Auction raises scholarship money

The election in the Commonwealth is over. It seems that at least for another year the election process is over in the Virginia, or is it? Virginia, like the other 49 states, will choose her U.S. Congressional representatives next November in 2010. It seems that the off-year gubernatorial elections are a tremendous expense for the Commonwealth, but when held in an off year, the races may not necessarily reflect the national trends of the presidential elections. For some reason, that’s the way they like it.

Virginia could also call a primary election next May. If Tuesday’s race is any indication of a trend in the Commonwealth, things might change. Cap and trade, windmills, national health care, the wars, the economy, bail-out fallout, and other issues will weigh into the next election picture. McDowell Assessor Dennis Altizer reported that all is quiet in the political scene around the McDowell County Courthouse. “Not much going on right now, but the kids did have a good time on Halloween,” he said. Altizer noted that about 40 kids decked out in full costume knocked on his door at home last Saturday evening demanding, “trick or treat.”

Parents accompanied the youngsters on their mission to secure as many treats as possible. No damage was reported in the community and all the children seemed to have a great time, according to Altizer. There may have been a rocket boy or two in the crowd.

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Against the tide: Auctions popular way to liquidate

Tim Hash is a ringleader beneath a big, white tent. The auctioneer entertains the crowd with his voice while coaxing them to open their wallets.

Business doubled this year for Hash's company, Mountain City Realty & Auction LLC.

"Because of the recession, our seller clients have found that it's a good time to sell real estate at auction," said Hash, who doubles as an associate broker with MKB Realtors. "Once upon a time -- three years ago -- we as Realtors didn't always even get a sign in the yard before people would be wanting to buy it. But things have changed drastically."

Now, sellers are looking to get real estate off the market quickly and pocket the cash rather than wait out the recession. Live auctions provide the solution: sell a house and liquidate a lifetime's worth of assets in a few hours.

Residential real estate alone had $17.1 billion gross sales nationally last year, increasing every year since 2003, when gross sales were $11.5 billion, according to the National Auctioneers Association. Live auctions sold goods valued at $268.4 billion in 2008, a 37 percent increase from six years earlier, the association reported.

"Virginia is very auction-savvy and very auction-minded," said John Nicholls, president of Virginia Auctioneers Association and one of the rock stars of the auction world. He's won the International Auctioneers Championship and "cries" for Barrett-Jackson Auction Co., the king of collector car auctions. "People are accustomed to doing business this way and aren't scared of the process."

Rural areas and Southern states typically feel strong historical ties to auctions, making the counties around Roanoke ideal for Hash. Around here, the auctioneers sometimes call each other "Colonel," to mimic language used in Civil War auctions of captured spoils, Hash said.

Video: Auctioneer's business goes against the economic tide

Video by Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times
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Hash and his partner auctioneer, Gary Dogan, called for six hours, with no breaks, on Oct. 17 at the Lois Dowdy estate sale. A sale similar to Dowdy's, with more than 500 items across the block -- almost everything in the house except the house itself -- brings in about $25,000 in revenue. Hash declined to name sales numbers from this particular auction. Mountain City's profits come from an array of services offered, from marketing the sale to setting up and taking out the trash.

The company holds about 15 auctions a year, from spring to fall. One-third of those sell real estate. If a seller prefers not to auction his house, Hash will list it through MKB.

Beneath the tent in Dowdy's Mount Pleasant back yard, Ed Swedenborg, 68, a Hash auction regular, kept his No. 103 bid card in his shirt pocket. He planned to drop $200 to $300, his usual amount, on mostly tools and gifts for his grandchildren that morning.

Swedenborg's spoils one hour into the proceedings: an orange cooler ($10), a box of flashlights ($2) and some bedsheets. He had driven from his home in Buchanan with a Sears catalog in his car, so he could get an early idea of prices.

"They're pleasant people to work with," he said about why he follows Mountain City. "They move it quickly and don't draw it out."

About 85 bidders turned out for the Dowdy sale, many coming to bid on a 1996 Toyota Camry ($3,000), furniture or a collection of seven guns.

"They tend to go for more than they're worth," said Aaron Shutts, 36, of Troutville as his 5-year-old son, Brogan, peeked at the firearm-filled tabletop. "But auctions are exciting, period."

Carl Powers, 64, of Stewartsville coolly won two pistols with a flash of his bidder number from his back pocket. The .45-caliber Kimber ($750) and the .45-caliber Colt auto pistol ($710) were good buys, Powers said, that were worth more than $2,000 total.

Hash has learned Powers' and Swedenborg's buying habits, and he works to make his auctions fun for newcomers and regulars alike, he said.

Hash, 51, first attended auctions in Roanoke County with his grandfather, a farmer, to buy cattle. To hold close the memories, he went to Mendenhall School of Auctioneering in North Carolina 25 years ago.

Hash's speaking voice is warm, quiet and metered, distinct from the rat-a-tat phrasing of his professional call. He stumbled to name the words he uses to string together prices.

"Some of the things I don't know, so let me just sell something for you."

He picked up a cellphone, the only item sitting on the long conference table at the MKB office on Electric Road.

"Would you give a hundred dollars here?" he asked the imaginary crowd across the table. After 20 seconds of flipping his voice through the phrases, he settled the price at $65.


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Trailing car deal crooks to court

CRIMINAL prosecutions are being prepared against 82 dodgy car salesmen who sold potential death traps to unsuspecting buyers - mostly in western Sydney.

In the past two years these alleged shonks offloaded 1240 dodgy vehicles. Many were "cut-and-shuts" - cars on which the faults were concealed with cosmetic repairs.

Some odometers had been turned back and others were stolen vehicles that had been "rebirthed". None had come with a warranty.

The prosecutions stem from a Department of Fair Trading blitz on eight car auction houses in western Sydney. Records were scrutinised in search of people who had bought a lot of vehicles.
Under the Motor Dealers Act, anyone who sells, or offers to sell, more than four vehicles in 12 months must have a licence.



But Fair Trading Minister Virginia Judge said: "Some of the unlicensed operators identified by Operation Winner had purchased up to 55 vehicles in a year and sold up to 52 over a two-year period."

Motor Traders Association of NSW chief James McCall said cars sold by unlicensed dealers were often "potential death traps".

He said many of the vehicles were previously "repairable write-offs" purchased at car auctions.

"The RWOs are then mended in a backyard in a way that is incredibly dangerous and they are going back on the road in droves," he said.

More than 13,000 RWOs are put forward for re-registration annually, according to the RTA.

Mr McCall pointed to German crash testing which compared "cut-and-shuts" to properly repaired vehicles. In the cut-and-shuts, crash-test dummies were garotted.

"It's the difference between being injured and killed," Mr McCall said.

He said RWOs should be banned. This was under consideration by the NSW Government as part of an RTA discussion paper.

Insurers oppose a ban - they receive the proceeds from the sale of RWOs. While the Insurance Council of Australia would not comment yesterday, it has said selling RWOs reduced insurance premiums and that a better solution would be more rigorous safety checks on RWOs.

"The RTA discussion paper is calling for public and industry comment on ways the Government can make it harder for criminal syndicates to reconstruct written-off wrecks with stolen parts and sell them on," Ms Judge said.

"This practice has serious repercussions for consumers who may be driving an unsafe vehicle."



More than $100,000 of fines have already been imposed on 21 people as a result of Operation Winner.


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Treasuries Fall as Five-Year Notes Draw Higher Yield at Auction

 Treasuries fell as the government’s record $40 billion sale of five-year notes drew weaker-than- forecast demand before the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting.

The notes drew a yield of 2.47 percent, compared with a forecast of 2.4625 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of four of the Fed’s primary dealers. The bid-to-cover ratio, which gauges demand by comparing total bids with the amount of securities offered, was 2.40, compared with 2.51 at the previous sale in August and an average of 2.23 at the past 10 auctions.

“The auction was surprisingly weak given the performance of the two-year note and the price action heading in,” said Lawrence Dyer, an interest-rate strategist in New York at HSBC Securities USA Inc., one of the 18 primary dealers required to bid at Treasury auctions. “The market seemed to be saying, why should I pay a premium when there will be more to buy next month?”

The existing five-year note yield rose three basis points to 2.45 percent at 1:26 p.m. in New York, according to BGCantor Market Data. The 2.375 percent security maturing in August 2014 fell 1/8, or $1.25 per $1,000 face amount, to 22 21/32. The 10- year note yield rose three basis points to 3.49 percent.

Indirect bidders, a class of investors that includes foreign central banks, bought 44.8 percent of the notes, compared with 56.4 percent at the August auction. The average at the past 10 sales is 40.6 percent.

Fed Meeting

“Indirects will continue to be strong and sevens are in that mix for sure so I would expect people to show up for the auction tomorrow,” said William O’Donnell, U.S. government bond strategist at primary dealer RBS Securities Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut.

The amount of five-year notes offered by the Treasury has surged from $14 billion at the start of 2008 to $40 billion this month as President Barack Obama borrows unprecedented amounts to revive the economy and service record deficits.

The Treasury is scheduled to sell $29 billion of seven-year debt tomorrow. Over the past three months, returns totaled 0.9 percent for two-year notes, 2.2 percent for five-year debt and 2.8 percent for 10-year Treasuries, according to indexes compiled by Merrill Lynch & Co.

Fed officials may signal that the U.S. economy has started to recover while maintaining their pledge to keep the benchmark interest rate near a record low for an “extended period.”


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End of the road for car dealership

After 75 years in business, the Lawrence family’s last remaining dealership has closed.
“To make a long story short, we made a business decision that we felt better closing the doors and selling the property,” said Skip Lawrence, who co-owned the dealership at 5400 S. Laburnum Ave. in Henrico with his brother Mark.
The dealership, along with 788 others across the country, received a letter in June that the bankrupt automaker was abruptly terminating their franchise agreement.
The Lawrences, who are third-generation operators of the company, quickly re-branded the Airport Chrysler Jeep dealership to be the Airport Motor Company and began selling used cars.
That experiment ended a couple of weeks ago.
“This facility was built to support a service and parts department, and it just wasn’t able to support enough sales to pay for the property,” said Skip Lawrence, adding that they were unable to generate enough revenue to cover taxes and overhead.
Now the property is up for sale for $5 million. Lawrence said they have had a number of interested parties come and look, including auto dealers and other users as well. The county has assessed the property at $3.7 million. It is at the corner of Laburnum and Eubank Road.
All of the vehicles and parts have been sold at auction.
The Lawrence family once operated another Dodge dealership on West Broad Street that was sold late last year, before the forced closures.
The company’s dealership near the airport was one of two in the area that were dropped by Chrysler. Dodge also ordered Pearson Dodge on Midlothian Turnpike to close. Pearson Dodge is selling used cars at that location under the name Automax. Pearson was allowed to retain its other Chrysler dealership on West Broad Street.
Lawrence said the automaker’s handling of the bankruptcy was a disaster.
A week before the letters were sent out, Lawrence said, he was on a conference call with Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press urging dealers to buy more cars.
“Of course we did, hoping we were going forward,” said Lawrence.
Mike Allen, director of public affairs for the Virginia Auto Dealers Association, said about half of the state dealers who were axed by Chrysler have given it a go in the used car business, with mixed success.
“It’s a tough time to be in the used car market,” said Allen, adding that people who typically buy used cars are fixing up their older cars and keeping them on the road longer.
A handful of used car lots along West Broad Street and Route 1 have closed within the past year and now sit vacant.
And a used car operation misses out on performing warranty service, sometimes the only profitable piece of a dealership.
“Most dealers over the past couple of years have netted a loss on vehicle sales. Once they pay the overhead that are related to a sale, they actually come out behind,” said Allen.
As for the Lawrence family, an era in the car business has come to an end. But that ending comes a chance to start something new.
“I’m going to catch my breath for a couple of weeks and decide what I am going to do going forward,” said Lawrence. “One thing I’m pretty sure of: It won’t involve the car business.”


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Norwalk Festival features rare cars

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The brown, black and orange-trimmed 1930 Ford Model A on display this weekend at the first Norwalk Festival could end up in your driveway with the purchase of only one $5 raffle ticket.

“The Norwalk automobile is more important to the whole community, to Martinsburg ... than one little car is to two people,” said Shelly McFillan, who, along with her husband, donated the vehicle for an Oct. 18 raffle drawing toward the end of the Mountain State Apple Harvest Festival. “There’s more of those around. There are no more Norwalks. That is it.”

The couple, from the Spring Mills, W.Va., area, are members of The Friends of the Norwalk Foundation Inc., a group formed in August 2008 to bring what is widely believed to be the only remaining Norwalk car in existence — a 1914 Underslung Six manufactured in Martinsburg — back to Martinsburg and find a permanent home for it.

The group is paying off a $280,000 loan it obtained to purchase the car from a Colorado rancher last year. Since then, the foundation has paid about $60,000 toward the total cost and was awarded a $50,000 state grant, but the latter has yet to arrive from Charleston, W.Va.

“The tickets that have been sold (for the Model A) have more than exceeded our expectations,” McFillan said. “We’ve really been amazed.

“We’ve had requests for tickets as far away as Hawaii. I hope somebody there wins it — ’cause I’ll deliver it,” she said, laughing.

Rainy conditions appeared to dampen turnout for the first day of the festival, which continues today at the Berkeley County Youth Fair Grounds.

Tickets are $10, and the event includes pony rides, a truck and tractor pull, silent auction and raffle drawings in addition to dozens of arts and crafts vendors and antique vehicles, including a GM Futurliner.

The red and white buslike vehicle was one of 12 manufactured in 1939 by General Motors, which shuttled displays about “modern marvels” in science and technology across the nation as part of the “Parade of Progress.” The first parade was launched in 1936 with different vehicles.

Emmett Toomey of Rio in Hampshire County, W.Va., wasn’t bothered by the weather and urged organizers not to be discouraged because he expects interest in seeing the unique canary yellow convertible-style vehicle only will grow in time.

Toomey said his father, who had worked for the Fisher Body division of General Motors, talked about a lot of different cars in the late 1920s and 1930s when he was a teenager, but not the Norwalk.

“I think he said his first car, he paid like $27 for it,” Toomey said. “But that was a lot of money back then.”

Kenny Stotler of Berkeley Springs, W.Va., who was with Neva Thomas of Great Cacapon, W.Va., and Pat Crowl, of Hedgesville, W.Va., came to the festival to see The Fabulous Hubcaps, a well-known oldies music band.

“They’re fantastic,” Thomas said.

“They’re our time,” Crowl added.

Stotler said he didn’t know anything about the Futurliners and the “Parade of Progress” until he came to the festival.

“I was impressed,” Stotler said.


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Mustang Club classic car show features all makes

 CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gearheads aren't the only ones invited to mingle among the cars Saturday at South Charleston's Summerfest.

A car show sponsored by the Mustang Club of West Virginia is expected to include more than 130 vehicles. They'll be on display from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"This is an open show, so anything can come," said Tom Bailey, the longtime president of the local car club. "We'll have classic cars, muscle cars, antiques, even newer styles from 1985 and up."

Car owners love to chat with spectators and sometimes they end up selling vehicles out of those discussions, Bailey said. But the only scheduled sales of the day are in an auction for which sellers agree to donate $100 to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, the car club's charity of choice.

A silent auction featuring car-related items and non-car-related items also is designed to raise money for Make-a-Wish, Bailey said.

Car owners from throughout the region have expressed interest in bringing their vehicles to the show.

"I put it in the newspapers under the antique and classic car section - all the gearheads read that," Bailey said. "We've had people come from Flatwoods, Clarksburg, Huntington; we've had people from Beckley."



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