Randy Filer
Randy Filer was drawn to bid calling at an early age.
“I’ve always been fascinated with the chant,” he says, so after earning his high school diploma in 1979 he enrolled in auctioneer’s school in Wisconsin and graduated the following year.
Randy had a sale his first year, and it turned out to be an important building block in his career.
“It was real property, a household sale including a few antiques,” Randy told RealEstateAuctions.com in a recent interview, “but I’ve now done a total of three sales for the family. When you do a nice job, you earn respect and repeat business.”
Randy was born and raised on a farm near Davis, Illinois, a town about 20 miles west of Rockford. The farm has been in his family for 100 years and he’s now the proud owner. The lessons learned and relationships built in small town living resonate strongly with him.
“There’s a story behind every sale,” he says. “I pay attention to that and do my best for the sellers. Sometimes it’s because of divorce, sometimes it’s financial, sometimes it’s retirement. Even in a retirement situation, I’m working for four or five hours to sell what it took a couple a lifetime to build. I’m sensitive to that. Each one is different and I appreciate each situation.”
Randy was the Illinois bid calling champion in 1999, earning the same honor in Wisconsin in 2001. Also in Wisconsin, he placed first in the Ringman’s competition in 2008. He completed the profession’s highest education, the CAI, in 2003.
His busy schedule typically includes five wholesale auto auctions during the week, as well as additional non-auto auctions of various types on weekends. His territory covers northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. He estimates he logs 1,000 miles per week behind the wheel of his personal car. He recently traveled to Chicago to do the bid calling for RealEstateAuctions.com on the historic Frank Lloyd Wright Laurent House and furnishings, located in Rockford, that drew substantial media attention.
Randy transitioned into working for himself almost 20 years ago.
“I always liked the bid calling part, not so much the business part,” he says. “But, I realized I was leaving too much money on the table.” With that in mind, Randy eventually went into business under his own name in 1993 and currently markets his services as FilerAuction.com. He is part of the MarkNet Alliance, the national network of professional auctioneers.
Charitable events and worthy causes are close to his heart. “I do a fair amount of charity work.” Randy says. Among his most heartfelt endeavors in the charitable arena was a benefit he was involved with for a local family man who had brain cancer. Randy’s mother, known for her baking skills, donated pies that generated prices of many hundreds of dollars apiece, urged higher and higher by Randy’s bid calling . “You cannot duplicate the feeling you get,” Randy says of his participation in such events.
A favorite fundraising effort he participates in annually is a benefit for two youth scouting organizations in Davis, IL. The local Cub Scouts and Brownies are the beneficiaries on alternating years.
“I’ve really seen it grow over the years,” Randy says. “Scouts and their parents make cakes together for the auction. We’ve had a cake go for $1,000. It’s an awful lot of fun.”
In addition to the family farm he owns outside Davis, Randy lives near Fort Atkinson, WI. He has five children, ranging in age from 29 to 14.
Contact Randy Filer via his website, FilerAuction.com, or call him at 815-817-7936.