Interesting. I wonder if other cities will follow suit. I wonder how they can differentiate between people who are just selling their own belongings vs people who are actually operating as a home business?

Hair from a dead lady is creepy, but how are toys and clothing weird?

I was trying to be sly, but I meant used sex toys and used lingerie.

Only once have I ever encountered someone who owned a locker I bought. It's sort of a strange story and made me feel uneasy, but I tell it anyway. There was a guy who came into my warehouse a few times and would comment on items, saying things like "My mom had that exact same..." or "I used to have this exact same..." 

I didn't really think much of it, and just took it as him reminiscing about similar items. However, one night when I was working alone in my warehouse, he showed up at my back loading entrance and wanted to talk. Being a friendly guy, I let him in and worked on pricing new inventory while he walked around, looking at things for sale, and talking to me about his life.

Turns out, he went through a nasty divorce. His mom had passed as well, and he put all of their belongings into storage. Since he had nowhere to live after losing his home, he had been homeless for a few months and was doing odd jobs in the area.

At this point in the conversation I knew what was going on. I had his stuff, and believe me, my mind was racing. Was this guy going to get angry, or doing something crazy. I couldn't tell. He was just so calm about the whole thing that it was unnerving.

Eventually, he had picked out a few items that he was interested in buying when he could get the money, so I set them aside for him (which I normally would never do). He never flat out told me that I had his stuff, but I knew it, and he knew I knew it. In the end, he turned out to be a great guy and would come in from time to time, just to talk. I would usually give him things for free to help him out, like a sleeping bag, and a tent, etc.

Who knows, maybe the whole thing was an act, or maybe not, but I trust my gut instinct. I knew that he liked coming in to see things from his former life, and to carry on good conversation. I think he also took comfort in knowing that I wasn't some sleazy business dude, but a genuine person who was just trying to support his own family in hard times.

I don't know if this story will make you feel better, or worse, but know that these storage units did belong to people in your area. If I were in your shoes, I would wait at least a month to start listing items from that unit. By then, they should be over it and not searching craigslist daily to hopefully get their stuff back. If these people do show up, just be calm and let them know it's not personal, you are just doing your job. Tell them you are just an employee so they don't assume you personally bought their stuff. If they make any threats, call the police and file a restraining order.

Please keep us updated!

While I feel that there needs to be some guidelines on how a storage unit auction is advertised, I do feel that forcing storage facilities to take out an ad in the newspaper is unjust.

"Officials at The Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association (MDDC), which advocates for free and open press, said the definition is too broad, and removing the requirement for print advertising eliminates a back-up method for notifying defaulted tenants."

I find this statement a bit outlandish, simply for the fact that most people do not read the newspaper everyday to see if their storage unit is going up for auction. However, I do agree with the following statement:

“Self storage companies basically could post something on social media or send out an email to five of their friends and, so long as at least three of them show up, that would be considered reasonable advertising,” said MDDC Executive Director Rebecca Snyder. “We want to see more transparency in these auctions.”

With all of that in mind, I wonder if just setting up one national website to advertise all lien law auctions would be a good idea? It would drive some storage auction websites out of business, but it would be a nice standardization in the industry. Plus, it would be more convenient for storage auction buyers, as well as tenants.

Anyone feel the same?  Or do you like having a little bit of advantage over the people that do not read the newspapers or subscribe to online lists?

When you login, select the "stay logged in" box and set for 99,999 minutes.

That did the trick. Thank you!

Hello everyone, I posted this over in the "Welcome" forum, but thought it might get more views in here.

I've been doing storage auctions for roughly 10 years. 8 of those years were as a side hobby, and two years as a full fledged LLC. To make a long story short, when the economy tanked, I lost my full-time career job and had to take action fast. Since I was already doing so well with storage auctions as a hobby, I took out a loan against my retirement and started my own storage auction business.

Within a short time, I was making over six grand per month consistently for an entire year. Then I made a huge mistake and closed my original warehouse in exchange for a retail location with more overhead, less space, and zoning restrictions that led me to change business models and lose my loyal customers. This eventually led to filing bankruptcy… ouch!

I learned a lot along the way - what I did right, and what I did wrong, and I'm currently putting it all together into a book. I know there's already a ton of books on Amazon, but from what I've read, most of them aren't that great and don’t provide real sound advice about starting a legitimate business. It’s my goal to address as many of these issues as possible to take someone from hobbyist to professional, while balancing the needs of newbies and seasoned pros.

At this time, I have no definite release date. The book is mostly done. I’m just working on some finishing touches and learning exactly how to self publish on Amazon Kindle. However, I always love a good challenge and know it’ll be worth it if I can help at least one person. I would like to get this book out to as many people for free as possible, so please sign up for the free pre-launch and share the link with whomever you like:

http://StorageAuctionAuthority.com

If you have any questions, post them here and I’ll do my best to get back to everyone. Also, to be clear, I don’t pretend to be some super storage auction guru. This is just my experience, what I have learned, what I know that works, and what I know that doesn’t work. I’m definitely not rich, and in fact, I’m presently quite poor. This book is just a personal passion that I have been working on for the last 6 months.

I hope I can be of help to anyone on the forum. I don’t mind answering questions about my personal life or my business. Everything is a learning experience, good and bad!

Anyone know why they haven't been on the last 3 episodes of Storage Wars?

I didn't even know they were still filming Storage Wars.  Wow.. I haven't watched it since early 2013.