Lookey Loos Part 9.....September, 2011

Welcome to September, 2011 as we continue our watch on units, prices and buyers (or non-buyers).

Today I went to the one auction available; 4 units advertised. I think they had 3 when done.

First one a 5 x 10 I would have paid $100 for and that's what he started it at. I hate it when the auctioneers say,
"I know it's going to get to that" and in fact it might, but with a bunch of newbies in the crowd of 25, one of them is bound to say "yep" and then another will go to $125 or such.  Ended up selling for $475 I think. Better their money than mine.

Later I talked to the fellow who stopped at $450 and I asked how many lkrs he had bought. "One" came the non-surprising reply.  He and wife arrived in a 24 foot motorhome of all things.

When I told him the $475 lkr would have sold for a max of $150 or so 10 months ago before Storage Wars, he smiled from ear-to-ear and PROUDLY told me that's where they learned about the auctions.

Oh, my !

On to the next one which was a 10 x 15 I think, piled high with crappy looking boxes; maybe 10 of them were largely lettered with the name of a local retail store from which they had somehow been obtained.  Sucker went for $1200 I think and Mr. plaid pants will get a valuable economics lesson there. I thought my friend was just bidding him up, but when we moved on to the next same sized lkr my friend took him for a ride again, but my friend got it and he claimed he wanted it. It was equally junky...cost was  $1K I think.

Have to mention that any of us who had half a brain knew the 2nd lkr was same owner as first because of same boxes in #2, but he auctioneer who is dumb-a** of the highest order (and wife a close second) said no it's two separate owners. Didn't take 10 seconds for others in the group to set this a**hole straight. What an idiot!

Needless to say, not an auspicious start to the month, but I got a good one recently so can't complain.

These mistakes will scare people away, but unfortunately new ones will come next time lol. If I had learned about storage auctions from a tv show, I wouldn't dare share that info.

ROFL - some of ya'll just have all the luck.....NOT.  Who the heck would come to an auction in a RV.  Seriously get a clue.  Only a few Saturday auctions about an hour or so away from me so not going to attend.  Kids soccer practice trumps auctions 

Next week looks better.  Have U-haul on friday and a 30 locker caravan on Thursday.  Decided to take day off thursday so can hit all of the units.  Was just listed on the 1st so hopefully not too many get pulled.  U-haul I'll have to try and hit at lunch if they are done with the first facility on time or not early and I miss it.  Will try and get more pictures from the caravan.

Went to a rare Saturday auction this morning.......what a joke!  The manager of this facility was using one of the local auctioneers, but after the last auction (a year ago!) he told me he was going to conduct future auctions himself.  He took my name and number back then and he said when he had an auction, he was just going to call up three or four of us that have bought in the past and have a small auction. 

Fast forward to the other day, and he calls me up and says he's having his first auction today at 10:00 am.  I was thinking to myself that this could be awesome, me and maybe three other guys,  and a chance to get a good unit at a decent price! 

Alas, it was not to be.  Instead of the nice, almost private auction I was expecting, it was like walking into a circus!  He had called a bunch of people and posted the auction time and day on the facility's reader board.  He was charging a one dollar sign in to get a bidder number and handing out donuts!  Nice!  Out of about 45 bidders that showed, I recognized four.  Once the bidding started, there were three different bidders (all noobies) trying to impress everybody with their best Dave Hester bidding impression.  Total CRAP units went for STUPID money.  What a bunch of FUC*ING MORONS!

Teacher....

Yikes !  Just reading your post was disturbing let alone experiencing that auction. The Hester impersonators is a good example of where the business has gone. As often as not an auction turns into a joke.

Went to a rare Saturday auction this morning.......what a joke!  The manager of this facility was using one of the local auctioneers, but after the last auction (a year ago!) he told me he was going to conduct future auctions himself.  He took my name and number back then and he said when he had an auction, he was just going to call up three or four of us that have bought in the past and have a small auction. 

Fast forward to the other day, and he calls me up and says he's having his first auction today at 10:00 am.  I was thinking to myself that this could be awesome, me and maybe three other guys,  and a chance to get a good unit at a decent price! 

Alas, it was not to be.  Instead of the nice, almost private auction I was expecting, it was like walking into a circus!  He had called a bunch of people and posted the auction time and day on the facility's reader board.  He was charging a one dollar sign in to get a bidder number and handing out donuts!  Nice!  Out of about 45 bidders that showed, I recognized four.  Once the bidding started, there were three different bidders (all noobies) trying to impress everybody with their best Dave Hester bidding impression.  Total CRAP units went for STUPID money.  What a bunch of FUC*ING MORONS!

Is this the first time you have ever heard of an owner charging for admission into an auction?  Cause I have never heard or seen this.  The doughnuts sound like a nice touch and really balance out the admission fee is you could snag 2 doughnuts and the prop manager had coffee out.  Charging money may actually drive away lookey loos if you think about it.

Is this the first time you have ever heard of an owner charging for admission into an auction?  Cause I have never heard or seen this.  The doughnuts sound like a nice touch and really balance out the admission fee is you could snag 2 doughnuts and the prop manager had coffee out.  Charging money may actually drive away lookey loos if you think about it.

That's what I was thinking as well.  But what auctioneer would want to do that?  More people mean the newb's will jack up their bids because they'll want to 'intimidate' their competition.  (Which is sad to know they'll pay over market for someone's stuff, just so they can feel big...all the way to the dump.)

I didn't see a single person turn away and leave because of the dollar.  A lot of people made jokes about it, but they all paid.  

I only got one donut, so I guess my admission was only .50?

There is an auctioneer up here that charges everybody a dollar to get a bid card.  He's been doing it for years, and he still gets pretty large crowds.  

That's what I was thinking as well.  But what auctioneer would want to do that?  More people mean the newb's will jack up their bids because they'll want to 'intimidate' their competition.  (Which is sad to know they'll pay over market for someone's stuff, just so they can feel big...all the way to the dump.)

No No man, I wasn't saying drive away bidders, bidders(even bad ones) will pay cash to bid, lookey loos, well I'd imagine thats a different story.

No No man, I wasn't saying drive away bidders, bidders(even bad ones) will pay cash to bid, lookey loos, well I'd imagine thats a different story.

I wasn't meaning it would drive away bidders unless they had some ridiculous fee for it.  Personally, I wish they'd charge ten bucks (depending on number of units) just so the lookers would go watch a ****ing movie instead.
   I'd shuck out ten bucks, and every serious bidder out there would, but the ones that wanted to 'watch storage wars live', would go home or go to the theater.

I don't mind lookey loos as much as i do newb bidders that just want to buy something regardless of the cost.  Those people are dangerous.

I don't mind lookey loos as much as i do newb bidders that just want to buy something regardless of the cost.  Those people are dangerous.

The newbs will either learn or go broke.  What pisses me off about the lookers is when there's a ton of them and they want to gawk at the locker's contents, when they're not even going to be risking their money, and then they seem to want to just stand around in front of the locker.
   Let the bidders get the look to see.  They're the ones buying it.
   Especially when (as the last auction I was at) there were over sixty people at the unit auctions, and less than ten of us were bidding.  It took several minutes to even get a glimpse into the locker.

I didn't see a single person turn away and leave because of the dollar.  A lot of people made jokes about it, but they all paid.  

I only got one donut, so I guess my admission was only .50?

There is an auctioneer up here that charges everybody a dollar to get a bid card.  He's been doing it for years, and he still gets pretty large crowds.  

Next time get three donuts and make .50 back 

Next time get three donuts and make .50 back 

Return on Investment! 

I"m gonna need about 200 donuts to fill up the tank in my F350 Crew Cab Diesel though!

I don't mind all the lookers at the auctions, except that it makes a 20 minute auction take and hour and a half while everybody ambles by the door.  Makes for a long and boring day when you are on a multiple facility run!