How Do You Find Storage Auctions?

Finding storage auction listings can be a daunting task. Most cities don’t have a centralized information source to find storage auction information. This being said, you may have to search multiple sources to find storage auction listings in your area. These sources include newspapers (large, local & business), websites for the newspapers, storage auction websites (national, regional & local,) auctioneer’s websites and calling the storage facilities.

Your number one source for storage auction information could be your local newspaper. Some newspapers even have websites where you can search for legal notices for free, while others will require you to subscribe before getting access to this information. Depending on the size of your city, you may only need to look in one place. Smaller towns typically have one large newspaper in which every storage facility within the area must advertise their legal notice. Your search may become more difficult if you live in a medium to large city because there may be several or more newspapers which publish legal notices.

Storage auction listing services can be a good resource, but you have to be careful because some don’t deliver what they promise. If you are lucky enough to have one of these services that covers your specific city, this will be the best resource you could find. Local storage auction listing services are extremely rare; at this time, I believe there are only a handful that focus on a specific city. There are several storage auction listing services that focus on individual states, some of these can be excellent resources as well. Last but not least, there are a multitude of national storage auction listing services. I don’t recommend using one of these services because their coverage area is so large and they neglect a majority of the storage unit auctions in most areas. Also, most of them are basically reselling information you can get for free, with minimal effort.

Auctioneer websites can be an excellent resource for locating storage auctions in your area. Most auctioneers either have their own website or use a service like AuctionZip to list their upcoming auctions. AuctionZip is an excellent resource; however, only auctioneers are allowed to post their upcoming auctions there, so if a storage facility doesn't use an auctioneer, you will never see the auction listed there. Over half of the storage facilities in the United States have lien sales and do not utilize the services of a licensed auctioneer.

If you have a lot of time on your hands, the last method can produce the best results. Calling the storage facilities in your area can be one of the best ways to get up to date information on local storage auctions. I recommend calling every two weeks to make sure you don't miss any auctions. When you speak with the storage facility employee, ask them if they have a "call list" to notify people of upcoming storage auctions. If they do, ask to be added to the list. Keep in mind, this method works best if you live in a small or medium size town. If you live in a large city, calling every storage facility would not be practical.