Does the auctioneer really matter?

Top 50 Questions about Farmland

Hey, it's the Iowa land guy. And here are the top 50 questions that I get asked about farmland. Does the auctioneer matter wholeheartedly? Yes, the auctioneer matters. So when we're selling a farm, the thing to know is that auctioneer is having a one-sided conversation with everyone that wants to potentially place a bid on your farm. How does the crowd talk by raising their hand? A visual cue, an audio cue, a click of a button, an internet cue. There is a lot of information coming at that auctioneer at one time. So does the auctioneer matter? Yes, it does. They need to be able to process that information very quickly. They also need to be able to do the one thing that auctioneers do well, and that is read the crowd. I pride myself in being able to do this very well, and that is, if Mrs. Johnson is going to bid one more time, I don't want to sell it yet. Of course, I represent you, the seller, fiduciarily, and if I think there's a potential that she's going to bid one more time on your farm, maybe we need to take a break. Who's job is it to figure that out? It's the auctioneers. I'm going to say, Well, I can see it. Ms. Johnson's thinking about it. There might be one or two more bids left. Ladies and gentlemen, let's take a break. So I'm going to take a break. Again, that is the job and responsibility of the auctioneer. Now, if I come back and I got you one more bid, and maybe Mrs. Johnson wanted to give one more bid, but arguably, The other person who was in the lead was going to buy it anyway. I just got you two more bids on the farm on 300 acres and two more bids at 100 an acre. Boy, that adds up to a lot of money. So does the auctioneer matter? You bet. David Whitaker | Iowa Land Guy