Did I find something odd, or is this normal?

I been involved in storage auctions for all of three weeks. I've gone to a few in person and check online auctions every couple days.

I saw this one today:

(URL Removed - Page no longer available)

What bothers me is that the things in the unit are supposed to be the tenants up till the point the auction is done and paid for, right? To get the picture of the Nintendo they had to step into the unit, over the tv stand, and move the yoga mat. In two pictures there are three games. Another picture one of the games has been taken out. Also in one picture the games are not in the right order of the other pictures.   

It might not seem like much, but the game that is missing goes for 15 to 25 dollars. If who ever is involved in the auctions are not afraid to pick through boxes they are taking pictures of, what else are they taking?

Making too much of this? Is it common?

Jack, welcome to the forum. Good eye!

Is it common? No. Does it happen? Yes. The person taking photos may very well have taken the game from the unit. But to be completely fair, the game may have just fell into the box while he was moving things around.

Yes, the property is the tenant's up until it's sold. In most states, there are no laws preventing operators from looking through or moving around a tenant's property. If, however, someone did misappropriate the tenant's property, that would be considered theft.

I don't think you're making too much out of this. This is a great example of a problem we face in this industry.

Some states have laws that require the management to enter the unit and take a basic inventory and some pictures, prior to the auction.