I went on a 5 facility caravan today and bought my first unit at the 2nd facility.  It didn't have a lot in it.  Couple of file cabinets, huge, cheap stuffed animals, barbells, misc junk.  The bidding started at $5 and I was the third bid at $15.  I won it for $15.  After the last unit of that facility, I took a quick look in the unit.  The finds were in the drawers in one of the file cabinets.  The previous owner must have either owned a business or been a sales rep for a tool outfit.  I found a bunch of catalogs from a tool company.  The file cabinets were mostly full of his personal/business financial paperwork.

But, in the backs of the file cabinet drawers, I found a bunch of old baseballs.  One is signed by Larry Doby, others the sigs are tough to make out so they probably aren't worth much.  One is in a clear plastic holder but I can't make out the signature (messy, not fading).  I'll take them all in to a sports memorabilia shop to have them appraised.

Other than that, I found some high quality concrete drill bits, some knives, miscellaneous small tools, a letter jacket and letter sweater from 1964, some miscellaneous office supplies, stack of decade-old Playboys, and a whole pile of stuff that I'm going to donate to Salvation Army or find a dumpster somewhere.

Overall, it was fun to finally score a unit, dig through the boxes and bags, and find what could be some money-making baseballs.  It was well worth the $15 I spent on it.

As a noobie, I have a question for the seasoned veterans.  How many lockers did you look at, maybe bid on, but lost, before you scored your first locker?

I have seen about 25 lockers opened.  I've bid on about 8 of them.  I've come in runner-up about 4 times.  I've yet to win a locker.  I'm not stressing about it.  I'm waiting for the right locker and not getting swept up in the frenzy to buy a locker.  No sense over-paying for a locker, just to say I bought one, right?

I saw one today that has me regretting my decision to pass.  This locker looked like it hadn't been opened since the late 90s.  There was an inch of dust covering everything.  Lots of dust-covered boxes but a whole bunch of furniture that was destined for a dump, somewhere.  I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with the furniture so I passed on the unit.  Sure would have liked to dig through those dusty boxes but oh well.

I am new to the storage auction business and attended my first auction this very day.  It was a two-unit sale and one unit had only some really long (rent a long truck long) scaffolding items in a huge locker.  It went for $455 and I didn't bid.  The other unit had a bunch of household stuff and I had a $150 limit in my head.  The bidding blew past that in short order and ended up selling for $205 to a regular.  I kept telling myself to not get sucked into buying a locker, just to buy a locker.  The bidding surpassed what I had valued the locker and I kept my money and passed.

I have non-buyer's remorse now but know that I'll find a unit or two down the line that will make me forget all about this first day lost unit.

I've read a lot of the posts on the forum and look forward to learning a lot from all the experienced storage locker buyers who selflessly offer up their knowledge for guys like me to learn from.

I don't enter into this business looking to score the big unit that yields hidden thousands of dollars.  I enter the business looking for a way to buy and sell my way into some extra cash.  I know this will be a lot of hard work and I'm ready for that.  I have previously bought and sold items from online auctions and from estate sales.  I know that it takes time and some luck to sell all the items I purchase.  I use craigslist and garage sales in order to sell the things I buy.

I hope to start small and work my way up.  Work being the operative word.  I don't look to get rich fast.  I fully plan on working for every dollar I make.