Friends, I am counting my blessings!
I am facing the physical, economical, and political storms with a grateful heart!
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
— Deuteronomy 31:8
Faith in God leads to wisdom. He keeps his word!
And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith.
— Luke 17:5
And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.
— Exodus 31:3
There is no such thing as a self-made man. I believe in intelligent design by our supreme Maker.
I believe as we work with others in this amazing life we have been given, we open ourselves to God’s many blessings. Once we know our Maker, and seek his hand in guiding our life, he uses us! He puts people in our path. He uses us in our successes and our failures as well.
I have made many contacts during my 62 years of “turning clients’ assets into money.”
Many become friends for life, blessing me continually. I have been incredibly blessed to attract and work with talented employees as well as fellow auctioneers and real estate professionals.
It is truly teamwork that creates the synergy necessary to create a market! Our market is not confined to the great state of Florida, but we love working for fellow Floridians any chance we get! We treasure our home state and love our beautiful country that is so rich with opportunities gifted by God.
Please allow me to recognize our team by sharing a recent letter of recommendation for a job well done!
On behalf of the State of Oregon Department of Corrections I want to thank you for the outstanding work you and your team did to sell the former Mill Creek Correctional Facility Site, a 390.5-acre working farm, for $9,052,187.50, which is 27.5% higher than the first-round high bid. That in and of itself is truly remarkable thanks to Chris’ expert negotiations with the high bidder for four days to consummate the transaction.
Your marketing plan, quite frankly, drew exactly the type of bidder we believed would buy the property — an experienced, well-seasoned residential and commercial builder/developer (who just happens to be local here in our Salem market). Your smart due diligence work prior to the auction in meeting with the City of Salem to ensure the City would be receptive to redevelop the property was a stroke of genius. While many other large publicly traded residential builders/developers were interested in the property, they all wanted to offload the risk of entitlements onto the state in waiting two years or more for entitlement approvals before they would close escrow. As it stands now, we have a very substantial amount of nonrefundable earnest money in escrow and will close escrow by mid-December 2022.
As a result of your team’s great work, we’ve awarded Higgenbotham Auctioneers a contract to auction a second farm-type property, a 319-acre working livestock ranch in Central Point, Oregon, in the Medford metropolitan market and we look forward to that auction in March 2023.
Sincerely,
Tracy L. Wilder
Real Property Manager, Administrative Services Division
This column is sponsored by Higgenbotham Auctioneers International, Ltd., and the opinions expressed herein may not reflect those of CFAN or of its advertisers.
BIO: Marty Higgenbotham, founder and president of Higgenbotham Auctioneers International, Ltd., has conducted approximately 12,000 auctions, selling everything from cemetery lots to shopping centers. He graduated from Reisch Auction College in 1959. Since then, he has sold in 49 states and five foreign countries. Clients include Wal-Mart, AutoZone, HUD, and the states of Kansas, Missouri, Texas, and Florida.
