Secrets To Buying Storage Locker Units At Auction

A few months before the storage craze started with all of the TV shows I was looking for a way to make some extra money doing a home based business. That is when I stumbled upon a list of several ways to make quick cash. The list consisted of several methods of making money but one method stood out like a rose in field of weeds. The method was how to make money with storage locker auctions or storage unit auctions.

The reason it stood out to me is that I knew so much about storage units but I didn't know that there were storage auction. I always though "those lucky storage facilities!" I knew over the years that many people purchased storage units and put many cool things in them. I also knew that there were a good number of units that customers defaulted on payments on every month and they ended up losing all of their belongings to the facility. You see I thought that the facility handled these defaults the way the airline industry does and they just had a place that they had their own stores where they would sell these items. But that turned out to be far from the case.

What happens is when a person does not pay their storage fees usually for 3 months then they forfeit their storage locker and all of its content to the storage facility. The facility then posts some kind of public notice that the unit will be sold at auction. The day of the auction the locker is opened and anyone attending the auction can bid on the contents in the storage unit.

The main thing that many people want to know is how to buy at storage unit auctions. While a storage unit auction is the same process as buying at any other auction there are things to know and beware of before buying. One main thing about storage unit auctions that many have to be aware of is that this is a somewhat closed community of people that attend these auctions. Some people have been supporting their families for 20-30 years buying storage lockers and selling their contents for profits. Before the TV shows came along maybe 1 in 10 people that you ask would even know what these were and so the competition previously was very low and lockers could frequently be purchased for as little as $5 and there were maybe 10 people at most at an auction. But with all of the television hype those days are all but gone. Nowadays it is normal to see crowds of 50-100 people at a storage auction. This means very stiff competition with little room for profits if you don't find a locker at the right price.

You must have a game plan. You have to know how much you are willing to spend on a locker and you will need to know the value of items at first glance. It will helpful if you have bought items at thrift stores and flea markets and garage sells. This will give you a good judgment on the value of items. Most of the time you will find units with lots of clothing and household furnishings. It's a good idea to also attend a few auctions and just blend into the crowd and watch how things work. It helps to know what regular auction attendees buy and who the big shots are. Everyone that is at the auction is you potential competition so it's a good idea to know a little about your competition before you go up against them. One big thing that veteran auction goes like to do to newcomers is they will bid you up on a locker. This means that they will purposely bid on a unit they see a newcomer bidding on to make you overpay for a locker. Their hopes is that you will go broke on that one locker and not make any money from your locker and never come back to the auctions again. This does happen to many newcomers.

Learn the ropes before jumping in this gives you the ability to socialize with the veterans and get comfortable with them so that they don't see you as much of a threat to their business and livelihood. Also in order to get the really good units you will need CASH! In the storage auction business cash is king and you will need anywhere from $250 to $500 to $1000's of dollars to compete and win good units.

A good storage locker is one that I like to say has the "WOW" factor.  To me the wow factor is not always finding a locker with a whole house worth of brand new furniture.  Sometimes its the units with lots of totes and boxes.   How to spot good storage units is something everyone in this business will need to know.  A lot of times it's what you can not see that make you the most money.  What you bid on is what you can see within a short window of time usually a minute or two of viewing items from the door.  You are not allowed to touch anything in the lockers nor are you allowed to step into the locker for any reason.  So everything you see has to be quickly valued and this is the number you use to determine how much you will bid on a locker.  It is a good rule to bid an amount that is up to half of what you expect you can sell the items you see for.  Your profit margin should be 25% or more than what you paid for unit in order to justify all of your efforts.  Some risk takers will bid more for units with lots of boxes and totes because they believe that there may be one or more valuable items that they can not see inside the boxes.  Despite what the TV shows will have you believe 90% of the lockers you buy will have items in these boxes that will be no more valuable than if you found them at a garage sale and you can lose a ton of cash if your hunches are wrong.  There are occasions where you will win lockers where you will find items that will double or triple your investment, however it is rare.  Many of the people you see on TV that have all this stuff have been buying lockers every week for 5 to 20 years.  That is not glamorous so TV does not include this.

After the storage locker auction is over then comes the work.  Most people never take into consideration when they come storage auctions that there is work involved.  The TV shows will lead you to believe that all you have to do is go to an auction and win the locker contents and sell them and get rich.  While this is possible this is not the TOTAL TRUTH!  First thing you need to know is that you are providing a service for the storage facility.  That service you provide is cleaning out the locker for them so they can rent it to someone else.  Most facilities will give you 24-48 hours to clean out the locker you win and have it swept out and clean.  Some facilities will even have you pay a cleaning deposit on top of the price you won the auction for of up to $100 dollars that will only be refunded after you have completely cleaned and swept out the locker.

If you are a solo act and you have no helper(s) then this is not a business for you.  Most lockers will have mattresses (usually urine stained) sofas and love seats (many with pet hair), lots of bags of clothing (including underwear with urine, feces, and menstrual bllood), dishes, silverware, broker appliances such as refrigerators, washers and dryers, and also tables and chairs.  This is a lot of stuff for one person to move.  Imagine yourself moving out of you home tomorrow and what a large effort that will take.  This is what happens to many people who put their things in storage because they have nowhere to put all of their belongings. 

Then there is the factor of where will you take the items you won and how will you get rid of the items, i.e. sell them to re-coupe your investment and possibly a profit.  Not every locker you buy will return a profit.  It is quite possible to lose money on every locker you buy.  Do you have a large empty garage or will you have to purchase a storage unit yourself to house the items you won.  Many people overlook the fact that they will need a place to put a house or apartment full of furnishings that just got.  You will need to do a ton of research about storage auctions before you decide to make your first purchase in order to ensure that you are successful.  This is a business and like any business it is not a get rich quick scheme and will require a lot of WORK.