From first call to settlement.

Call the office or send the seller inquiry. You will reach John, Patrick or Amy, not a call center. We ask what you have, where it is, why it is being sold, who has authority to sign, and when it needs to be gone. We ask about mortgages, liens, leases and equipment financing on the first call, because a lien found late delays a sale. Then we tell you plainly whether auction is the right fit. If a conventional listing looks like the better route, we say so. We are licensed to do either. Nothing is signed on this call.

We come to the property. For a house, one walk-through inside and out, plus a look at the deed, tax parcel, zoning and access. For a shop, a plant or a full household, we walk it item by item: every machine and truck by make, model, serial number, hours and condition, and what is bolted to the building versus what rolls out. We flag problems now, not on sale day: a lien, a leased cooler, a boundary question, a truck without a title, refrigerant in the coolers, a tenant in place. We give you a verbal auction estimate. Then come three decisions. First, auction or conventional listing. Auction fits a firm date, more than one interested buyer and as-is terms. A listing fits an owner-occupied home that needs time and an asking price. Second, format: live on site, online only, or simulcast, which is live with online bidders competing in real time. Third, absolute or with reserve. Absolute draws more bidders, because everyone knows it will sell. A reserve protects a floor you cannot go below, and set too high it thins the crowd. We recommend one of each and say why. A firm with one license has one answer. We hold both.

You get a written plan, not a quote over the phone. It names the method and format we recommend and why. It lays out the marketing plan: channels, dates and cost. It sets proposed dates for launch, previews, sale day, the removal window and, for real estate, the closing window. It states the costs: our commission, any buyer's premium, and who pays advertising, labor, clean-out, title work and transfer tax. It states how and when you are paid and what the accounting will show. For Pennsylvania real estate it comes with a written estimate of costs and net proceeds, as broker rules require. Read it at your kitchen table. Ask about every line. The plan becomes the contract, so nothing in it should surprise you later.

Pennsylvania requires a written contract between the auctioneer and the owner or consignor before any sale is conducted. Ours carries the terms of sale and our auctioneer license number, AU002923L. For real estate we act under our broker licenses, so the agreement also meets Real Estate Commission rules: services and fees, price or auction terms, commission, a fixed term, and the required notices. If you sign for an estate, a trust, a company or a bankruptcy estate, we need the paper that says you can: letters testamentary, the trust instrument, a corporate resolution or the court order. For a house, you complete the seller disclosure where the law requires it, and the lead paint disclosure if the house was built before 1978. The reserve, if there is one, goes in the contract now. Then, and only then, the first ad runs.

Real estate: we order the title search so liens, judgments and mortgages surface now, not at closing. We assemble the bidder packet: title, survey if needed, disclosures, lead paint materials for pre-1978 homes, taxes, zoning, leases, terms of sale and the sample agreement of sale. The packet answers every question a buyer would otherwise make a contingency. Equipment and contents: our crew sorts, cleans, lots, tags, photographs and describes every item. Lotting is judgment: a rack of hand tools sells better bulked in box lots; a skid steer sells on its own, serial number and hours listed; a pallet of mixed inventory is counted and photographed so a buyer out of state can bid without a visit. Titled trucks and trailers are matched to their paperwork. Fixtures that stay with a leased building are marked and set aside. Items with no auction value are separated for donation or disposal, not cataloged. Then the catalog goes up on HiBid, lot by lot, with condition notes, the buyer's premium and the removal window.

Each sale gets its own campaign, aimed at the buyers who bid on that category. A dairy dispersal and a Green Ridge two-story do not share an audience. The catalog goes live on HiBid, where bidders from across the country register and place bids. It goes out on our sale notices by text and email. Real estate goes on the MLS through our broker license where it helps. Every advertisement carries our name and license number, as Pennsylvania requires. Preview is the buyer's inspection: everything sells as-is, so bidders come, open the hood, run the machine and decide. If a neighbor knocks on your door with an offer, send them to us. A side deal during the listing term can still owe the commission.

On sale day bidders register with ID and agree to the terms. The auctioneer who inspected your property calls the sale. In a simulcast, online bidders on HiBid compete against the room, and a clerk relays their bids to the block. Online only, lots close with a soft close: a bid in the final minutes extends that lot. Maximum bids advance only as competition requires. You are welcome to attend. You may not bid, and no one may bid for you, unless the terms disclosed that in advance. If the sale is with reserve and the high bid stops short, you decide then, or we open a negotiation with the high bidder afterward. Real estate: the high bidder signs the agreement of sale and posts the deposit before leaving.

Winning bidders are invoiced immediately: hammer price, plus the buyer's premium stated in the terms, plus sales tax where it applies. They pay at the cashier or online, then remove what they bought during the published window. Our crew runs the yard: releases against paid invoices, loading order, and forklift or rigging help where the terms provide it. Nothing leaves unpaid. Lots not removed in the window may be forfeited under the terms. When the window closes, we walk the building with you. What is left is what the agreement says: cleaned out, hauled, or returned to you. Buyer money sits in a separate escrow account, as Pennsylvania auction law requires, until we settle with you. Once buyer funds clear, you receive an itemized accounting: every lot and its price, buyer's premium and sales tax collected, commission, each expense, and your net, with the check. Real estate closes through a title company or attorney, typically 30 to 45 days after sale day, on the date in the terms. At closing the balance is paid, the deed is delivered and recorded, liens and mortgages are paid from proceeds, transfer tax is paid as the terms allocated it, and you receive net proceeds and a settlement statement.