Lately I have seen this on CL, what is yalls take........

This is copied directly from a CL post:

WILL PAY FOR YOUR STORAGE UNIT
Date: 2011-04-17, 5:46PM CDT
Reply to: [email protected] [Errors when replying to ads?]
If you are about to lose your storage unit, Don’t I’ll pay you for it. I’ll bring it up to date and allow you to make some money on your items. Call me for more information xxx-xxx-xxxx


I have "X" ed out the personal info stuff.

Anyone else besides me have a problem with this, what is yalls take on this approach?

trying to get ahead of the game! lol

What a jerk! Hope that guy isn't from the ATL area

Been seeing a lot of those up in the Seattle area.  He acts like he's doing them a big "favor" because he will pay for it and let you keep your "personals", which you are going to get back anyway if you lose it.  I know a few guys that constantly flag those types of ads.

So, someone bites and he meets up with them.

If the lkr is in lien, I don't think the property mgrs are going to let the lkr "owner" and this
would-be buyer to go out in the yard to take a look at it (which I would think the buyer would want to do).
Maybe SOME mgrs would do that, but I would bet not all....after all the unit is probably going to sell anyway.

If the amount owed is say $552, would that "buyer" buy it sight unseen?  Might be a crappy one.

Unless I'm missing something, I don't see how it would even work for that would-be buyer.

Just go to Texas, San Antonio and do a search for:

I will pay for your storage unit

Not like it's a big secret...it's on Craigslist after all, ready for millions to look at it !

First time I saw his post I replied to him told him to come out and join the rest of us bidders in the heat and earn that unit. Guessing he didnt like that, never replied back, lol.

I don't really have a problem with this. On here we talk about how we've adapted to the crowds, this guy is trying a method to get an edge on the competition.

Personally I don't think he'll get many replies as there's really no craigslist category suited to this so unless someone who's losing their locker this week just happens to see this guys spam ad in the community section or something I just don't see him getting alot of replies.

Also, like movieman said the logisitcs wouldnt' work out in my opinion. Storage manager isnt likely going to let you guys in to check it out as the owners may steal some items out of the locker, I've seen it happen on youtube vids lol.

So your basically taking these peoples word for it on what they have in the unit. Who knows this guy may wind up paying more than he could have bought the unit at auction for depending on how high fees are.

Anyone have any insight into % wise whether auctions generally reap more than fees owed?

The other thing, assuming you pay the unit still belongs to tht person. If you guys get in the unit and they decide they aren't going to follow through. You probably have a contract but police dont enforce contracts so you'll call police they will show up, the guy has the unit in his name police will tell you to leave nad you can take them to small claims court. Wasted days in courrt and a filing fee probably not even worth going through with it. Plus say you do win a judgement, good luck collecting from somene who cnat pay their storage fees.

I agree that the logistics would not work, since you cant see what is in there before you pay. You could end up paying $500 in back pay to the storage company, and end up only having something like a Christmas tree and a few boxes of personals. That would be one expensive fake tree IMO.

Although I have lately seen people posting on CL (2 so far) that want to sell their units to a vendor, they show you pics and a rough summary of what is in there. Tell you that you can make an appointment with them to meet you there so you can see the stuff for yourselves. I contacted two of them. They want it for what I would bid on it anyway (mostly on the gamble side of it). But also makes me wonder would I be gambling to high. However good thing is I can go through and see exactly what he has.

Also noticed quite a few people try selling their units while there is an auction going on. One guy was loaded with tools, equipment, and hardware that would be great to start your own tile business. However he wanted retail price for his whole unit. 10x10 (not full) stacked from floor to ceiling along the walls. I could easily see that he had on a resell value of $4,000 but wanted $5,000. Needless to say no one bought. I would of bought a few things here and there if his price was right, but he wanted to sell all or nothing.

Anyone have any insight into % wise whether auctions generally reap more than fees owed?

Slight hijack, so I'll start a thread !

Here's the link:

http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=1083.msg4405#msg4405

I was actually thinking about doing this but in a different way. If the unit had value, I was going to pay off the unit and allow the tenant to make payments to me until they are current. Obviously, considering the nature of the situation, the interest rate would have been like 25% percent plus the cost of the monthly rental rate but, that's better than losing your stuff right?

It all depends on the contents of the unit and whether the facility manager will allow you to inspect the unit before you agree to pay it off. Once you pay it off, you have to transfer the space into your name. Most facilities have a form to transfer a unit and all contents to another person. Just make sure you use a good lock and have insurance in your name.

reply to Travis post #10 above...

Well, it might work for the first month or two, in which case you would have made a few bucks off them, then when they
default to you, you will own the balance of the goods.....of course IF there was anything good in there, they will have taken it out  by then.

Sounds like a lot of work for some return, but if it happened enough, you would make some money!

Maybe you have discovered "the secret". 

Sounds to me like a good way for you, me, us to get burned paying all the back fees and beting on what's in there then there's the issue that once the back rent is paid up the locker rental and ownership becomes the original owners again. None of the storage facilities have the right to transfer that unit to us until it is vacated by the original tenant ego allowing the original wner to get the good stuff out.......

I would only buy units that the manager would let me inspect with the tenant & manager present. During the payoff, the tenant signs a release & a contract which transfers the unit and all it's content into my name. I put my own lock on it and have it insured, that way if the tenant did try to get his property back without paying me off, I could file an insurance claim and possibly even make more money than the unit was worth. It could work, there is a market for everything. The key to this would be establishing a relationship or a referral program with the facility managers.

I would only buy units that the manager would let me inspect with the tenant & manager present. During the payoff, the tenant signs a release & a contract which transfers the unit and all it's content into my name. I put my own lock on it and have it insured, that way if the tenant did try to get his property back without paying me off, I could file an insurance claim and possibly even make more money than the unit was worth. It could work, there is a market for everything. The key to this would be establishing a relationship or a referral program with the facility managers.

That sounds like something I would be willing to try. Kind of like putting a lien hold on the lkr itself for the amount of the payment (loan).