Self storage units have been in existence for decades. They have gotten more use and attention due to the current state of the economy, some of that attention coming because people have had a hard time even paying their self storage bills. While that is regrettable, it has presented the country with a whole new past time—self storage auctions.
When people do not pay their bills at their respective self storage facility, the owner/manager has the right to eventually put a lien on the unit and in time put the contents up for auction in order to collect on what is owed.
These auctions have become the modern-day version of a treasure hunt. Bidders are not allowed to do more than look inside the unit from the doorway so when they do bid on a unit they are doing so largely on faith and hope. Sometimes that has paid off for bidders; sometimes it hasn’t.
Self storage auctions have resulted in the formation of businesses directly related to them. There are now a handful of different websites that will help users find a self storage auction near them like StorageTreasures.com and StorageAuctions.com.
Some people have proven to be especially adept at finding the diamonds in the rough. Combined with America’s love for buried treasure and reality television and you have the hit shows Auction Hunters and Storage Wars, two popular programs that follow the exploits of a group of people as they try to find the next big deal at auction.
One such deal that the producers of both shows are probably wishing they had been present to film went down at a Virginia area self storage facility earlier this year. As the story goes, when the two units in question were opened up, bidders knew there was something special in the 10’X20’ spaces they saw in front of them were something special.
Bidders were able to see a number of valuable items just from the doorway including different pieces of art work, antique furniture, books, and other kinds of memorabilia. Bids on the units separately got up to $9,000 for the two, but the bidding really became interesting when they two were offered up together.
A bid of $10,000 was quickly put in, and just as quickly forgotten as numerous bidders jumped in. In the end the winning bid was $27,000—just from being able to look inside from the front door!
As it turns out the bidder was smart in spending so much on stuff largely unseen. The former owner of the unit was a WWII general that enjoyed collecting historical artifacts. So far the self storage unit’s new owner has discovered a cane once owned by Harry Truman, several things from other Presidents, Civil War memorabilia, and a number of valuable antiques; estimated Value-- $100,000.
Sources Used:
“Pair of Storage Units Auctioned for $27,000.” PRWeb; 09 November 2011.
“$27,000 Unit at Recent Auction.” Storage Auction Central; 22 April 2011.