If anyone were driving around the Eads/Fisherville, Tennessee area on Saturday morning, March 7, they might have been wondering about all of the commotion. Steady streams of cars were moving on Reid Hooker Drive and Collierville-Arlington Road to attend another exciting Roebuck Auctions Event. There were over five hundred in attendance with approximately two hundred and fifty active Bidders

The property being auctioned that day was a 4,000 sf house with a little less than three acres along with another approximately seven acre parcel off Reid Hooker at 11676 Stone Meadow Cove. The Seller in this case was the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriff’s Department had seized this property as a result of a Criminal Trial Settlement. There were also twenty-three items sold ranging from cars to trucks to ATVs to motorcycles to TVs and other electronic equipment.

Although the Client in this particular Auction was certainly not your “garden variety type”, John Roebuck, President of Roebuck Auctions mentioned that the fundamentals are no different than in any other Auction that he has managed in his thirty-five years as an Auctioneer.

“First of all, the property had features that would appeal to a broad range of prospective Buyers. The house was in mint condition with a practical but spacious floor plan and modern appliances. It is located in a cove with lots of nice neighbors and all of the benefits of country living with the advantages of nearby schools, churches and shopping centers. The barn and acreage behind the house is perfect for anyone interested in equestrian activities, setting up a workshop, riding ATVs or hitting golf balls.

Roebuck further described how the pre-auction process works. “An Auction Event is all about creating a sense of urgency. It makes no sense in marketing an Auction many months down the road because you take out the urgency and don’t encourage potential Buyers to make quicker decisions. Our basic rule of thumb is that we want the Marketing Period to last no longer than what we feel is the time necessary to let these potential Bidders become aware of the offering and perform their due diligence. For some Auctions, that might mean three to four weeks and for others, it might take as long as eight. Whatever the case, we are going to get the job done in the appropriate time frame”.

Linda Arnett was the Project Manager for this Auction. Arnett remarked, “We felt that we had a special opportunity here. This property possessed so many unique features. There is no sense “candy coating” the situation. Everyone knows that the Real Estate Market has taken some heavy “body blows” in the last year, but we knew that if we did an effective job of getting the word out regarding this property that there were still enough Buyers who had been sitting on the sidelines to insure that this Auction would be a success.

The Roebuck’s Award Winning Marketing Team along with Arnett decided to “think out of the box” on this project. Arnett remarked, “We knew that we wanted to cover the local market with newspaper ads, signage, E-mail blasts and flyers. However, we also felt that television would be a great conduit to get the word out to the broader public regarding the vehicles and other items. We also used our vast network of internet marketing sites to really expand the coverage. As we all know, it is all about enticing as many prospective Buyers as possible to come to the Auction and participate. Based on the crowd there Saturday and the monstrous traffic jam, I believed we passed this test with flying colors.”  

Steve Bierbrodt, Shelby County Deputy Sheriff and Coordinator for this Event, was absolutely astounded with the turn-out. “I had no idea that this many people would come out on a Saturday morning with rain in the forecast. The Roebuck Team’s performance far exceeded our expectations”.

The total auction netted over $430,000 and drew wide approval from those in attendance. The high degree of professionalism exhibited by the entire Roebuck Staff in conducting this Auction Event was evident from pre-auction to registration to the actual Auction to reconciliation.

Roebuck Auctions is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee with offices in Huntsville, Alabama and Destin, Florida. However, its reach is nationwide from “sea to shining sea” and everywhere in between. There is no Auction genre in which the firm’s expertise does not excel whether it is residential, commercial, agricultural, resort and recreation or equipment/inventory.