Since I do this as a hobby I find in some units I end up keeping more then I sell.  For the right price I will sell anything I find in a unit.  In general however, my wife gets first pick on things.  While this has added more clutter to our house, it has also kept her happy.  She loves some of the crystal figurines and other things of that nature.  While she would never buy them in a store, keeping them from a unit is ok.  My girls have kept every gaming system that we have found.  If they work the first one they keep.  Then any others we find can be sold.  If they don't work they get torn apart and scrapped.  I myself have kept a few comic books and baseball cards for my collection.  Most everythying else has always gone to be sold, given to friends, or goodwill.  Have kept a few bookcases and other things to hold all the nick-nacks from above.

One thing I do now is if find a movie I like in a unit we will watch it and then sell or trade it in.  If it's a blueray then it goes into my collection and the dvd gets sold.

Well at least I will not have to worry about meetings that day and all of the projects that they have slated to start in January

Prices in my area are all over the place.  I picked up a small 10x10 with a love seat, chair w/ ottoman, 2 boxes of cloths/quilts, and 3 other smaller boxes for $50.  A unit like it the week before went for $125.  I bid on a 10x20 that was 1/2 full of boxes and the like on one side up to $180 and quit.  If I wasn't working to clean out old inventory and re-organize I'd of gone up to $250 on the unit.  Was worth it IMO.

Furniture units go for 200 - 600 depending on size.  The caravan we had the other week saw 3 $800+ units.  Some of that is newbies, but many of the buyers of late are regulars.

In my area the yard sales are pretty much over due to dark and cold weather.  All of the thrift stores are working to either keep a steady supply of inventory or working to stock up for feb and income tax time.  You normally have a decline in sales in Dec due to people buying new stuff for xmas.

One of the main units I stay away from is those filled with "tires".  We had a dozen auto shop type units come up for auction few months back.  Even the units with 90% tires in them sold for over $1k.  I know there can be money in used tires but for me I was just seeing all of the disposal fees.

Now for the flip side.  I purchased a pay phone parts & sets unit last year.  I was thinking some major bucks as parts on ebay sell pretty well.  Turned out to be parts that were a little too old to sell.  I paid $101 for the unit.  Sold a box of the boards as mid-grade comm for right at $100.  Then did another shippment of the boards that was $80 profit.  Have a bunch of steel from stripping the boards to turn in to metal.  Also have 8 more boxes of parts to dismantle.  I've found almost a pound of copper wire in one of the parts.  With a box full of them.  The plastic gets tossed in recycle.  The rest split into non-ferrous and ferrous metals.  Many people ran at the weight, very niche market of the unit.  I would bid on it again if ever see a unit like it.  Is taking time and effort but since I have the space and this is a hobby....I can spend the time.

Other recent purchase from last month was a unit that had 20-30 paint cans up front.  I picked the uinit up for $40.  People don't know how to get rid of the paint and thus ran from the unit.  Half of the cans were empty, the others about 30% have good paint in them.  The rest I will mix with cat litter and dispose of.  Little work and the rest of the unit will pay off nicely.

Well I actually get Thursday off so can hit the 7 facility auction.  There is also a seperate place at 5 that I've never see do an auction.  They have 3 units in the paper.  May or may not make that one due to family obligations.  Hope to see and buy some good units in the morning.

Well I know for myself, I've gotten busy with work and just not had as much "free time".  Plus, instead of buying at auctions I was picking yard sales.  Would buy a unit here and there but wasn't as aggresive.  Now that yard sales are drying up I see more of the regulars going for units once again.

I'm one of those guilty of posting a general auction suck, crowd large, yada yada.  Guess I try to give a quick overview so people can keep up with the trend from auction to auction.

That is some great finds there - Gratz.

Yard sales are slowing down in my area.  Starting to get cool and dark in the morning so people are sleeping in more.  Over the past few months I've found things I've flipped but nothing really great.

Not sure about other people but I have a general results like this.  Out of 5 sales I hit, 1 is a person asking just under, at, or over retail for their items.  They are just in love with the stuff and don't want to part with them.  Another spot will have the "ebay know it all", that ask for ebay prices...even if those are not completed sales.  I've grown tired of the "It's worth $40 on ebay"....then try and sell it there.  The other two have good personal prices but not for re-sale.  Then you get that 1 sale that just wants the stuff gone.  Those if you hit them first thing in the morning or late in the day can be money makers.

Well I have been busy with work and am not getting to hit the auctions like I use to.  New boss, new work, all that.

Anyways - I've made it to 2 auctions so far this month.  U-haul was a week late as they canceled the normal auction date.  Result was even more people paid up so only 2 units.  Nothing great, crowd about normal with a number of "newer" people.

Yesterday found me at one of the places that only has a auction once a quarter.  They had 64 units listed in the paper...was down to 21 by time of the auction.  Also, the place is under new management.  This guy changed it to a silent auction.  On top of that, 7 of the units had min bids and another one was a bid/hold for 5 days.  Crowd was pretty large - a good 25 - 30 people.  Many of the regulars and new 3-6mo newbies.

Now the min bids were nuts.  First was $40, maybe a $50 unit -- I passed was mostly junk.  The second was a $200 min.  It had some furniture in it, but to me was a marginal $200 unit.  Many others said the same.  One of the only nice units had even more furniture that wasn't busted up, leather couch, etc. and wasn't a min on it.  He also had a min bid of $40 on a unit with 5 kids bikes and a bunch of trash.  Now bikes I can sell for 10-20 each but it's getting to be the wrong time of year for that.

All in all was a nice day to look at some units but a general waste of time.  5 auctions next week but I can't make any of them.  My next auction is on the 29th.