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Real Estate Auctions Explained: Sell Faster & Smarter with Todd Taylor

By September 15, 2025Real Estate Pros Show

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Show Summary

In this episode of the Investor Fuel Podcast, host Leo Wehdeking engages with Todd Taylor, a seasoned real estate professional and auctioneer. Todd shares insights into his dual role in the real estate market, emphasizing the unique advantages of auctioning properties. He discusses the challenges of affordability in the current housing market and the importance of building long-term relationships with clients. Todd reflects on his experiences, lessons learned, and future aspirations in the real estate industry, highlighting the significance of networking and treating clients like family.

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    Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

    Todd Taylor (00:00)
    gotta get in here in the game every day and come in here and swing the bat every day. I have a head things every day. I’ve takes two of those to get through my day. I talk to that many people every day. You know, there’s a guy I just have a phone with. I’ve been trying to sell my house for 10 years. There’s a friend of mine, I’ve been trying to sell the house for I don’t know how long, but he’s going to do it. He just, you’re gonna take and swing the bat every day. Swing the bat every day.

    Leo Wehdeking (00:03)
    That’s correct. That’s correct.

    Hahaha!

    That’s it.

    Exactly,

    Hey everyone, welcome to Investor Fuel Podcast. I’m your host, Leo Wehdeking and today I am joined by someone I’ve been looking forward to chatting with, Todd, who’s been making serious moves in the real estate industry. Todd, glad to have you here, man. I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you’ve been approaching your ⁓ real estate business. Let’s dive in, So first of all,

    Todd Taylor (02:20)
    Yeah. Good deal.

    Leo Wehdeking (02:23)
    For people who may not be familiar with your world, can you give us the short version on what’s your main focus these days?

    Todd Taylor (02:30)
    My main focus is just to buyers and sellers buy and sell property. Get it all done correctly and represent whichever side of the fence I happen to be on, either a buyer or seller. I always like to be on the seller side because we’re controlling the market. ⁓ In addition to being that, I’m also an auctioneer. So I became an auctioneer and got that license. And we’re able to auction our properties, removing the contingencies and inspections and the appraisals when the market comes through that market.

    put together an auction and put up signs and everybody shows up and then we get to talk fast. We start out with a 500, down 525, down to 550 and that sort of thing. So that’s part of what I do and the market comes to it. It’s a different ballgame than a traditional sale. It removes all that and the buyer actually pays our commission. The buyer actually pays a 10 % buyer’s premium.

    Leo Wehdeking (03:05)
    Okay.

    It is.

    Todd Taylor (03:20)
    So it’s a little different than a normal sale because the buyer’s paying our commission. The seller usually has ⁓ small expenses depending on the size of their property and that’s about all their expenses and responsible for paying for that. And the buyer’s agent, if the buyer has an agent, we ask them to pay that and so forth. But you remove the contingencies, the inspections, then the appraisals, and then everybody comes and we’ll see what this thing’s gonna bring.

    So, you know, when you got 20 people standing in the front yard and you got the highest bidder standing there, they’re going to pay 10 % buyer’s premium. We close in 30 days. They leave a deposit and they close in 30 days. It’s a good way to buy a property because you didn’t give any more than what the last person gave within $1,500. Kind of a different concept, but you didn’t give any more than what the market was willing to give. Anybody else staying there was willing to give.

    We do lot of, we do do auctions online, so, you know, we have sold properties here in Tennessee, you know, the buyer may be in New York or someplace like that. So we work on all those sort of things. So it’s just a different, different animal than a normal conventional sale. Because when you put conventional sale of a house, put the sign in yard and the buyer’s in control. The buyer tells you when they’re going to close and they’re going to do all these inspections and all this, that and the other. A lot of times a property’s not prepared to do that.

    You know, let’s say you got a property that, you know, really somebody inherited or, you know, they don’t really want to do anything to it. You know, an auction is a way to do that. Now, I’ve got conventional things right now. I’ve got those houses with the sign saying the Ferry yard because the house is a primo house. mean, you know, not everything is an auction. A house with plenty of comps, that’s a, that’s a traditional sale. A house that doesn’t have any comps.

    somebody built something out in middle of nowhere and they’ve got this weird house with indoor swimming pools and you know they spend all this money and that has no comps so the market will come to that particular property in an auction. also about buyers, mean my favorite thing to do is to sell a brand new house because I mean you got certain builders that we would work with and I’m going to go out tonight and go show a brand new house to buyers.

    So, you know, my job every day is to help buyers and sellers, you know, get the best, depending on who you hire me for. If you hire me as a buyer, I can be glad to help you take, I can help you go to an auction. I get paid to bring you to an auction. And I know how, the deal is, because I know, I know how the auctioneer is working and so forth. I’ve stood right there and helped the buyer buy a house, because I know where the market is and this and that and the other. So I represent the buyer at an auction, a little different concept and so forth.

    Leo Wehdeking (06:26)
    Cool.

    Todd Taylor (06:52)
    We’ve got to be thinking about the box to get through this market and help people. You know, we’re all here to achieve the American dream. That’s to buy on and live in your own house and help us go up in value. I’ve been here working on all kinds of projects to help buyers get into houses. You know, there’s all kinds of programs. First time home buyer programs now. When we talk about affordability, we’ve got to get to affordability. You know, our 25 year olds can’t buy a house. Now our average entry level is 37 years old.

    Leo Wehdeking (06:59)
    Exactly.

    Todd Taylor (07:18)
    We’ve got to be able to get to affordability in somehow, some way, to get them into a home. Because we’re shorted your homes really nationwide. had in 08, 09, when I started in 06, we weren’t building enough houses. And we’re still not building enough houses even on the real estate market kind of goes up and down, this and that and the other. mean, right now, we’ve got about an extra three, 400 houses right here in Middle Tennessee, right here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. We’ve got about, in Murfreesboro, we’ve got about an extra three, 400 houses.

    Leo Wehdeking (07:23)
    That’s correct.

    Todd Taylor (07:45)
    But there’s people here to buy houses. mean, you know, that’s what the American dream is, that is living your own home and to go up in value. you know, that’s how we acquire wealth. I’ve been buying houses since I was 22 years old. I’m 57 today. And most of them, I own three homes right now, two of them are rental houses. Now, two of them are rental houses. give…

    Leo Wehdeking (07:56)
    Exactly.

    Todd Taylor (08:08)
    I think about 380,000 in two houses that sit side by side and there were 700,000 today. And I started 12 years ago and those are just rental houses. I mean, people need to rent houses. know, you ever read the real estate agent book? That’s a bit written by Gary Keller. mean, you you buy an asset and let somebody else pay for it. If you’re doing renting, you’re just paying for somebody else to have an asset. So that’s an investment. Investment, whether it’s in single-family houses or condos, apartments.

    Leo Wehdeking (08:30)
    Exactly, that’s correct.

    Todd Taylor (08:35)
    You know, those sort of things. I do work with commercial agents that I’ve got a good working relationship with that we’re sending out, you know, 50 apartments. They have 50 units in a complex, you know, we’ll work on those deals and so forth. it’s not just, you know, showing houses as a realtors about this much of what we do. Everything else is just about building relationships every day. We’ve got to build enough relationships to make all those wheels come together as a realtor, as a ⁓

    Leo Wehdeking (09:00)
    Exactly.

    Todd Taylor (09:02)
    We’ve got to build relationships because they’ve got to know, love, and trust you before they’re going to buy the biggest asset from you. And I’ve got a lot of happy customers that I’ve sold a lot of homes to. And I’ve got people I’ve sold. I’ve sold them their first house. I’ve sold them their next house. Then I’ve sold them investment properties. We go out and look at the properties. And then we sell them an investment property. And that house goes up and we sell another investment property. So you’re just helping people build the world.

    Leo Wehdeking (09:25)
    Yeah, you keep on buying, you

    keep on buying and selling. That’s what you’ve been doing for the last 20 something years. Well, sorry, since you were 22.

    Todd Taylor (09:29)
    Thank you.

    Since I

    was 22 years old, started buying a house when I was 22 years old. Now, I gave $108 for that house and sold it for $155 in 2001. I bought another house for $189,000 and now that house is worth about $750.

    Leo Wehdeking (09:40)
    Exactly. All right.

    Wow.

    Todd Taylor (09:50)
    Yeah,

    because that neighborhood took off and it’s in a middle, I live in middle Tennessee. So middle Tennessee is a hotbed of people moving here. People want to move here. They want to move to Tennessee because of the climate. want, you know, quality of life. They want the schools. want it. They want what we have in Tennessee. And that’s where I’m from. I’m from Chattanooga, Tennessee originally.

    And I moved 100 miles away in 2009. So it’s a hobby.

    Leo Wehdeking (10:19)
    cool that’s

    Todd let me ask you something. Now with everything that you told me in what markets are you operating? Do you operate in all 50 states or all 50? No?

    Todd Taylor (11:05)
    No, I

    mean I can do a referral in another state. I’ve got some buyers out of California that I’ve ran across and they’re looking at properties usually right here in Middle Tennessee somewhere. Usually some right here in Middle Tennessee is some shape or fashion of a property there.

    Leo Wehdeking (11:25)
    All right, all right, all right, love it.

    Todd Taylor (11:26)
    I with

    land, and buying the land, I talked to a man this morning, I wanted to buy a piece of land. know, buying a piece of land has to do with whether it perks or not in middle Tennessee. Most of Tennessee, the land does have to perk. You get a lot of questions about that. In other words, it doesn’t perk, can’t build anything on it. So you gotta make sure of that, how much road furniture has, where’s the septic at, where’s all the utilities at to build a house on a piece of property.

    Because I’ve done that. I probably built 20 houses with 10 different builders over my career. So you got to look out for the buyer in that situation and who’s going to build it and where is it going to be and all those sort of things. So it’s a convoluted process and so forth. So every deal has a challenge. But we always learn something on every deal.

    Leo Wehdeking (12:04)
    Alright, alright.

    right that’s good ⁓ Todd actually something you know that caught my attention about you is the way that you’ve been able to integrate real estate investing ⁓ with also your action here ⁓

    Todd Taylor (12:26)
    Yeah.

    Leo Wehdeking (12:28)
    your actioner role. Yes, exactly

    with your actioner business. Can you be a little bit more specific how being an actioner helps you with your real estate business?

    Todd Taylor (12:38)
    Well, being an auctioneer, I’m gonna be able to go out and I really want you to talk me into doing an auction. Probably half of all the auctions that I go look at, I probably don’t get to take. Because I’ve got to have realistic expectations of where I think I can get to. And if we can’t have that realistic expectation of where I think we can get to and put money in your pocket and at of the day, that’s what it’s about. Having those fierce conversations as to what it is that’s going to be

    You know, put in your pocket at the end of the day and what your property is really, really worth. You know, a brand new realtor, I mean, as a brand new realtor, I’d probably take any listing there would none the man if the sign would fit in the yard and go in there. Today, I’m more, today, as 20, 19 years of experience, I have experience as to what it’s gonna take to get this thing sold. I don’t put signs in the yard just for the sake of putting it in the yard.

    I don’t take an auction if you don’t think it’s going to work because it is no fun at the end of the day. I think I did one of those last year, just one. ⁓ Now, I was on a team of other people and they did other things. That’s not their business, but come to realistic terms of what it really is worth and you get in your mind right around what it’s going to take to get there as an auctioneer because the market will come to it as an auctioneer, as an auction.

    Leo Wehdeking (13:52)
    All right. Now Todd, ⁓ let’s talk about something different now. I know that every operator has a moment where things got real. Maybe a deal that went sideways or a time they had to pivot real fast. Do you mind sharing one of those moments?

    Todd Taylor (13:59)
    Okay.

    Well, sometimes things don’t work out. You know, we put together deals and I’ve never had someone to not come to the closing table. You know, they’ve to get to the closing table of where they’re at. So setting very realistic expectations on the front of the deal is, I mean, I’d rather spend an hour in the front of the deal working everything out and explain to you how it’s going to work. But there’s been deals that have been, that different things happen.

    Leo Wehdeking (14:23)
    You

    Todd Taylor (14:40)
    You know, something happens in the middle of the deal and ⁓ you know, I’ve had deals that the Sutter moved out of town or you know, there’s going to be issues. There’s going to be appraisal issues. That probably happens. I mean, it happens. You got an appraisal this short. Well, what do you got to do? I’ve had coached ⁓ my teammates through that. know, everybody wants the common goal.

    is to get this thing to close. got a buyer’s agent and a seller’s agent, you got a willing seller and a willing buyer. Somebody’s got to come together to come together to get to that. Got an appraiser. Appraisers are human. We’re all human. We all make mistakes. Just forgive people and see what you can do to get this deal put together. Get to the closing table and make it get everybody happy. Because if you called them five years from now, they wouldn’t know anything about all that. just say,

    Leo Wehdeking (16:13)
    Yeah, that’s correct. That’s correct. And that’s actually the kind of stuff that people don’t like to talk enough, you know. ⁓ They don’t like to remember those kind of stuff. And honestly, for me, that is what separates the folks who just dabble from the ones who actually stay in the game long term, like you did, like you’re doing, because you didn’t do it. You are actually doing it. All right.

    Todd Taylor (16:32)
    Yeah. Yeah.

    Well, I’m

    actually doing it. I mean, you

    gotta get in here in the game every day and come in here and swing the bat every day. I have a head things every day. I’ve takes two of those to get through my day. I talk to that many people every day. You know, there’s a guy I just have a phone with. I’ve been trying to sell my house for 10 years. There’s a friend of mine, I’ve been trying to sell the house for I don’t know how long, but he’s going to do it. He just, you’re gonna take and swing the bat every day. Swing the bat every day.

    Leo Wehdeking (16:43)
    That’s correct. That’s correct.

    Hahaha!

    That’s it.

    Exactly,

    every single day, every single day. The more you swing, the closer you get to hitting the ball.

    Todd Taylor (17:08)
    The ball,

    Leo Wehdeking (17:10)
    Yeah, all right. So, and let me ask you something Todd, what are you looking or what are you most focused on solving or scaling next?

    Todd Taylor (17:10)
    exactly.

    The next thing will be the auction business will be a little bit bigger. More auctions coming along. I haven’t had that license that long, but about 18 months. I was running an auction company for seven years. ⁓ I was just kind of building my own thing about that piece of the puzzle, so forth. ⁓ And I’m into some other things too, other opportunities that will come together.

    Leo Wehdeking (17:45)
    All right, that’s cool, man. That’s cool. Now, Todd, I know that a lot of people listening are either early in their journey or they’re just looking to level up. And I think they will benefit from hearing this. Now, when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?

    Todd Taylor (17:58)
    Hmm.

    ⁓ yeah.

    The biggest difference is me staying with them. I’ve got people that I had a guy call me, I don’t know, two or weeks ago. said, you don’t remember me. And I said, well, I do know your name in my telephone. Your name is in my telephone, because I record everybody’s name in my phone. And he said, you sold a house for me 10 years ago. I’m ready to buy house. So my database is pretty deep. So.

    You know, once you buy a house for me, if I want to do business with you, you know, there’s a few people that once we close the deal, you know, we close the deal. And then there’s other times, if we want to do business again, I would encourage us to do business again. And you get a referral. I mean, you get referrals. mean, you did somebody right. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it. You always did somebody right.

    Leo Wehdeking (18:48)
    and

    Yeah, exciting.

    Todd Taylor (19:03)
    you treat them right, you treat them like family. ⁓

    Leo Wehdeking (19:06)
    That’s correct and that’s something you cannot fake.

    That’s something you can fake when you are dealing when you’re closing a deal with someone, you know, and that person feels like, you know what? Todd is actually treating me or he has been treating me like like I’m part of his family, you know, for all this time and that’s actually not you doing a business or closing a business. That’s actually you building a relationship. Okay, a long term relationship.

    Todd Taylor (19:10)
    I hope not. Yeah.

    Leo Wehdeking (19:34)
    with a potential client. Because he’s already your client. He’s already buying from you. All right? But in order for you, or in order for him to buy from you again, he needs to feel, OK, that you bring something to the table. OK? And that’s one of the things that people like about, OK? Like, you know what? I like to do business with Todd, even though that I haven’t spoke with him for the last 10 years. I’m going to give him a call, you know, and see what he’s up to.

    Todd Taylor (19:36)
    Yeah, exactly.

    Yeah.

    Leo Wehdeking (20:01)
    Okay, because I remember that from day one, Todd treated me like excellent, you know, and it’s sometimes it’s not about it’s not about closing the cell, but the experience you had when you were closing that cell. Okay. And again, that’s something that ⁓ I wish we could learn that, you know, if they in school, okay, but that’s something that you don’t learn in school. That’s something that

    Todd Taylor (20:06)
    Yeah. Well.

    I’m Zach.

    Leo Wehdeking (20:27)
    It’s within you that’s something that you actually do once you are in love with what you do. for me relationships are everything. Building relationships in any areas, whether if it’s real estate, for your personal life, even with your friends. Having good relationships helps with everything.

    Todd Taylor (20:35)
    Yeah, exactly.

    Yeah.

    Yeah,

    exactly. Well, it’s not the people don’t really care how much you know, it’s how much you

    Leo Wehdeking (20:56)
    is how much you care exactly.

    All right, Todd, before we wrap up, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you?

    Todd Taylor (21:03)
    Okay.

    Exactly.

    Well, the best way is to call me on my telephone and have a conversation. I mean, I’ll give you my phone number. My phone number is plastered everywhere, but I’ll give it to you for sure. And it’s 615-785-3563. And if I don’t answer, just leave a message and get back to you as soon as I can. And you’d be glad to talk to anybody about investing or auctioneering or moving to our area or…

    Leo Wehdeking (21:12)
    Okay, and what is your phone number?

    Todd Taylor (21:37)
    anything that I could do to help them in their investment journey. And I mean, there’s other markets for me to, I mean, I know a lot of people across the country. There’s a lot of people in my phone that are in other states that

    outbound is all I have. Okay.

    Leo Wehdeking (21:49)
    Perfect, perfect, perfect.

    Well, Todd, I really appreciate your time, your story, and also your perspective. We need more people in this space who are actually doing it the right way. So thanks again for being here on the show. And for those of you tuning in, if you got value from this, just make sure that you’re subscribed. We’ve got more conversations coming with operators, just like Todd, who are out there building.

    Todd Taylor (22:05)
    Okay.

    Leo Wehdeking (22:17)
    real businesses. Alright, so see you guys on the next episode.

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