Lookey Loos Part 3....March, 2011

Auctions today in my town and 2 other towns. I bet all the regulars would either stay local for go to town A about 50 miles away. Instead all the regulars went to town B which is where I ended up.

12 lockers there and all went for 2x the worth. One of my local regulars got one for $500 because he had driven his big box truck and didn't want to go home empty..."hauling post holes" as the old truckers used to say.

He'll break even.  A fellow from another community (and a regular) bought one for $1,000 plus. He'll break even.

**************

Came back to my town and went to a late afternoon auction. 12 lockers here too. All sold for 2x the worth including one for $1250 with old Marshall speaker and amps. Guy said he could get $3K for them. Maybe on Mars where they are rare.


**************

Welcome to the newbies who it appears will be hanging around until the fall since both tv shows have renewed.

Some newbies are just plain stupid.

We had one yesterday, he was one of those "big shots" "know it all" type of guy.
He told everyone how he ruled back in his own home town, but still he did not know a jack ****, he did know he had to sign in, he did not know he could not go in the locker, he did not know it was cash only.  

Well he was all over the place, standing in the back bidding with the same "YEAP" as dave on Storage wars, and then he switch to become Darrel from storager wars, flicking his fingers, and yell out "Yeap" at the same time.

This guy was such a pain in the ass to have around, so the ones of us who have done this for a while looked at each other and nicked our heads, it was time to take him to the top and dump his sorry ass.

Well we came to this perfect unit, with what we all could see was worthless ****. and heavy to load and haul.
We took him up to 675.00 and dumped the **** on his head.

He then had to break out of the group to go to an ATM 2 blocks down the street, while we kept on bidding on units.

Newbies, JUST STAY AT HOME! you are gonna be hurt.

Some newbies are just plain stupid.

What a winner! I think obnoxious behavior should result in obnoxious results. I'm glad you put him in place.

I don't care or not if the storage places put a deposit on heads or not, but for the love of god I wish they would tell people who aren't signed in or even bidding to stay away from the door so people that are trying to bid can actually get a decent look. Last week there were 40 people and at 5 units there were a total of 5 people that actually bid. AHHHHHHHH! That is my rant for tonight. It will fade in time, for example beanie babies back on the day.

Went to 2 Public Storage auctions today; crowd was good....about 25 people or so. Ten regulars.

Newbies were buying and a couple of regulars did too.  Prices once again around 2x the actual sellable value...IMHO.

I bid on a couple of lkrs and on two of those other old-timer buyers got them so I'll get a chance to see and hear about the contents.

Take a look at this thread posted by TreasureHawk on Tuesday, March 8, 2011.

http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=781.msg2434#new

Going to a sale today with just 4 lkrs and in a bad part of town, but I did get one good one here before that had the leftovers of the former lkr owner's GOVERNMENT surplus items. He had bought a gov auction, stored a lot of bulk office type stuff there (not furniture) and didn't pay his bill. So far that lkr has brought in 3x and I still have stuff left.

Will modify this post in about 3 hours with the crowd results for today, March 9, 2011.

Edit:

The auction I went to with 4 lkrs had only about 20 people with 13 of them being newbies. The other 7 were regulars all hoping to make even a minor score at this low-end facility.

One newbie (A) liked the look of a locker I would have paid $50 for at the most. He got into it a bit with another newbie (B) and it escalated from $40 to $100 with newbie (A) at $100. (B) went to $125 and (A) made his PLAY and “WON” the locker at $200. You go guy!

During my Saturday auction, there was this old guy (had to be at least 80 years old) just standing about 3 feet inside the locker. Didn't even look like he was looking around much either, just getting in the way. The woman auctiioning the locker must have said "Sir people can't see" or "Sir, please get out of the locker" like 4 or 5 times.

Finally, a guy, who I believe is a regular, just screamed "GET THE F# OUT OF THE LOCKER!!!" The guy pretty much jumped and finally came to the realization that he was in everyones way. It was pretty funny, but I could see how this would get annoying after awhile.

Even funnier after I thought about it, was the fact that this guy was short and about 100 pounds. This locker was filled steel cabinets 3 times his size and twice his weight. He was alone aty the auction. NO WAY he moves that stuff. I realize he could have called someone to do it for him, but I'm pretty sure he had no intention on bidding.

TonyT....

The lookers who bug me are what I call the "bicycle boys". These guys are usually down on their luck...or always have been...and like the 100 pound guy, they would have a hard time hauling away a 5 drawer file cabinet full or empty.
Yes, they could get someone's help too, but they are taking up space and I have NEVER seen one bid let alone win a locker.

Now as to the old guy. I have a little more sympathy for people age 70 and up...especially UP. These folks are also just looking for something to do and they suck air and time from us, but they are sometimes hard of hearing too and I've found a tap on the shoulder helps them to focus on what's happening behind them.

One older couple...mid-70s bought a couple of lockers the other day and I heard they had them on pallets out in the south 40 covered with tarps. They no more need to be in this biz than the man in the moon (IMHO).

I went to an auction this morning at 10am. There was about 20-30 people there for 3 units total. 1st locker was full of furniture which sold for $575, second locker was full of paper and cardboard, didn't sell for a buck, and the third wasn't anything great and I walked away once the bidding got up to 425.

I have plans to attend a 2 day event next week that is going to tour 24 facilities and sell a total of 160 units.........YES, 160 units at 24 facilities......this ought to be interesting......ahh the good ole Florida foreclosure market ...huh?

If I can't buy something decent at this one for the right number...I'll just have to laugh 

Went to an auction this morning that was advertised on auctionzip and craigslist.  I got there about 15 minutes before the start and signed in, and I was bidder number 75, with a line behind me!  There were probably at least that many that didn't even register.  It was beyond stupid.  It started at 10am and didn't get over until almost 1:30, and that was just for 14 lockers. 

I did win 7 bucks doing side bets on how much the lockers would sell for, and I did get a little irritated and bid a guy up (to be fair, don't know if the guy was a noobie or not, didn't care) on a 200 locker all the way up to 725!  Hope he enjoys his new found treasure! 

For all of the people there, most of the units were actually not going for that high.  Oh, and there was actually a 5 dollar locker today.  There was some big old commercial type refer unit in there with parts off it, and for some reason nobody wanted it very bad.  Some lady finally bid 5 bucks and she was an owner. 

I did win 7 bucks doing side bets on how much the lockers would sell for, and I did get a little irritated and bid a guy up (to be fair, don't know if the guy was a noobie or not, didn't care) on a 200 locker all the way up to 725!  Hope he enjoys his new found treasure!  

Interesting to see the betting on lkr sales amounts goes on in your area!  Probably the same all over just like
the crowds and the prices !

We've got a little group that has been doing the side bet thing for a while now.  I usually do pretty good at it, some of these guys are still guessing way too low!

Oh, and as far as the guy I bid up, I wanted the unit for 200-300.  But, this guy was in the middle of the crowd and started bragging (while we were in the middle of bidding on it) how that locker was HIS!  HE was getting it no matter what.   Well, he was right!

I was bidder number 75, with a line behind me!  There were probably at least that many that didn't even register.  It was beyond stupid.  

So let me ask, do you attribute all these crowds to spring weather and tax refunds ...meaning they will eventually go away ....or more to the popularity of these 2 shows and all these people are here to stay?

In previous years, have you seen a spring/tax time spike in crowds that eventually goes away or on?

Thx