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I would recommend it as a good way to spend a Saturday. It's not a guaranteed win (the TV shows really emphasize the occurence of finding gems) but it can be fun. I like the auctions where you see the items and they auction them off one by one, rather than a storage unit at a time.
I would recommend it as a good way to spend a Saturday. It's not a guaranteed win (the TV shows really emphasize the occurence of finding gems) but it can be fun. I like the auctions where you see the items and they auction them off one by one, rather than a storage unit at a time.
I think for the person going just to pick up some cheap items for themself be it stereo furniture, etc this is a better option as you don't have to deal with all the garbage taht comes along with a unit and you get to buy specific items you want.
For people looking to make money however these auctions are terrible. Good items are right out in the open as opposed to the bottom of a box of dirty underwear so prices though still a deal are going to be higher.
There's also more a chance of storage managers picking through merchandise even though its not legal to do so.
I had a VERY valuable hand carved hope chest stolen from a storage unit I was renting along with everything inside it. The owners took my lock off and when I caught up on my payments, they put another lock on it and said it was mine and I must have lost the key. I called the police and tried to make a report and was told I had no proof and it would not have happened if I kept up on my payments.. Beware of who you rent from!!
I am going to a storage auction to try to get my unit back. This is a first for me and I'm very nervous about it. But this is the last time I'll ever have to put my life in storage (I hope)!
On one TV show, I saw that the bidders knew who had previously owned the unit. They were clearing doing their research. Does anyone have any idea how they found this information out - let alone in advance of the auction?
this is one thing i do not understand - storage units - unless you are in the process of moving. people paying to store the junk they dont care enough to actually use....good job on profiting from it though.
Well, sometimes people have other reasons for storing stuff.
Our ds14, steals everything that isn't locked up or nailed down. when he stole my grandmother's wedding rings, that was the last straw. there's simply no place in this house he can't figure out how to get into, if its there, he gets it. so, we went through our house with a fine-tooth comb, took every item of value and put it in a samll storage unit. sure, we're paying rent on the unit, but consider it insurance for our items. The only other alternative is to sell the items ourselves and pocket the money. But some items we don't want to sell, is it so awful that perhaps I might want to keep some treasured items from my family, some touchpoints with my past, and better days gone by?
Someday I can retrieve those items, or perhaps pass them on to my dd, but then ds would probably just go to her place and steal them from her!
But to answer the AP question, why bother to store items long-term? Sometimes, its a safety issue, at least its locked up and out of the immediate house. When you live with a thief, you learn to think like a thief!
and, yes, to all those who would crawl all over me, we have been to counseling, individual, family, group, psychiatric care, inpatient care, you name it, we've done it, still the kid steals from us every chance he gets.
but, from reading the above posts, perhaps my items aren't so safe in storage units, either. My jewelry is in a safe deposit box (not that there's that much of it, but its precious to me), but in storage I have several sets of china, a svaorski and bacarrat crystal collection, a sterling set, among other things. Ds was selling off my sterling and crystal one item at a time, we found out when some items were missing, we got into his school locker and found several small crystal figurines, apparently he was selling or trading them, I managed to recover at least some of them.
Perhaps I should just sell off the remaining stuff, put the proceeds in a mutual fund or cd or whatever, could buy me some teeth when I get old! At least better than waiting for them to be stolen, I can't figure out why people put their hard-earned money into little trinkets, anyways!
Well, sometimes people have other reasons for storing stuff.
Our ds14, steals everything that isn't locked up or nailed down. when he stole my grandmother's wedding rings, that was the last straw. there's simply no place in this house he can't figure out how to get into, if its there, he gets it. so, we went through our house with a fine-tooth comb, took every item of value and put it in a samll storage unit. sure, we're paying rent on the unit, but consider it insurance for our items. The only other alternative is to sell the items ourselves and pocket the money. But some items we don't want to sell, is it so awful that perhaps I might want to keep some treasured items from my family, some touchpoints with my past, and better days gone by?
Someday I can retrieve those items, or perhaps pass them on to my dd, but then ds would probably just go to her place and steal them from her!
But to answer the AP question, why bother to store items long-term? Sometimes, its a safety issue, at least its locked up and out of the immediate house. When you live with a thief, you learn to think like a thief!
and, yes, to all those who would crawl all over me, we have been to counseling, individual, family, group, psychiatric care, inpatient care, you name it, we've done it, still the kid steals from us every chance he gets.
but, from reading the above posts, perhaps my items aren't so safe in storage units, either. My jewelry is in a safe deposit box (not that there's that much of it, but its precious to me), but in storage I have several sets of china, a svaorski and bacarrat crystal collection, a sterling set, among other things. Ds was selling off my sterling and crystal one item at a time, we found out when some items were missing, we got into his school locker and found several small crystal figurines, apparently he was selling or trading them, I managed to recover at least some of them.
Perhaps I should just sell off the remaining stuff, put the proceeds in a mutual fund or cd or whatever, could buy me some teeth when I get old! At least better than waiting for them to be stolen, I can't figure out why people put their hard-earned money into little trinkets, anyways!
On one TV show, I saw that the bidders knew who had previously owned the unit. They were clearing doing their research. Does anyone have any idea how they found this information out - let alone in advance of the auction?
Thanks!
They probably found it in the public notice advertisement that showed up in the newspaper. If your state is on this site you'll be able to search select newspapers' public notice ads (if not, you'll have to actually read a newspaper ).
Some ads say things like "Joe Dirt. Unit 3B. Furniture, ammunition, washer/dryer." It's dependent on the facility or perhaps the state laws.
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