Knowing when to let go……..
Recently the market landscape has been “reported” to be improving. I am in Florida, the market is a mess. It’s erratic, it’s unpredictable, and it’s unforgiving. The auction companies are doing the best they have ever done. There’s a reason for that: it’s an auctioneers world right now. Contractors can’t lose, their equipment will sell no matter what.
Sometimes they just don’t know when to let go. Granted, sometimes they can’t. They may owe too much or may believe that the value is going to increase when the market comes back. History tells us different. I had an incident recently where neither case was present. A few months back I called on a contractor who wanted to sell some items. He had some older, poorly maintained machines that all needed some work. I worked up some numbers and gave him a range on what he could expect. He was happy with most of the pricing. I began working on moving them for him and about a week in presented him with an offer above what we had discussed. He changed his mind. He wanted to wait until the market comes back and try to sell at higher prices. Bad move. Equipment sits and rots, defects show up, engines rust and lock up. Case in point, his Galion grader that we offered him 11k for:
Sometimes we just have to let go………….
