Storage units go into default for many reasons, and a lot of them aren’t really the tenant’s fault.
When that happens, it can be difficult for a facility manager to handle the situation. On the one hand, you need to get compensated for the unpaid rent and get the unit emptied so you can start renting it out again.
On the other hand, you don’t want to be seen as the bad guy or put a loyal patron into a bind.
This is the perfect opportunity to introduce your tenant to virtual storage auctions. In many cases, your delinquent tenants are having financial difficulties due to an illness or job loss.
Other tenants may have moved, and traveling back to retrieve their items isn’t always the easiest thing. For these people, selling their storage units online can be a great way to get out from under them while still getting some money for their belongings.
In other cases, offering an online auction instead of going through a lien sale can save you time and the tenant some heartache. The tenant can remove any personal items and sell the rest to make money that can be used to pay you back for any late rent and close out the rental contract.
Any extra cash earned from the sale could go directly into their pocket without any messy paperwork or hassles on your end. Best of all, since the sale isn’t a lien sale, you don’t have to worry about satisfying any state laws regarding the sale, so a live auction becomes unnecessary.
OnlineStorageAuctions.com allows individuals, storage facilities and auctioneers to post storage units for auction. The service is completely free, so a struggling tenant doesn’t need to worry about paying anything to get the process started.
Once the unit is sold, the winner will pay the tenant directly or make arrangements with you to hold the payment, so there are no go-betweens to worry about.
It’s not possible to contact every delinquent tenant about the possibility of holding his own online auction, but it’s certainly an offer you can extend to many of your customers. This helps improve your efficiency and help out a struggling tenant without being the bad guy who had to evict him and sell his belongings.
Overall, it’s a win-win situation.
Please leave your insightful thoughts and opinions in the comment box below.
