Storage Auctions?

[TreasureHunters]

Anyone ever won any?

 

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[drbecker]

Anyone ever won any?

Do them all the time bought about 100 lockers in the last couple years.

The shows are fake

You can find some good things but not often,

It is a lot of work and you lose on more then you win on .

They soon know you very well at the dump cause you will be there many times paying to get rid of somone elses trash.


Once in a while you get one that makes it all worthwhile. Best find to date $4350 cash mostly in ones in one locker.

More typical you work your butt off all day cleaning out a locker and make $50 or break even.

 

[trdhrdr007]

I started buying for resale a few years ago & looked into storage auctions. I knew a guy that was buying on a regular basis & picked his brain over a few month period. Right about the time I was comfortable enough to start bidding/buying those TV shows came out & bids went through the roof. I'm still waiting for the frenzy to die in my area.

The guy I talked with gave me some pretty good tips. The best was how he dealt with stuff he didn't want. He would start on one side of the locker & clear out an empty space. As he went through the locker anything he didn't want went back into boxes & was put back, the good stuff went to the truck. When he was through he had a neat stack of items he didn't want. He had a good relationship with a local thrift store & they would pick it all up within 24 hours.

 

[Frank1960]

I thought about trying this but don't trust the owners to not go through and take all the good stuff they want first then leave the rest for the auction. And yes I know they "aren't supposed" to but do you really think they don't.

 

[frankendime]

Yes I have. Bought my first one 2 yrs ago for $80. A 10X10 stacked to the ceiling. It had 27 large storage containers filled with arts, crafts, cookware, nick-nacks, dood-dads and gee-gaws, some nice stuff. A washer and dryer, mini-fridge and an old cedar chest filled with homemade quilts, blankets and afghans. Took me 3 yard sales to get rid of all the stuff and made out pretty good on it.
Bought another recently, another 10X10, it was kinda trashy, paid $110. Buried in all that trash was about $3000 dollars retail of professional photographers lighting equipment.
Another was a 5X10 I bought for $70. It had a 9 drawer dresser, wheelchair and walker, a couple big storage containers and about 10 big garbage bags. Donated the wheelchair and walker to a local church. The dresser drawers were empty and the rest was old lady clothes. I thought I had struck out and almost hauled all the clothes to Goodwill. I got a day off and decided to check all the pockets for folding money. I didn't find any cabbage but in her Sunday Jacket I found a necklace, cheap fake gold, but attached to it was a 2001 $10 Gold Eagle in a 14kt bezel. 1/4 oz fine gold! Yipee!
All in all in can be very lucrative, although I have bought a few duds, and like drbecker said above it is some hard work and sometimes nasty with lots of trips to the dump.
Recent upsurge in newbies and way overpriced units has got me walking away empty-handed lately, but these new guys will figure out it ain't easy and there is NOT a rare gun in every unit.
It is fun though and I just love digging thru all the stuff.

 

[Keppy]

I thought about trying this but don't trust the owners to not go through and take all the good stuff they want first then leave the rest for the auction. And yes I know they "aren't supposed" to but do you really think they don't.

..... I have to say i believe the same way you do.......

 

[GibH]

The last one I went to there was a 10x20 locker that that was stacked to the roof. It went for $450. I don't know what was buried in all of it, but there was a brand new looking slurry pump with motor sitting right inside the door. Retail on that alone was $1800. The lady that bought the locker turned around and sold the locker to the guy bidding against her because it looked like too much work.

 

[Sirreckless619]

Buying storage units has been a large amount of my income these past 2 years. I started just as the frenzy took off but as long as you wait for the right unit and know what your looking at you will be pretty good. It's all about what you know and how quick you can get rid of the product to make room for more treasures.

 

[Jason in Enid]

That crappy show "storage wars" is going to be in my town this saturday.

I have tried a couple auctions in the past, but I know for a fact that the manager/owner went through the stuff before hand. I haven't tried any since then.

 

[Nickel Searcher 219]

^^^You should go buy all the lockers.lol

 

[centfladigger]

my uncle started doing this inthe 1970`s inGeorgia and got filthy rich with it, he had set up a "store" to resell and when he was done doing that he owned over 200 rental properties, which now has grown to over 400 properties. I am sure you can still find good stuff in these units , I do foreclosure inspections for a bunch of banks and have myown Field Service company where we do the intial cleanouts etc. More and more families are loosingtheir homes and storing their stuff in lockers but dont have the money to pay for them

 

[drbecker]

I thought about trying this but don't trust the owners to not go through and take all the good stuff they want first then leave the rest for the auction. And yes I know they "aren't supposed" to but do you really think they don't.

I only do Public Storage, I have seen lockers pulled after the bidding becasue the person showed up and paid. I do not think with PS there is much issue with the managment going through the locker. There are very adamanet that you can not even go into the locker till after you pay since the renters can pay them off up till you pay. If they were going through them they woudl be stealing. Every state has different laws but in WA they must auction at public auction and any amount over what is owed goed to the renter not the facility. Now I have heard that some of the local places stage thier auctions in that they put the good stuff in front and I have seen PS do a managers special where they take stuff left in lockers and move it all into one. I have even done sell on those. Big issue is the unrealistic expectations as a result of the shows. The locker with the money in it cost me $50 about 4 years ago now a similar locker would go for at least $200. If you do storage auctions your biggest issue will what to do with all the stuff that is not obvious trash. You run out of room real quick or you do a garage sale every weekend or goodwill gets a lot of stuff from you. I enjoy doing it to make a living at it would be different I have a well paying full time job and can afford to losemoney on a locker or two. I do it for fun mainly if I was doing it for profit I would be much more carefull in buying. Even a $1 locker may be a loss since you have to empty it and it may all go to the dump and it takes hours of your time.

 

[TreasureHunters]

Went to one today, there was only 1 unit as others came and paid. I seen a couple older tvs some toys boxes and a wii that was just laying on the floor. It went to someone for $280. I thought about bidding but figured I should'nt, fun experience though.