Lookey Loos Part 8.....August, 2011

Was the guy with the 2 chairs and camel pack a regular...he sure look prepared for a whole day of auctions.  About what I would take for a 8+ hour estate auction but storage units???

I'd never seen him before but he'll be easy to spot if he comes back.

I'd call that lkr the lunch room lady locker.  Those apple boxes and a few other boxes I see come from the lunch rooms at schools.  See an older chest under all the boxes and what looks to be solid wood furniture (furniture isn't my strong point).  But what the heck is that one man band contraption???

The one man band was what attracted everyone of course and the thought was generally that there might  be other odd but potentially profitable stuff in there. And there might have been, but at $1100 unless it's great, that's a bunch to go through before the profit shows. Don't know the newbie who got it.

The band outfit would almost have to be sold to a restaurant or somewhere that had that kind of eclectic stuff hanging around...and the space to hold it.

The more I look at the room the more I think "elementary music teacher" then lunch room.  I think that isn't really a one-band instrument like I thought at first but like a home-made percussion stand.  It has the bells, blocks, and stuff to be hit with drum sticks.  Also, looks like a conga drum (can't really tell) in the back behind the recliner.  Was an interesting unit that is for sure.  I'll have to remember to take my camera in the morning to try and snap a picture of the units and crowd.

Greetings, all! Just found this forum.

The last auction I went to was on 8/5 in Massachusetts. It was at a moving company warehouse and the auctioneer's calendar noted 40 units up for auction. When we got there, there were actually 61 available. On a Friday morning, there were about 70 folks there. Before even going in, we knew this would be unusual: you could leave mattresses behind, if you found really junky stuff, you could break it up and add it to their dumpster and we'd have a month to get everything out.

We all trooped up the stairs to the 5th floor, where the first 20 units were. It was unbelievable. Every square inch of the place was jammed with furniture and boxes and pianos and mattresses. And it was junky looking. The "units" were marked off with yellow caution tape. I'd say a typical unit measured 15' x 30'. The only space to move around in was a tiny corridor with piles of furniture on either side.

The units were so crappy on that first floor and the setup was so creepy that it drove a lot of potential bidder away (yay!). Fortunately, on the lower floors, the quality of the stuff you could see improved quite a bit and we picked up a couple of units for decent money.

Because the warehouse only has one loading dock and freight elevator, we had to schedule a date and time to remove our goods. We have to wait until the 15th to actually get in there and take out all that stuff. I can't wait!

Today was my first auction.  I'll post a seperate thread with pictures if can in a few.   Before the auction owner of the place said his last sale at a different location had 60 registered bidders but only 3 actual bidders.  Today was 100+ people easy, I know 60+ registered bidders.  Only about a dozen of us bid.  I saw what I expect was 5 regulars.  One of which purchased 6 units...including the one I was interesed in.

Eighteen units went up for auction.  Value's seemed reasonable.  Highest unit went for $310.  Lowest was $1.

Another auction Thursday I'm going to try to attend during my lunch from main job.

This past week I had two large corporate facility auctions and one small independent facility auction. As I suspected the corporate facilities were slammed with people, and hardly anybody at the independent facility.

The first corporate auction early in the week had about 70 people average per location. Many newbies bidding and running the prices up. The newbs won most of the lockers.

The second independent auction had 12 people and 8 bidders. I won two lockers there.

The third corporate auction later in the week had about 40-60 people average per location. Bidding was about half & half between newbies & regulars. Prices were down some, about 10% on average from the previous months auction. I think a lot of the last hoard of newbies got thier butts kicked on the lockers they won. I won one locker.

There were two other auctions scheduled, but they were both canceled due to all units being paid up.

I have noticed a significant change in the group. I would say about half of the people I considered regulars about 6 months ago, no longer are attending auctions.

All in all, I won 3 lockers, a 10 x 20 1/8 full, a 10 x 15 1/2 full, a 5 x 10 stack out. Spent $535 for all three, and these look like some of the best lockers I have won based on initial investment and the quality of the merchandise found inside.

Friday, August 12, 2011...

Went to 2 of 4 auctions today by the same auctioneer; here;s the count:

"Bidders".......60; 5 regulars, 55 newbies.

Lkrs.....8 at each location; nothing special. I didn't bid on one due to quality and prices; a couple I would have bid on and won 7 months ago....today prices were double what I would pay.

Here's a pic of the crowd; some are still coming out of hallway door to the left out of frame.



Here are 3 pics of a pretty nice lkr with an "older" look; this one sold for $1,100 and plenty of us would have paid $500 or so for it.







Maybe next time? Getting a little discouraged !

500 is perfect and right on the mark of what I would of stopped at. why people are wanting to pay 1,100 is beyond me. I think it is they have to win regardless

  $ 1100.  ?  Evan if it want for  $ 500. a few years ago that would of been a $ 150.  locker if You took into account the dump runs and fees .

  $ 1100.  ?  Evan if it want for  $ 500. a few years ago that would of been a $ 150.  locker if You took into account the dump runs and fees .

And now you can see why my lkr purchases numbers have gone down from one a week to less than 3 a month. 

Went to an auction today and only two people showed up!  I scored the only unit, a 12'x30 Commercial unit for only $300.00!!!   Best unit I've had in 2-3 months!  I have noticed that the crowds are thinning, but not quite this much.......I think because of how far away it was and only being one locker, a lot of bidders decided not to "waste" their time.  I almost didn't go myself, but I'm damn glad I did now!  I'll try to post some pics up in the Treasure Chest over the next few days if I get some time.

That should prove to be an interesting locker.  Please post pics so I can drool.

Have one auction going to hit at lunch tommorow with 4 units up.  No pre-registration, no list of contents in paper or anything.  So it should be interesting.  Have a 3 facility auction run on Monday after work.  Still not sure if they are going to caravan it or if each location is just going to do their own thing.  They are not using an auctioneer and reserve right to refuse bids so we will see how it goes.  Will post an update later.

We'll due to work and all the lights my 10 mile drive to today's auction took me 25 mins.  So I missed the auction as it was in progresses with the gates closed by time I got there.  Was 4 units up for sale today.  Was a grand total of 5 people there.  So one of them was the guy selling the units and I think 3 bidders as the one lady and guy seemed to be together.  So no crowd at all.  Don't know if that is due to so few lockers, time of day, or what.  Nothing like the saturday auction.  Will have to see how next monday goes with the 3 different sales being at 4, 4:30, and 5.

Went to an auction Wed 8/17, a what a dissapointment. 17 lockers, 40 registered bidders and 12 totally crap lockers that went for $60-$125. Spent nearly 3 hours in the sun to watch people throw their money away. Only 2 really good lockers that a regular snapped up. Went to this facility in April for about same # of lockers and there were 15 bidders. That's 2 consecutive 40+ at weekday auctions for me. Caravan in 10 days with 131 units in the listing, will report on the crowd.

Small 3 facility caravan yesterday.  Had a good dozen to two dozen people.  Last facility had more then the first.  I'd say 80% of the people there were regulars.  Units went from $5 up to $550.  Not a bad day.  Will post details in a seperate thread.

Back from a 10 day vacation in Portland, OR area and back to work...with a vengence !

Three auctioneers split the crowd today to three cities and five auctions all spaced just 30 to 45 minutes apart, so decision time. So far looks like I made the best choice.

With a crowd of only 12 and 5 of those regulars, I got a 10 x 25 for $350 and it's LOOKING GOOD ! I'll start a separate thread later today and post some pics and a link to it here.

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Funny story at this auction. Last month a guy bought one for $1800 on contingency and it got paid up by former owner.
It came up again today and only a little bit of stuff had been taken out and the  same guy got it again for $900...HALF PRICE day !

More later.

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OK, here's the link to the lkr description and 16 pics...last 4 are special !

http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=1611.msg8360

congrats!