Journal of Corporate Renewal

continued on page 31

It was well-received in that we got tons of eyeballs to the
website, and we were in the newspapers a lot. We had listed
some large buildings, but it ultimately just wasn’t there yet.

Chapter 7s, a lot of assignments for the benefit of creditors (ABCs), and, of course, 363 sales in Chapter 11.

Q Are most of your auctions now online or live?

It depends. There are a lot of factors that go into deciding whether an auction lends itself to a live auction or whether it will be more successful as an online auction. It depends on the type of assets, where they’re located, and the type of buyers I’m looking for.

Last month, I did an auction
involving a refrigeration company
in New Jersey. There were about 50
refrigeration-type vans. With those
types of things, people from the West
Coast are not going to buy them. It’s
not worth having them shipped to
another part of the country. That’s
more of a regional purchase. In that
case, it lends itself to a live auction.

Earlier this year, I liquidated the assets of a biodiesel recycling firm. Some of the equipment is very specialized, could be used by people around the country, and could be shipped. That lends itself to an online auction, and we were successful in liquidating that online.

There are many factors that go into it. We think a lot about it before deciding which method we’re going to use. You can’t stick to one process or strategy; you have to be real nimble in this business.