One of the latest deals I put together was for a lady in Missouri that involved a short sale.  She submitted a bid request on an '06 motorhome a couple of weeks ago.  After receiving the bid, we sent a dealer alert to our participating dealers and within 48 hours I had all the bids in and gave her a call.  The highest bid came in at $65,000. 

She explained there was no way she would be able to accept the bid because they owed  $153,000 on it and their only choice was going to lead to letting the bank take the unit back.  That's when I explained the short sale process and encouraged her to call her bank to see if they would be interested in working out a deal with her. 

A short sale by loose definition is when a lender forgives a portion of what is owed on the unit and allows it to be sold for a lower amount. 

She said she'd give it a shot and called me back a day later.  The good news was, the bank was willing to work out a short sale with her.  The not so great news was that they wanted $75,000 instead of the high bid of $65,000.  I got back on the phone with my high bidder and told him the scenario.  He agreed to purchase the unit for $70,000 but said the seller would have to come up with the remaining $5,000.

Needless to say, the owner was relieved!  She agreed to pay the additional $5,000 and within 4 days later the unit was picked up and money had changed hands.

Her payments (I'm guessing) were probably around $1,500/month.  That's alot of dough if you've fallen on hard times!  Granted, she had to fork out the remaining $5,000 but what she doesn't have to do now is face a judgement of the difference between what she owed and what the bank would've sold the unit for.  Now she'll only have to pay taxes on the difference between the $75,000 and the $153,000 she owed.  That's a considerable difference come tax time!

Short sales are starting to catch on in the motorhome industry.  We're working on 3 more as I type.  While not every bank is interested in cutting a deal like the one above, some banks are.  We think it might have something to do with the banks that have received stimulus money but I'm sure the determination is really handled on a case by case basis.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, it might be worth a call to your lender to see if you can negotiate a short sale scenario.  You might find yourself as relieved as one of our latest customers in Missouri.

Catch ya later!

Jerry

It's a pretty well known fact spring can be a great time of year for RV dealers and RV buyers alike.  First and foremost most areas across the country put on some sort of pre-season RV show to obviously show off the new inventory but also get an idea of what the level of interest will be when the real RV selling and buying season actually hits. 

Like any industry the type of demand changes every year with some years showing drastic changes and other years having at least a little consistency for a multi-year timeframe.  It doesn't look like consistency is in the cards for us this year.  While many RV dealers have realized great traffic on the $100k plus price range coaches during the past few years, I'm finding the bulk of demand has actually flip flopped to the lower priced units now.  I'm sure this has alot to do with the economy and the gas drama we experienced last year but what that means for the dealer out there is if they find their inventory chalked full of big expensive units...they may find sales lacking due to their inability to respond to the new demand. 

Those dealers who have already figured this out and have made room for lower priced units will fair better for sure.  It can actually be a smart move to unload some of that more expensive inventory now even if it's at a small loss so you can make room for inventory that will help you make a profit.  It's all about gaging the needs of your customers and now is a great time to make sure you have the floor plan that appeals to the type of customers you're expecting in the months to come. 

If you have inventory you need to push off the lot, why don't you get a bid here.  We might be able to help you unload some of that stuff so you can have what the masses want when they come to see you here within the next couple of months!

Catch ya later,

Jerry

Our website is still pretty new...Oh heck, we just launched it last month but I'm happy to report we've already seen some great success.  When we sat down to determine how we wanted this website to work we expected people would be most interested in a fast, easy, cash transaction.  What we've learned is that it doesn't always work out that way but that's kinda neat too. 

For example, one of our very first bid requests was from a guy in Orlando who wanted to sell his 5th wheel.  He was trying to sell his unit because he had gotten a job offer out of state and wanted to unload it before he relocated.  The bid request was distributed to our approved dealers but unfortunately, the request didn't bring as much as the the seller was hoping.  That's happening a lot right now especially with the continued depreciation of most of the 5th wheel and motorhome inventory. 

Our mission is to get the highest bids possible for the current market but like a lot of stuff people are trying to sell, sometimes the level of interest is simply not there. 

Needless to say, the seller passed on the highest offer we presented and continued to try to sell it on his own for a few more weeks.  He didn't lose anything by giving us a shot so I wished him the best and he continued on his way.  He tried it on Ebay for the next couple of weeks but found he couldn't get a better offer than the one we gave him before. 

Fortunately, when he called us back there was still interest in the unit and we were able to still make him a deal.  This isn't always the case as sometimes our dealers move off of a particular product so although we can't guarantee the offer will stand for any time frame more than 7 days, sometimes we all get lucky.

We met, did the transaction and now that guy is on the road to his new job with a pocket full of cash to help him with his new start.

We can give you a free bid request too with no hard feelings if you don't accept our best offer.  We notice some of the stuff we bid on continues to show up on various websites and such. We are here for you if you want to give us another shot. We'll always try to help you should you call us back.  Helping you unload your stuff is what we do and we'll do our best to keep your information on file so we can make it easier for you the second time around.

Catch ya later,

Jerry

I was interviewed last week by Sherman Goldenberg with RV Business who called to find out what we were all about! He was a great guy and I appreciate the exposure! By the way, RV Business is a trade magazine  most dealers I know read on a daily basis.  It's an excellent read if you're into that sort of thing!

Read the article

Catch ya later,

Jerry

Somebody typed this today in Google, "Is Get A Bid Now Website Safe".  Unfortunately, we didn't think to put that on the frequently asked question page for a couple of reasons.  We assumed you would know it was safe and we're not really asking for any private information on our site so we didn't know it would be a question. 

If we were doing actual money exchanges online or needed confidential information like your social security number, a credit card number or items of that nature, that would make more sense but actually, we just need the basic description of what you want to sell and your contact information.

Now, contact information on the other hand...who wants that to get out to every wacko in the universe?  We don't...that's why you can be sure that we will not be sharing your contact information with anyone unless we have a dealer who's interested in your property.

We respect the privacy of your information and the generosity of your business.  We are in the business of buying your property not selling your information.

Catch ya later,

Jerry

Because I bid on RVs everyday and in some cases several times a day, I have a pretty firm grip on the market as far as RV values are concerned.  That's why so many dealers across the country call me for help or have their potential customers call me to unload their units.  Even in volatile markets like these, I still do a pretty good job keeping track of values so I can give you the most money I can for your property. 

Today I received a call from a good buddy and colleague in North Carolina.  We've been doing business together for the last 4 or 5 years and he called today for advice and to check his own math more than anything. 

Apparently James was working with a buyer today who wanted to trade his unit in for a newer model.  The buyer had proclaimed he could get a hefty price for his trade in from a competitor and was looking for a match trade.  James was having trouble with the math because in his gut, it felt like too high of a number so he called me to bounce the numbers off my head. 

Well, it just so happened I received a RV bid request last night from this very here website for nearly the same exact unit with a just a few differences.  I worked the numbers and had an up to the minute estimate of what the unit would bring but just to make sure, I double checked with another dealer I know who moves alot of that same product.

Turns out James's gut was correct.  The number that buyer proclaimed he could get and what three other guys in the business would offer were simply not the same.  In a booming market a couple thousand here and there don't make that big of a deal but in a market like this, it takes careful evaluation to stay in the business.  Just taking a look around at how many dealers and manufacturers have gone out of business in the last 6 months reinforces that statement. 

When it boils down to it, you might get more for your RV somewhere else but I'm going to be pretty close most of the time just because I think it's the fair and right thing to do. I'm not interested in making a killing on your deal, I'm interested in making a career out of doing lots of deals.

If you're ready to sell your RV, you're just a short form away from making that happen.

Catch ya later,

Jerry

Well we've been up and running for I think almost two weeks and I think we've got most of the bugs worked out of the technology side.  For whatever reason we were having trouble getting photos from people who were submitting bids so we had to temporarily take those options off the bid forms and figure out what was causing the problem.   Thanks to our friends at www.Ibuilt.net, they were able to find out what the hang up was so we were able to get the picture options back on and we are back in business.

We also added a new personal watercraft page for those who want to sell their jet skis and we've already seen a bid...whoot!

We also included my Twitter stream seen at the left of this blog post.  This way, I'm able to keep you posted of my happenings throughout the day! So if you feel like you want to be better connected, you can always visit this page often or follow me on Twitter!

The most exciting news is all about our new Dealer page where Dealers are encouraged to sign up and participate in the bidding process.  This page was added last night and was the most hit page today on the website.  We are really happy about that!

So in closing, I'd like to thank those of you who have already submitted bids and have signed up as one of our participating dealers.  We feel like we're on our way to making this the easiest place to unload personal property and get fast cash and a great place for dealers to pick up some additional wanted inventory. 

If you've been browsing through our site and have questions, suggestions are maybe even a complaint, we welcome your thoughts. 

Catch ya later,

Jerry