Turning a profit at storage auctions

I was searching the internet about 5 years ago for auctions that might be in the area I lived in. As I was searching I came across a website talking about storage auctions and how to make a part-time business out of winning individual storage units. After reading that article I called all the self storage places in my neck of the woods and asked them if they had any units coming up for auction. Unfortunately, they didn't have any at the time. However, several of them placed me on their calling list so I would be notified when they were going to have an auction.

About 2 weeks later I received a call from one of the storage places saying they had a unit that had not been paid up for 3 months and they needed the unit for another client. They asked if I wanted to come down and take a look at the unit so I said yes. Once I showed up they explained that they desperately needed the unit and as soon as possible and they would rather not do an auction because it would take too much time. They had remembered me from 2 weeks earlier and called me first to take a look at the unit.

Once at the unit the manager cut the lock off and opened up the door. The unit itself was 10 feet wide by 20 feet deep. The first thing I noticed was a bunch of kid's toys and clothing. Next, I saw a very large box of tools sitting near the front. There were a lot of closed boxes and some mattresses blocking the rest of the unit and I didn't feel like going through them before making an offer. I knew the toys and tools alone would be worth probably $400 by themselves so I asked what they were hoping to get for the unit. She stated she didn't care because she needed the unit right away and didn't have time to dilly dally about the issue. I offered her $100 for all the contents and I would be able to get it all out within 2 days. She immediately accepted my offer and we went into the office to finalize everything with a receipt. I rented a very large U-Haul truck for the day for less than $100 and managed to get everything out the unit by the end of the day with the help of my wife.

I kept all of the tools and all of the fishing rods and tackle. All of the clothing was donated to Goodwill and we sold the rest of the items over the next month. The Warhammer stuff was sold on Ebay. It turned out that Warhammer items are highly collectible. The rest I sold to local shops and through a garage sale we held out our house. In the end we made a total of over $10,000. Yes, we made over $10,000 in about a month after purchasing the contents of the storage unit.

Some people might ask if my conscience bothers me when going through someone's stuff. Yes, sometimes it does. Especially when there are personal items such as photos, financial records and mementos involved. Typically, with these items I will try on my own to locate the previous owners and use a third party to return the personal stuff back to them. It's only right and fair they get those things back because they are irreplaceable. If I can't locate them then I return those items to the storage unit for them to take care of. I don't feel so bad about the rest of the items , though, because more than likely they will take them to another storage place and do the same thing again. A lot of default renters will default again anyway. Besides, if someone had outbid me and won they might not return the personal items and just throw them away.

Each state has their set of laws concerning storage auctions and how they have to be run. In my state of Oregon, for example, the storage units are required to publish a legal notice in the newspaper stating which units will go up for auction and on what date so the current owners have a chance to pay up or come up with some other arrangement. At the auction when management opens the unit they will usually give everyone a couple of minutes to look inside the unit. In Oregon bidders aren't allowed to go into the unit itself or touch anything until after the bidding is over and they have won. But, one can typically get an idea of what's inside with stringent observation.

A lot of times when storage units are opened up for the preview there is no internal light. So an overcast day might make it difficult to see what's inside the unit itself, especially towards the back. To overcome this problem bring a strong flashlight with you and extra batteries just in case. Sometimes big items are stacked in the front of the unit blocking the view of everything else behind it. The ideal item to bring for this situation is one that most people don't think about. That would be a ladder. A small collapsible one with 2 or three steps and hopefully a carry strap. The ladder alone will give you a huge advantage over other bidders who can't see in the back of the unit. Get to know other bidders and try to pry some of their own secrets out of them. A lot of bidders tend to be regulars at storage auctions. Every bit of knowledge helps.

I have been fortunate with the units I have won over the years. My profits aren't typical, but if you do it right and don't get caught up in the bidding frenzy then someone can do pretty good with this type of auction. Get to know the owners or managers of local thrift shops who might be interested in taking lower value items off your hands so you don't have to deal with it.