Featured business: Sims Realtors, Auctioneers
Founder: Larry Sims

The first venture into business for Larry Sims, a 1972 MTSU business administration graduate, was in the antique industry.

The young businessman with an interest in collecting and reselling older pieces opened an antique mall off the Buchanan Road Exit of I-24.

“That’s where Ronnie Barrett makes his .50 caliber rifle now,” Sims said of his first business’s location.

Sims then, in 1974, set out to build an antique center off the Church Street Exit in Murfreesboro.

“My main banker turned me down (for a loan), but I found a banker out of Clarksville. Barry Hawkins was his name, with First Tennessee. He knew I knew some things about antiques,” Sims said, adding a lot of bankers will only look at the numbers when considering making a loan, and not the individual or their work ethic and ideas.

“But that property was my first venture into real estate.”

“The codes weren’t so bad back then. Once I had the slab down, I had the building up and a business started within 14 working days,” Sims said. But the young entrepreneur wasn’t satisfied with a single building.

“I wanted to expand. The next year, they worked me up a SBA loan. I went and built another building. They are now called Antique Centers 1 and 2.

“I wanted to learn more about the auction business,” Sims continued, so he went to work for Jim Stevens and from him he learned the trade of the auctioneer. However, Sims’ holding of the antique center property wouldn’t last forever.

“When the ’90s rolled around, it was kind of a market like we have today,” Sims said. “The note came up, and even though it was worth twice of what I had into it, they wouldn’t renew. I was forced to sell the property and start over. I was broke.”

Sims didn’t let one door’s closing stop his career in business. He poured himself into his own real estate and auction business and today, two decades of countless deals and hard work after he had to start over, Sims and agents working under him have helped hundreds of Murfreesboro families buy and sell houses, and Sims Realtors & Auctioneers has its hands in real estate transactions and auctions involving properties from industrial parks to churches to vacant lots.

“I don’t need to read Dave Ramsey, I’ve been through it. I don’t need to read about the Depression. I’ve been through one myself,” Sims said.

MP: What businesses/people were an inspiration for you?
LS: Going to work for C.B. Arnette. At that time he was one of the most successful entrepreneurs who had ever hit Murfreesboro.

The auction business is really easy to get into. You go to school for 14 days and boom, you’re an auctioneer. You hit the ground running. The same thing with a real estate license. You can get a license in 3 months, and hit the ground running. But a good auctioneer or real estate agent are hard to find. I’ve heard 20 percent of the real estate agents do virtually all of the business, and I imagine that’s still true.

But Jim Stevens was unique. He was just one of those guys who was blessed and had found his calling. He just knew how to make money. I learned the ins and outs of the auction business from him.

I learned from him it’s not as much about what you’re selling, but motivating the people around you.

Sims Realtors, Auctioneers will auction off this church building on Jan. 14

MP: What’s your favorite part of running your business?
LS: It’s obviously rewarding financially if everything works.

What drives me is trying to make something happen. You get a challenge, you get an opportunity. The challenge of trying to sell something is very interesting. Usually there is something that needs to be done to that type of property.

MP: How are you getting the word out about your business?
LS: Change can be hard, especially if you’re having success, but we’re getting more high tech. We send e-mail blasts, have virtual tours of properties on our website.

I’ve found advertising is like a double-edged sword. You have to let people know about sales, and I’ve advertised a lot, but it can be expensive.

It may take three or four things to get someone interested in going to see a property. They may see an e-mail, a newspaper ad and a flyer in the mail before they actually decide to go see a property.

MP: What’s the hardest or most difficult aspect?
LS: The most difficult thing is when I’m not able to sell a property or get what I feel is a fair price for the seller.

What I or the seller feels is a fair price versus what the buyer feels can be greatly different.

When you lose the trust of a client. A lot of time the realtor is to blame, but a lot of time the market is just as much to blame.

I see a lot of potential in people, and it’s discouraging when agents don’t reach their potential, or if I put a lot of effort into someone and they go (to work) somewhere else.

MP: Who are your clients?
LS: When you first get in the business, you think the doctors, the attorneys, the higher-ups will be your clients. But when you get into it, you realize you need to work with everyone.

You have to juggle the little deals to pay the bills. But the big deals are how you survive over the years.

MP: What is your advice to someone starting a business?
LS: It’s important to go to work. It’s important to do something. If you work hard, a lot of good things can happen to you.

I think you’re making a huge mistake if you don’t get active. You have to check things out. You have to learn. It’s important to talk to a lot of people. I’m always talking to investors, bankers, auctioneers, I’m always asking people for information and advice. You have to talk to people and you have to listen.

When I went broke, I learned that no one can take your experience and education from you. They can take your money, but they can’t take your mind.

Prepare.

Know the clock can move very slow. You may not see results for a project you begin now for years, but if you commit to something, finish it.

Other thoughts from Mr. Sims—
On the business climate in the U.S.: Politicians think they are helping people, but they are actually hurting business.

On the Occupy Movement: Some will tell them to stop complaining and get a job, and there’s some truth there, but there’s a lot of that to be commended with them (involved in the movement). They are expressing frustrations that we all feel. There’s a lot that’s messed up with our system.

On the local real estate and finance market: We’ve got way too many banks, way too much development; that will correct itself.

On the government taking a hands-off approach rather the intervening in the markets: Business is like a golf swing. Without the strong downswing, the take-off up wouldn’t happen with nearly as much momentum. Let the cycle run its course. A lot of the time, the market will correct itself when you just leave it alone.

On Murfreesboro property taxes: They’ve put the burden on the taxpayer to raise the value of the property, when in actuality the value is going down. Really, they’ve chosen to raise taxes on a select group, commercial (property owners).

If you are interested in buying or selling a home or property, contact Sims Realtors and Auctioneers at (615) 893-5252 or larrysims.com.