Wow what a day. First facility had 9 of the ten units left. The last bid number handed out was 57. That takes a lot of time when so many of the units are upstairs. Temps were in the mid 90's today. Do I have to say hot with all of those bodies in such a confined space.
There was a lot of junk but three of the units looked good. Prices ranged between $5.00 (only thing I saw in that one worth anything was a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket) to $700.00 (Unit was pretty nice but not for that much. I put a $300.00 price on it). Most units that I was only willing to bid $150-$200 went for $300-$400. One new couple that I had never seen before bought 3 units.
Second facility has just been bought by the owner of the first facility. I was talking to him when we got there and he said he had 80 lockers that had been behind on rent. 30 had paid up. Today he sold 20 of them (only 15 were listed with the auctioneer). He still has 30 that he has liened. He will be having another sale in November to clear the rest out (something to look forward to).
Several bidders dropped off but picked up a few new ones so I would guess there were about 45. I started talking to some of the bidder while waiting for the auction to start. Many had come as far as 50+ miles away. One lady had a storage there before the new owner took over. She told me that the first owner hadn't been doing the auto pay for her unit so on the day before escrow closed he called her and told her she owed $3000.00. If she could come up with any money that day he would let her have her stuff. She paid him $400.00. She was hoping there would be some good units because others maybe couldn't come up with any money.
Of the 20 units 7 looked really good. Again most went to high for me. One unit went for $5.00 (showing several dozen mason jars with mystery stuff in them and a seat out of a car. Still amazes me how many of those are in storage lockers). One unit went for $1100.00 (Set of quad tires and rims, bicycle, couch, neat tiger wood trunk, etc.).
I purchased a unit with the following showing. Nice neutral couch, oak dinning table and ladder back chairs, headboard and one matching nightstand, HUGE tv, X-box, 2 guitar hero guitars, one box, round metal tray, rock-band box for x-box 360. I paid $200.00. Couch is a hide-a bed, tv works, box is full of nice blankets, metal tray is a nice hammered brass, rock-band is the drum set and is brand new (everyone told me it was empty which is normally my luck) 2 house speakers that were hiding behind the tv, large framed world map behind sofa, microwave, and a few other small items. All in all I did ok with this one.
The man that purchased the $5.00 unit did the best out of all of us. His unit was next to mine and he kept coming over to show me what he found. There were 5 or 6 boxes under the seat. One had a full 12 piece set of green coke glasses with handles one had some cool porcelain statues. One had a full set of china. Not sure what was in the rest but he was thrilled.
Sorry for the book but it was one of the funnest days I have at an auction in a long time.