Lookey Loos Part 4....April, 2011

Went to an abandoned home auction today and the crowd was such that I thought it should have its own thread, so I put the story here:

http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=1032.msg3953#msg3953

Going to a regular auction on Wedneday the 20th and will report on the crowd and prices here.

One auction today with 7 lkrs. Crowd about 60. Prices...as usual...high for the return value. My area remains in the clutches of inflation.

First pic below is of about half the crowd. I thought both lkrs open in pic would go for $600 each. One on right went
for $375 and one on left went for $625.



Next picture shows two lookeyloos about 200 feet away from the auction.



I did bid on a really clean 5 wide by 15 deep. All nice boxes and one visible back of sofa table. I thought $500 would be a reasonable price to pay and maybe still make money.

I started it at $300 and not a blink. Went up by $25s. I went $500 and slight reaction from crowd, but kept on going. I stopped at my $500. A newbie was in it with a regular up to $700 and the regular got it for $750. It's going to be close for profit...if any....in my opinion.

One of the lookey loos doesn't seem to be too interested. LOL

One of the lookey loos doesn't seem to be too interested. LOL

Yes, but the one on the right has his head craned !

I've been to two auctions in a row with a crowd of 25 or smaller.  Both of these auctions were advertised on auctionzip, and the last time I attended auctions at these locations there was easily 50+ people in attendance.  Two is not enough to start talking about trends, so I'll just enjoy the moment.

The crowd here in Memphis is getting smaller and smaller for each week. Todays 4 auctions had maybe at the most 18 people, and alot of them was pairs. So if we say 9 bidding pairs then we are close.  First auction of the day only had like 8 or 9 people.  The last 3/4 weeks in memphis has been really good. we are talkig about 25 or less as a stable number of people.

The crowd here in Memphis is getting smaller and smaller for each week. Todays 4 auctions had maybe at the most 18 people, and alot of them was pairs. So if we say 9 bidding pairs then we are close.  First auction of the day only had like 8 or 9 people.  The last 3/4 weeks in memphis has been really good. we are talkig about 25 or less as a stable number of people.

That's good; hope it stays that way ..... a lot better than 60 to 100 !

What were the prices like ?

That's good; hope it stays that way ..... a lot better than 60 to 100 !

What were the prices like ?

Prices has dropped big time. Yesterday we had one of the big auctions.
I will say that the prices has dropped about 20% to 25% since december & january when we had the crazy hype around here.

Now it is possible to get decent lockers for under 100 bucks, and good ones can be yours for under 200.

Of course some lockers still drag up to about 500/600 bucks, but that is lockers that are worth it.
Last two weeks i have picked up lockers between free and 425 dollars. And they have made me 3 times the money or more.



So this is good. The biggest difference is that the dumb newbies are gone (still some newbies, but they seem to understand the game), and the regulars are bidding more conservative.

Went to an auction today that had 4 lkrs and about 20 bidders. Four of the bidders including me were regulars, 2 were newbie regulars who have been coming for 2 months.

The first 3 lkrs were nothing special; I didn't bid and  I don't even remember what they went for except for one empty lkr with an entertainment center (particle board) that went for $1.

The 4th lkr was a 5 wide by 10 deep and was packed with big stuff. Couldn't see behind it or over it, so don't know if smalls were there or not. I thought I would go $500 at max feeling I could break even if nothing else.

Started at $25 or so and quickly went to $300 with newbies bidding. Before I could offer $500 one of the 2-month old newbies offered $500. Didn't take him long to learn that trick; he might have seen me do it 4 times in the last 8 weeks; it didn't work then either.

Not a blink, the bids kept going but now a regular was involved and it went up to $750 pretty fast between the 2-month old newbie and the regular. Newb dropped out and....A NEW PERSON no one had seen before came in at $800. She looked like she might have been related to the lkr somehow; well dressed, not a loser.

Anyway, she went with the regular up to $925 (regular bid) and did'nt come back at $950, so regular got it.

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The rest of this story is that the regular's husband had told me before the auction that he had been having serious talks
with his wife about getting out of the biz because of the prices, etc. This might cinch that leaving if the lkr doesn't pan out. I'll see them next Saturday at the flea, so maybe I'll have a later report.

Still crazy in my neck of the woods both from newbs and regulars !

Went to 2 auctions today; 4 lkrs at one, 7 lkrs at 2nd auction.
First auction had about 25 people...not bad.
Second auction had about 60 people...same auctioneer but later in day.

Pic below is crowd at 2nd auction.

First auction a 10x10 went for $525...pretty full, washer/dryer, Fridge taped shut with duct tape (mold city).

Another lkr at first auction 5 x 10 about 2 feet deep in stuff went for $625....oh my !

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Second auction, a 5 x 10 about 1/2 full about 3 feet high...$400; mostly pvc fittings some well-used tools.

A 5 x 10 pretty full all the way round went for $675.

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I was not the winner of any of these, but I won not doing the work !

How come the crowd/people at your storage auctions looks exactly the same as the people at my storage auctions on the other side of the country? So much for diversity...

How come the crowd/people at your storage auctions looks exactly the same as the people at my storage auctions on the other side of the country? So much for diversity...

I wondered who would notice.

The fact is, it IS the very same crowd. They are first cousins to the crowds that appear at a car wreck, a school shooting or a fire.

Here's another thread on the topic of crowds and prices.

http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=1019.msg4407#msg4407