Hi from SW Florida

Hi guys, been reading the boards for a little while now, and decided to sign up.  I'm originally from VT, but moved to SW florida last year to take care of my dad who retired down here and is getting to the point where he needs extra help around the house and getting doctor appointments, etc.  
When I was in VT, a friend from work introduced me to storage unit auctions, and I bought a few as a sideline to my full time job.  I got laid off from the factory I was working at, which is part of what led to me coming to FL to help my dad out.  Since living in FL and seeing *A lot* more auctions, I've stepped up my game and now do auctions/ebay/craigslist/yard sale full time.  I like it because it give me total felxibility in my schedule to work around my Dad's numerous doctor appointments.  Worked out a deal with my dad where he has agreed to leave the cars parked outside so I can use the garage as a 'processing center' for stuff in storage units.  It's worked well so far..last month I bought 3 units, one of which I only paid $5 for!  I've sold almost everything from those 3 units, and the garage is empty just in time for the next round of auctions coming up later this week.  Hopefully I can get another 1 or 2 units this week to keep the flow going  
Growing up my parents used to drag me off to auctions all the time....I remember big tents set up and them buying all sorts of weird things; loading up the station wagon with stuff to sort through at home.  It seems natural that I've taken to auctions myself now.
I've sold a variety of items doing this, but my areas of specialty are in video games from all eras, toys from the mid 80's and back, and comics.

Awesome welcome aboard!

Welcome to the forum. 

I have been doing a lot of reading and posting on here, though I have yet to buy my first locker.

Just curious, how did the $5 locker turn out?

thanks for the welcomes!

Rollinradios:  The $5 locker turned out good, I made just over $400 selling the stuff from it.  It was at a PODS auction where there were only 6 bidders.  The front looked like trash, and the other bidders all walked away from it saying they weren't paying to haul away someone's trash.  There was broken wicker furniture, we could see a couple open boxes that had binders of paper, a few trash bags with broken stuff spilling out etc.  It was winding down, and the auctioneer was going to end it with no sale, and he said 'last chance, anyone even at $5' and I bid.  There was a guy with a big moving truck that bought all the other units, and I thought he might step over me and bid $10 once I bid the 5, but he didn't.  Anyway, the reason I went for it was I was looking towards the back, beyond the garbage.  I could see what I thought were 2 wooden hope chest type things (which it turns out they were, one was a Lane hope chest, but it had been damaged by the humidity and the inside drawer was broken) I could also see some plastic totes, and a couple items that were wrapped in moving blankets.  Since I have access to a dumpster, I was not worried about hauling all the trash in the front away, and I figured the $5 gamble to see that stuff in back was more then worth it.
Turns out the 2 chests I saw were hope chests like I thought, but they'd been in a POD stored in FL's humid conditions and were both in very bad shape.  I sold them to a lady that restores furniture for $30.  The 2 items that were wrapped in blankets turned out to be antique end tables, they had some wicker work on the lower shelf, and pull out extensions.  I sold those for $40 each at a yard sale.  Inside the hope chests were some electronics had sparked hope that there were other toys.  The pieces turned out to be from the Barbie Beach van, but were broken beyond salvage.  One other tote was completely filled with little mini fanny packs from the airline LTU, which looking them up on the internet I found had merged with Air Berlin.  They are red with the LTU logo in white, and have a blindfold for sleeping, a pair of socks, a shoe horn, and a little travel toothbrush.  I thought they were an unusual item to find, and put the tote out at the yard sale with a 10 cents price...sold 5 to a lady that collects airline stuff.  Still have a tote full.
anyway, I enjoyed the locker and was glad I gambled the $5.

Welcome, and we would be pleased to hear how your locker went

Hey Jedi, that is way cool.  As long as you were just hoping to at least double your money after expenses, I bet you were extremely pleased. 

yeah, I was happy with that unit.  hmm...I just read my post...it like chopped out half a paragraph and doesn't make any sense now...how come when you get to the bottom of the window for typing it goes all flaky?  is that just my computer or something? does anyone even know what I'm talking about? ugh, I'll just make shorter posts.  lol

....how come when you get to the bottom of the window for typing it goes all flaky?  is that just my computer or something? does anyone even know what I'm talking about? ugh, I'll just make shorter posts.  lol

Yes, that happens and it is (as you suggest) because of the length of the post. When it starts "jumping" just end that post and go immediately to a new post to continue the thought. It's very likely that your two posts will be one after the other as it is unlikely anyone else would be posting at the same time.

Thanks Movieman, I thought it was my computer at first.

Yes, that happens and it is (as you suggest) because of the length of the post. When it starts "jumping" just end that post and go immediately to a new post to continue the thought. It's very likely that your two posts will be one after the other as it is unlikely anyone else would be posting at the same time.

Another suggestion is what I do when I am planning to make a lengthy post:

Open Microsoft Word, Note Pad, or some kind of program like that, type what you want, then copy and paste it to your reply.  You will never have to worry about the screen jumping while you are trying to type.  It is also helpful to be able to use spell check in that program.

hey Jedi- what part of the peninsula do you reside with your father?  great score and good idea about pods storage. I never thought about that!

too cool that your parents did this when u were a kid!