Whenever television gets its grasp on something whatever it is will soon become part of the national lexicon. With the advent of reality shows based on auctions at self storage facilities like Storage Wars and Auction Hunters self storage unit auctions are quietly and quickly becoming quite popular. The problem is that with increased popularity comes those that will try to cheat the system.
With the current state of the economy self storage has become something more and more people have found the need for. Whether it is a sudden move to start a new job or the need to downsize from a house to an apartment from the lack of a job people have a need to store their belongings somewhere.
However, the problem in some cases is that the financial situation that forced them to put their belongings in storage can continue to get worse making even paying the fee on their storage unit impossible. After too many months of non-payment the self storage owner is allowed to put the contents up for sale to recoup the missing fees.
There have been cases were lucky auction buyers have found valuable paintings, vintage baseball cards, and other kinds of valuables. The popularization of these auctions via the reality shows has made it appear as if storage units are an untapped treasure trove. Sadly, that is often where the scam artists come in.
A growing problem for some self storage facility auctions has been people renting units, filling them with boxes that are well marked with key words like baseball cards, electronics, comics, antiques, etc. giving them the appearance of possible riches inside.
Since all buyers can do is like inside the unit while standing outside of it when they see things like that they get encouraged and bid higher. When the buyer opens up the boxes he/she discovers these just spent $2000 on a bunch of empty boxes.
Whatever the back rent is goes to the self storage facility while the balance goes to the former “owner” of the goods in the unit.
Protecting buyers and facilities from scams like this is going to take some time. There are some who think that the self storage operators need to take a more complete inventory of the units going up for auction to keep this from happening. However, the risk they take than is being accused of tampering with things by the tenant and being faced with a whole new set of legal issues when the unit does not sell for much.
There are some states that do require self storage operators to take some kind of inventory of the belongings to give to people in attendance at auctions. Whether this practice needs to become better defined and made standard for the industry may be something worth discussing in the near future.
Sources Used:
“Self Storage Staffers Discuss Latest Auction Scams.” Inside Self Storage; 22 March 2011.
“Reality Shows Peak Interest in Self Storage Auctions As Number of Defaults Rises.” Self Storage Industry News; 21 March 2011.