Facebook

Facebook is an excellent resource for gaining some insight to a person whose unit is on the chopping block.  I would say in my experience I can locate about 40% of all people I search.  With the information you can gain from a person's profile, you can use this insight into your bidding.  Obviously, there are other important factors; how the unit looks, what materials and objects can you see, etc.  But information is power, and every little bit helps.  A couple of experiences I have had doing using this resource, provided great results.  For example, I searched this one lady on FBook and found out she owned a small fitness company.  She also wore some serious designer clothing from what her pics conveyed.  So I get to the auction with this info, unit comes up, a 5 X10, and there was a whole bunch of boxes.  The contents behind the boxes were blocked from view, but I sensed there was more.  I got it for about 175, kinda high, but I took an educated guess.  Sure enough, fitness equipment in the back of the unit.  Free weights, dumbbells, etc.  Made all my money back on those items alone.  And just like I saw in her profile, girl had some serious clothing and accessories.  I let my wife dig through that.  Overall, it wasn't a killer unit, but it was very profitable.  No way in hell I would have bid on this unit by appearance alone.  Although, I did, at times, feel like a creep scoping these individuals out.  It's a business though, they didn't pay their rent, **** happens.

Yep, if you have the name of the tenant from the legal notice you can check them out in a number of ways. This is also true of course for businesses that go out of biz.

I got one locker with orthotic devices (paid $150....months ago). One nice aluminum case had a cast saw inside. I called the old owner about returning pictures and such and he commented..."Yeah, I'd like to get back that aluminum case with a little saw inside. It's not worth much."

Yeah, right. I had researched that before anything else. Goes for $1,100 new. I sold it on eBay for $400.

When the guy showed up to get his pics and look at some other items he might want to buy he asked about the aluminum box with the saw. I asked him what it was worth to him and his response was 25 bucks. I told him I had already sold it on eBay and he knew better than to ask for how much and I didn't tell him. Some former owners think we're dumb f***s because of the biz were in. Whose the dumb one now you jerk...lost your possessions lately?