Auctions have been a fact of life at self storage facilities for some time. Thanks to the poor economy, the occupancy rates for the self storage industry on the whole are fairly good. However, at the same time, there are plenty of people who are having trouble paying their bills.
Whenever a tenant falls far enough behind in their rent, the self storage facility owner has the right to auction the contents of the unit in order to recover the unpaid rent. The trick with these auctions though is that bidders are only allowed to stand at the entrance of the unit and look in.
They are essentially gambling when they make their bids. Sometimes they get lucky and cash in big; other times they are not so lucky. With that sort of real life drama, the creation of a reality show or two was inevitable. Unlike Survivor, self storage related shows like Storage Wars have actually resulted in a bump in attendance at auctions creating mini-storage wars at auctions across the country.
“The shows have been making it crazy,” said auctioneer Thomas Hayward. In the past, Hayward has driven out to auctions and gone straight home because no one showed up. That is not the case anymore.
At recent auction held in Topeka, Kansas, auctioneer Dan Kooser was surprised when he saw roughly 200 people in attendance. Typically he only sees around 30. In the end there only ended up being a handful because 16 of the tenants came in and paid their bill at the last-minute.
Bidders are hoping they can find something like one of the bidders on Storage Wars recently found in a unit he bought at auction. He paid $900 for a unit that ended up being packed with nothing but books. The ones he looked at all appeared to be in great shape. Working with an estimate of a dollar a book he estimates that he will take in about $15,000.
Of course, if he finds some rare prints which in a collection so large is possible, that value could be significantly higher.
The reality shows are not just inspiring storage wars at auctions around the country; the show ‘Storage Wars’ is actually embroiled in a minor storage war of its own. One of the stars of the show, Dave Hester, is involved in contract talks with A&E and is not a lock to return to the show next season.
"Right now I'm in negotiations with A&E and I would just hope they would get away from their unjust contract negotiations ... the ball is really in their court."
As Dave would say if someone asked him if he was in a storage war with the network:
“Yuuup.”
Sources Used:
“STORAGE WARS STAR: I Need BIG MONEY... or I'm Off the Show!!” TMZ.com; 09 January 2012.
“Storage locker auctions increase in popularity following television shows.” RecordCourier.com; 09 January 2012.
“Storage Wars: Dave Hester Scores Huge Lot Of Books For A Steal.” Huffingtonpost.com; 04 January 2012.
“Topeka gets own version of Storage Wars.” CJOnline.com; 04 January 2012.