think that's a unique thing to be able to suggest. And so I'm going to I'm going to hit you guys with a few speed questions here, if you don't mind. Yeah. um And answer it however you would like. But I think this is important to go through. I've heard kind of how you address this. And I want you to say it again, if you don't mind, while you're on a microphone. So if you meet someone and they are trying to understand a seller about the process, what's your little spiel about how how do you introduce this to them specifically?
Speaker: Is there anything, is there any phrases or is there any sound bite that you think makes the most sense? Competitive bidding determines market value. Start it low, watch it go. There you go. See, I knew you would know something about that. So how do you determine that opening bid? Is that a mystery? Is that a grab a number out of the bag? How do we determine what a fair opening bid price is?
Speaker: worse It's artistic. yeah I wouldn't say it's formulaic. Right. we're We're looking at comparable properties just like anyone else is on the MLS to see what's going on that current market. So, I mean, it's just, it really it really depends. And, you know, sometimes it comes down to ah the seller just trust, trusting the process of, you know, that's the number. It's not going to stay there. You know, we'll always protect that.
Speaker: um yes I will, i will um really, really quick with the opening bid. it D.C. government made me sell a couple properties that were worth millions of dollars, and they made me open the bidding up at $20,000, which was just... Ridiculous, yeah. It was it was horrifying, actually, because of the phone calls and just, it was mass confusion.
Speaker: Long story short, all the properties sold for, you know, in the millions. Right. The opening bid, the only regret I've ever had is having an opening bid too high.
Speaker: At the end of the day, the market will determine the value. Right. So, but, and, and it was maybe professionally helpful for me to go through that because that was like an outrageous scenario. Right.
Speaker: And it, and it still got bid up to what it was worth. And explain next question, explain a what a reserve auction might be versus an absolute auction. And do you do both or is one of them always better than the other? How do you how do you describe that to people? I might do more absolute than you.
Speaker: I don't like absolute auctions because it it doesn't protect the seller. Explain first off what they are. yeah so Absolute auction is no matter what the price is, ah you just have to accept it.
Speaker: um And it's a tool and it it certainly can bring more people to compete because you're serious. Yeah. um So marketing might be like to be sold at or above $100,000, something or, you know,
Speaker: typically on higher end properties, I'll never recommend an absolute auction, but we, um the verbiage will use to be sold at or above, you know, and I, it's funny because I get a lot of calls where people are asking like, is this an absolute auction? And I'm like, no. So I, that's where I start educat educating them a little bit further. i was like, hey, it's either going to say absolute or to be sold at or above. And I can say confidently, at least on the East Coast, that's how it's marketed Unless an auction for for the for the people looking at all, unless an auction is advertised as absolute, it's not. god That's helpful. There's a confidential reserve. It is auction with reserve.
Speaker: Yeah. Can you publicly state the reserve or can you be is that allowed? Can you say we will sell this over a million dollars? So that's to be sold at or above. which you can choose to do that or choose to do that. The has agree to that in writing, just kind of like advertising a list price. okay And it's a tactic. um We use it. um the The reserve price otherwise is confidential. um and And truly, it this may not be quick, but it's it's some sellers are very fixated on a price, and I get that. um And that's okay, as long as we think that it's a reasonable one. But
Speaker: It's a very liquid, you know, somebody says, hey, i meet I need a million and you've got five people bidding and we had 20 people through the open house and we had 40 showings and it lands at 925.
Speaker: They take it almost always. I mean, pray i mean i mean yeah yeah um um I don't even have to like yeah give them a chat. They're like, hey, this I get it. Yeah, let's let's let's sell. Because then, okay, so what are you doing?
Speaker: What's your plan B? you know if If you want to sell. Now, if you're not that motivated and you needed that number for a certain reason, which, hey, it's your house, that's okay. You can't force them. you know but But if you want to transact, then we're coming full circle here. You were talking about the buyer. like to the seller, you need a buyer. yeah You need a buyer to buy your house. Yes. so That's what's the old golden rules. The one who has the gold makes the rules. There you go. yeah So it's whoever's bringing the cash to the party is the one ultimately in charge. Yeah.
Speaker: That's, you know, you you don't have to sell, but but if you want to transact, you need the market to And that's where your data comes through. And that's where you find that information. Like, okay, this is the, this is what it is right now. This is face value. I have this price in front of me. And the i will say, you know we didn't really talk much about our auction platform, but you know when we have an online bid, um any bid under two minutes and 59 seconds, the clock will refresh again. right So that gives the the bidders a moment to like you know add it up, figure out if it's a good fit for them or not. yeah They always have three minutes to counter bid.
Speaker: And we are human, so let's go back to why people auction in the first place. This has been around for, i mean, what's the history of it? I don't know, I didn't do that level of research, but this this version- Ancient. Ancient, and it's because we're humans, and if it's worth it at X price, maybe just a touch higher, I'd still buy it, right? And we all emotionally,
Speaker: purchase I always say we make most of our decisions, at least in real estate in my almost 20 years of doing it, we do most of our buying decisions emotionally and we justify it financially.
Speaker: And I'm curious if that's what you see in auctions because I see it in my world where – they love the place, they gotta have it, and then they go a little higher than they might've wanted to. And from a seller's perspective, that's the whole point of doing an auction, is you hope you get multiple invested parties emotionally attached. And yeah i mean is that how it works in real life? I think so. i mean
Speaker: There's a a foreclosure attorney um that I've worked with for a long time that actually bought ah her house from us via voluntary auction at um in Washington, D.C.
Speaker: And um she was telling me ah how hot the market was and she had put in offers on six houses and she was just like, I am like fried. And she's like, if somebody just told me you know, if I paid $5,000 more, i could get this house. Like, I would have, but I'm just bidding into a blind box. And, like, I don't know. Like, if somebody... So, you know, the again, auction's a tool. There could be a million different facets of how to look at it. But for some reason, the story's coming to mind where she loved the process because she was like, hey, I want this house. I love this house. And if somebody, you know, was bidding, you know...
Speaker: $5,000, you know, I need to bid $5,000 more to get it, I'll do it. and and And she won the house and she still brings it up to me every once in a while. right um but of Like what a great process it was from her and how fried she was otherwise. So. Well, and I see i see it. I just had ah to compete against six offers. I was the buyer's agent. This was two days ago for me. And it was very frustrating on the, helping my buyer through this process because it's blind. It's not as transparent as having your platform. where you get to see it.
Speaker: And we have tools at our disposal. Some, ah the one that we ended up using was an escalation agreement. And you have to pick an amount. Does this sound familiar to your day job? You pick an amount and you go above the next best offer by X amount of dollars. Sure. And so that's another tool. But A lot of people don't understand it or they can't convey it to their seller or they completely screw that whole addendum up. I've seen every iteration of that, but ah it could be stressful. um Totally.
Speaker: But I think ah knowing about how you guys work, I think it's crazy you spent all that money on that platform, but I think it must have been a good investment. ah Are you still using that initial platform you did in 2016 or have you had to rebuild it?
Speaker: ah It is. Yes, but it's been you know iteratively improved. yes It's evolved. Yeah, evolved. I mean, if if we looked at it, i guess this it's 11 years. Wow. It would be very recognizable, but there's been a lot of changes. Right.
Speaker: Well, i I think this, I mean, um is there anything I'm forgetting to ask or mention? I know there was something, I'm sure there's things that I i i just know I should have mentioned, but and then I usually, as soon as I'm done the interview, it it pops up. Is there anything you think of that we should touch on that seems to come to mind? I'm just gonna say, let go of the stigma of auctions being scary. um They are definitely, what I like about it in a sense,
Speaker: you have a date and time that you're going to know that one, two, three main street is going to either sell or not sell. And I love that, you know, compared to you know, a traditional property, like you were saying, you you don't know really what's going on or when it's going to go under contract. I mean, how many times have you had to work, you know, past after business hours and call this, you know, the seller agent being like, Hey, do you have any, um,
Speaker: you know, offers on this property. Do I have to hurry up and get this offer into now? You know, but i'm I'm grateful that we at least have that time and date yeah that we know this is going to sell or not. right And it's just the process is there. I mean, it's been over 100 years, I guess we're doing something right.
Speaker: Yeah, I'd say. um And I know there's also, I'm just trying to look down my questions, make sure I didn't forget anything. In terms of, okay, real estate, we've beaten that to death. We've discussed that pretty well. So in terms of belongings, do you, if someone had, let's say, I don't know, they had ah relatives that passed away and they had some very interesting antiques, is that something Alex Cooper typically handles? Is that done? Yes. Yes. So we have in Towson about a 25,000 square foot gallery, and we have a team of specialists and auction techs, and it is a full-blown, you know, fine art auction house. We do a tremendous amount of jewelry, paintings, decorative arts, all that stuff. And and it's auctioned online. So it'll have, is it professional photography and they put it online? Yeah, we've got we got person four. for full-time photographers. We do have previews in person. okay So people do, yeah we have preview days. So you you can't come to the gallery every day. um It's only when we have preview. ah All of the auctions have online participation. okay Some of them are simulcast where people come and bid in our gallery and online, and some of them are online only.
Speaker: on it And so how do I know, and Sally just passed away. She had lovely things. How do I know which of those things are worthy of doing it? Does someone come to my yeah but property? is yeah what How would it work?
Speaker: you want and Sure. Yeah. So, so ah you could go to bid.alexcooper.com. I mean, that's our, that's our bidding platform or just alexcooper.com and ah you can submit your items through there. ah You can just call us and, you know, normally our specialists will start with, you know, just cause everybody pretty much has a smartphone now. Can you take a couple photos of it and kind of start there and then do your research and generalize conversation. Right. And then, you know, as it furthers, yeah, we would do a site visit and, you know, try to go over values and typically like specifically within a state, some of it is trash, some of it should be donated and some of it is saleable.
Speaker: Right. I mean, and how this is a competitive, comparative question. ah the The biggest in the world is that Christie's is that so how would someone choose Alex Cooper over like the biggest name, let's say Christie's? Sure. So, I mean, I think i think if you had a, a you know, $20 million dollars painting, you should go to Christie's. You know what I mean? They're going to... So I'll start there. ah But, you know, i mean, if you have...
Speaker: jewelry uh especially we do phenomenal with jewelry and silver it's our by far our fastest growing part of our of our auction house um know furniture locally decorative arts you know we've done a ton of firearms we just did a huge uh antique uh uh rifle right options paintings you know i mean all these items We have pinball machines right now for sale. Oh, nice. need from my office. That sounds good. James Bond. It's a cool one. So any of those items, and it's local, we'll give you the service. if you're in this general Maryland area, No, we go to D.C., Virginia, Delaware. know, I mean, we've done some stuff in Florida. Can I get it delivered if I get that pinball machine and I'm in Virginia? that possible? You can work with a shipper to get it delivered, yes. We don't deliver it, but you can get it. You can arrange. You can arrange a shipper to deliver it. So...
Speaker: Yeah, we have a lot of specialists. We expose our items internationally. I mean, every auction we have international bidders. Right. What does that cost? I've never personally participated. Is it a certain percentage or a fixed amount? There's a buyer's premium added to the bid price. So our buyer's premium is 23%, which is a lot more than real estate. Real estate's typically anywhere between 5% and 10%, depending on the value of the property.
Speaker: and And the buyer pays that. The buyer pays that. So if you were bidding $1,000, it would be $1,230. So it's very important that you take that into account in your bid. Right.
Speaker: And ah you know if they you buy with ah cash or wire, i think there's a 2% discount. got it um So we don't have to pay the credit card. guys Got it. so Well, that makes sense. i I wanted to get that in because I i can tell you, that's you all if you drive by their location, that's what, for me, that's what it's it screams. i mean yeah i mean I love it. I love looking through. i mean I like looking through other people's stuff when it's like it's in the gallery. And then I also, you know, oh my goodness, I have a lot of art that I've gotten between our main gallery sale or our discovery sale, which is, you know, everything starts at $20. So yeah it's a little dangerous. um But I've definitely been collecting for quite some time. you ever And maybe i want to spend more of your money. Have you ever done it so someone could say, I'm looking for X and you could save it as a remind me or tag me or notify me in the event you get this type of painting in or you get. so.
Speaker: so
Speaker: Other platforms have that. Live Auctioneers has that, which we syndicate our auctions with. um Our platform doesn't have that, and it is a huge ah huge issue. yeah um I was just thinking like I would just let the person know. No, no, no, no, because that doesn't work. Because a lot of buyers come to us and they're like hey, I know Alex Cooper. I'm looking for this. right I don't want to look at your auctions every week, but if this...
Speaker: artist or this you know thing comes about i would like to be notified very normal thing that's a very reasonable request um you know Things are coming.
Speaker: Yeah. we We're working on it. Come, come. Stay tuned. Stay tuned and in in January. we We've got some some really big stuff cooking for for our online platform. That would be so neat because I just, tell I like weird things. Like I like old glass. I like, you know, I live in a historic house. So there'll be certain things for my house if it ever popped up, I'd want you to tell me.
Speaker: Yeah. But I also will never look every week. so No, I wouldn't either. I mean I happen to be there, but I wouldn't. Yeah. So it makes sense. all right. Well, I'll have you back when the new platform's up. But yeah, all right. Well, I want to thank you both. I know I kept you a lot longer than anticipated. I promised 45 minutes and it's well over an hour. So that's just how it works. But I hope everyone that's listening had, ah I don't know, some enlightenment here about the auction process and got to know the family business for the Alex Cooper auctioneers. And and I thank you both for taking the time to join me. and Our pleasure. Thanks for having me. And brother sister do. I mean, we are we're here. We're the present, we're the future. And, you know, we, again, love cooperating with other agents. I enjoyed my time, you know, cooperating with you. and just, like you it's, you know, don't be afraid of us. We're here to work as a team together.
Speaker: Yes, i I believe that to be true. And I'm shocked that healthy the family seems. I mean, this is fantastic. It stands each other it took ah took a while to get there, but we're growing pains and boundaries. And I don't think there's anything wrong with speaking about that. It's boundaries. And it's, you know, I.
Speaker: I'm just grateful. always Carly, it's time to go in therapy corner. Let's do it. That's it. But it's it's all boundaries and whatnot. And I think there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, that's what helps keep a family healthy. And, you know, we're able to have family dinners and not talk about work or we're able to, you know, do things and just not talk about work and just so be free. And at the same time, we can also talk about work, but we figured it out.
Speaker: It's a balance. That's awesome. Well, I hope you guys are around for another one hundred plus years. um I think you're a staple here in the community. And once again, thanks for joining me. yeah Thanks for having us. Thanks, man. Thanks. All right.
Speaker: And big thank you to our sponsor, First Home Mortgage. You can check them out at firsthome.com.
