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My DH has bid and won several storage auctions. On one of them it was an entire video store which was in the box. Apparently, it was a video store which also made illegal copies of videos since there were about forty video players in the storage box. He sold most of the stuff and make a pretty good profit. For awhile he was giving away video players to anyone who'd take one. He's also gotten a few other storage lockers and it's most household stuff. He will sell one or two things to pay back for the auction and then either keeps or resells the rest of the stuff depending on what it is. I'm sure the storage locker folks have already gone through the lockers and taken anything really good, though.
Hotcatz, this came up earlier, I don't doubt there's some storage unit managers who do go in and steal stuff early, however its not uncommon for people to show up to bid on their own unit or bid on a family members unit for them. If a storage unut manager were to do this they would have some trouble on their hands so I imagine most don't do that.
Also, some of the auctions I've been to they actually cut the lock off in front of you. Not to say they couldn't have gone through and put a new lock on but they have cut locks off in front of us at some auctions.
In my recent unit I had several totes full of VHS Tapes and VCR's. No way I'll be able to sell them so figure I'll hang onto the VCR and tapes and watch back to teh future, teh gate and some other oldies from time to time.
I have bought many units, some were good some were bad.
Some auctioneers do not allow you to go through the items inside and some do.
One guy who paid 700.00 for an entire unit full of total junk got real lucky when he found a metal case with 20 pounds of gold chains in it.
Hidden treasures are in many units. With record foreclosures many people have to rent units and cram their items in the units and did not have time to sort their stuff. Then they fo not pay after 3 months and lose it all.
My mom bid on one once. She didn't get much use out of it but she did find some personal effects like pictures and letters. It bothered her quite a bit since she always put more value on sentimental objects and actual memories and people than material items. She never bid on one again.
As far as the frugal living thing goes, I moved from a one bedroom with a garage to just renting a large room. Right now total rent between the room and the unit is about $595 plus the folks consolidated theirs into mine and pay me $40. This is a cooled unit out in the Antelope Valley, far cheaper than renting one in my neighborhood. Rent for me and my valuables in an apartment would cost hundreds more. I did sell as much stuff as I could. Eventually I hope to clear everything out but it's mostly my records, my books, some extra clothes (winter stuff gets rotated in and out) as well as a large private (personally recorded) music collection. I sorta wish I didn't own so much stuff now but it's also a hobby I got hooked on real young and very reluctant to abandon everything just yet.
Hmmm, I do understand the jist of making a buck, being in the business of a secondhand/estate jewelry shop at one time. However, my parents divorced when I was 10. My schizophrenic mother didn't understand and we lost every thing we owned to her failure to pay storage fees. But, for a while she DID live iN THAT s unit for a while with my 3 year old sister.
I hate to think that whomever bought this unit threw the baby picture books in the trash. I understand hoping to make the buck, but discarding a families entire history of memories is hARD.
bUT, WHEN MY HOUSE JUST BURNED TO THE GROUND....THIS WAS AN EXCELLENT SET UP BECAUSE i KNEW THAT i WAS IN CHARGE OF MAKING EVERYTHING right FOR MY PEOPLE....YES MY mOM INCLUDED. yEP DIDN'T MATTER I LOST EVERYTHING AGAIN???? i KNEW FOR ONCE I COULD MAKE IT RIGHT, sORRY, THIS TOOK A PERSONAL NOTE BUT EVERY DAMN UNIT HAS A PERSONAL STORY.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gsfan
Coworker knows someone who owns one of these storage businesses, he first roots through the units, removes some of the items he classifies as "good stuff", and then sets the units to auction.
Of course he does! Would be stupid not to. Either that or the Manager will set up a crooked deal with a partner telling him in advance what is in the units that is good so he knows what to bid on and what to avoid.
As a self storage owner, I thought that I would share some tips and observations on how to be a successful Buyer:
1) Be friendly with owners, even introduce yourself. You want to be on their good side because tenants leave stuff behind (not necessarily junk) and you want to be on the owners short list of people to call to remove the stuff.
2) If you win the auction, be sure to fully clean the unit. Storage owners talk to one another and you risk being banned from other auctions if you don't clean out the unit
3) Try to do some research ahead of the auction so you have an idea of the volume of content the unit contains and can have the appropriate truck/van to haul the stuff away. www.RummageMarketplace.com is a good source for auction information or you can call the owner directly. Owners want the stuff out as soon as possible.
4) Something to Watch Out For: Unfortunately some owners 'stage' items and make the unit seem like it has better stuff in it than is actually there. For example an owner may place an empty tool box or guitar case close enough to the entrance so people can see it but not close enough so folks could look inside.
How do you find out about the local storage unit auctions? Is there a website? Mailing List?
Depends on where you live. Call around to storage places in your area and ask them.
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