Why A Newsletter?
Why not? I should have been writing
one long before now. The past couple of years have been tough on all of us. With the scare of Covid causing us to avoid people, we have all had less socialization, less interaction, less real communication. (I don’t consider Facebook any of these). Just when we were starting to come back around to some sense of pre-2020 normalcy, here comes the Omicron variant and we all, mostly, tightened up again.
I like to listen to people. I don’t always do a lot of talking in a group. That might seem odd considering what I do for a living, but I really like to listen to what some else thinks or has experienced. That has been limited lately. Through all of this not getting out and actually being around people, I have turned to reading a lot more news articles and social/political/financial goings on. (I watch very little TV). Frankly, I am tired of the negativity. And I’ll bet you are too.
Why a newsletter? We need some Positivity! I will share with you stories, thoughts, ideas, ramblings that are positive. I’ll also provide you with a little information along the way that might be useful, for you or someone you can share it with.
I hope you enjoy.
John Wells
Not All Bad!
I mentioned earlier that the past 2 years have been a little rough, due to the ongoing pandemic. Well, everything during this time hasn’t been gloom and despair.
Actually, at the beginning of all this mess, there was a very joyous, positive event. Sherry and I were married on the 27th of March, 2020, just as the lockdowns and restrictions were being implemented. It was a VERY impromptu, unceremonious, ceremony.
Our friends, Kim and Tim Wright, provided their deck for the venue, while their son Evan officiated. Chris Taylor saw to it that we followed group size limits. He and Jessica, along with Kim and Ernie Biltz, were our only other guests.
When everyone feels comfortable to gather we’ll have a real celebration. Hopefully soon.
We do more than “have auctions”, a whole lot more.
When someone asks what I do, I usually answer that I am a Real Estate Broker and an Auctioneer. The next question is almost always “so, you’re one of those guys that talks fast”? Yes, in my role as an Auctioneer, I am one of those guys that talks fast. I enjoy calling bids and the interaction with the crowd. But what you see us doing at a live auction is only a portion of what we really do.
I like to think that what we do is help people. If we boil it down a little more, what we really do is “we help people get what they want”.
I can hear you from here. “Oh, John, how do you help people get what they want?”
We have a traditional real estate brokerage, where we can list, market and bring buyers for your real estate. We also have an auction side of our business, where we can market and bring buyers for virtually any kind of asset; real estate, or personal property.
When people contact us they usually want something. “Well duh, isn’t that why people contact a business?” It is. But to an onlooker, what that person really wants isn’t always apparent.
For example: one would think that when a person calls and says they want to sell their house, that is what they want. What they really want is to move closer to their grandkids, or to a new job. They may want to move to reduce the amount of yardwork, upkeep, cleaning etc. that is necessary at their current home. Or, perhaps they are tired of trudging through cold, gray Indiana winters and want to go to a warmer, sunnier locale. The selling of their home is just a step in the process of them getting what they really want.
Another example is when we get a call from someone that has recently lost a family member. Many times the folks who are tasked with managing and settling the affairs of the decedents estate do not live near where the assets of this estate are located. On the surface the want would appear to be doing what is needed to be able to settle the estate. The real want is to relieve the pressure, worry, headache, heartache, drama and workload associated with the distribution, liquidation and settling of an estate.
After talking for a bit with the client, we can find out what their real want is. With that information we can better assess the situation and develop a plan to get them what they want. One person’s want might involve a short timeline, with the emphasis not being on the monetary return. Another person’s want might be to be relieved, completely, from the pressures of the task at hand. If you think that’s not a common want, let me give you an example.
We have, more than once, been asked to meet with the family the day after a parent’s funeral. At the home, which is “just the way the deceased left it”, we are asked how the process works. We explain. We are then informed that we came highly recommended, the members of the family have already loaded everything that they are going to take and that the nearest relative lives 400 miles away. They sign a real estate listing and an auction contract. We are handed a set of keys and instructed to “send them a check”. We never see them again.
Whatever the want is, we help them get what they want as smoothly, effortlessly and painlessly as possible.