Great debate with a storage facility owner on S.B.690 of the TX. Property Code.

This was a topic at the last Public storage auction here in TN. What the TN state manager said was that they would start using the internet.
If someone thinks that they can make money off of it, then you are wrong. Public storage will use their own website for this matter, along with the newspaper. For Public storage it was a fact that they would not stop posting ads in the papers even if they could do it online.

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Default Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
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THe TSSA is an association, of course they are going to promote any legislation that lowers the costs to its' members. I expect them to do that.
Hurlco, I find everything in Red to be true. You think like me.
I don't now if that is a good or bad thing???
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Default Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
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Where is this stat from? In our area and some other metro areas the online version of the paper is a subscription service.
Same here. I can normally only see the headline or yesterdays news online.
Funny thing is, my dad is a truck driver. When he is gone for a few days or even weeks, he will read the paper from every day he was gone. When I visit I always laugh at him and tell him it is no longer news it is history.
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Red face Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
Of course auction attendance varies depending on your location. Lately, in the Houston area, units have been selling for double or even triple what they were selling for before the storage auction shows premiered.

We are in direct contact with our members who are actually out there attending auctions. Just yesterday, a new member told me he recently attended an auction with over 150 people there. He said the units sold so high that the buyers would lose money when they try to resell the contents. People see these shows and assume they are going to get rich. People are buying based on the mystery of what the unit could have in it and units are selling for a premium. You and I both know that most units contain common household items, furniture, appliances, clothing, remnants of a business or even just plain trash. The record number of buyers attending auctions caused our new member to seek our service because we list auctions that cannot be found on any other website, typically resulting in fewer buyers in attendance.

Before I dedicated myself entirely to our service, I was out there in the field buying between 5-9 storage units per week. I was doing great until the storage auction shows premiered, then then crowds pushed units so high that there was no room for profit. I got so frustrated and I knew that I had to get off the beaten path and find the storage auctions that few others knew about. I spent months building a database of over 1400 storage facilities in our area and calling every facility. It was a lot of work but my effort paid off. What I originally intended for private use became what houstonstorageauctions.com is today.

Surely, you have seen an increase in numbers of buyers calling your facility seeking auction information. I would be willing to bet that at the next auction you have, the crowds will have doubled and that you won't lose money on any unit, unless the contents are just garbage.

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Default Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
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Of course auction attendance varies depending on your location. Lately, in the Houston area, units have been selling for double or even triple what they were selling for before the storage auction shows premiered.

We are in direct contact with our members who are actually out there attending auctions. Just yesterday, a new member told me he recently attended an auction with over 150 people there. He said the units sold so high that the buyers would lose money when they try to resell the contents. People see these shows and assume they are going to get rich. People are buying based on the mystery of what the unit could have in it and units are selling for a premium. You and I both know that most units contain common household items, furniture, appliances, clothing, remnants of a business or even just plain trash. The record number of buyers attending auctions caused our new member to seek our service because we list auctions that cannot be found on any other website, typically resulting in fewer buyers in attendance.

Before I dedicated myself entirely to our service, I was out there in the field buying between 5-9 storage units per week. I was doing great until the storage auction shows premiered, then then crowds pushed units so high that there was no room for profit. I got so frustrated and I knew that I had to get off the beaten path and find the storage auctions that few others knew about. I spent months building a database of over 1400 storage facilities in our area and calling every facility. It was a lot of work but my effort paid off. What I originally intended for private use became what houstonstorageauctions.com is today.

Surely, you have seen an increase in numbers of buyers calling your facility seeking auction information. I would be willing to bet that at the next auction you have, the crowds will have doubled and that you won't lose money on any unit, unless the contents are just garbage.
You have been very gracious and patient Houston Storage Auctions as we have challenged your position. I for one would use your website if I were in the Houston area and you have made many many very good points here.

Good luck with your website!!!
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Default Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
I greatly appreciate that. It has been quite a challenge and I hope to contribute substantially to this forum on future subjects. You sir, have been a delightful adversary! LOL
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Default Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
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I greatly appreciate that. It has been quite a challenge and I hope to contribute substantially to this forum on future subjects. You sir, have been a delightful adversary! LOL
Your welcome my friend. Just a thought, you could hire or subcontract out to a notary licensed in Texas to print an ad when it is published on the website. The notary would issue an affidavit that he/she verified that the ad was published on the date indicated and would send the affidavit to the facility. Of course the facility would pay a fee for this service. This would satisfy the anal retentives such as myself and others. Now that is a service that noone else provides.
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Default Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
Very interesting. I didn't realize that this service isn't offered standard with the paid newspaper advertisement. The main business newspaper in Houston, normally sends out a copy of the advertisement when runs. I'm not quite sure if they offer notarized copies of the advertisement.

What do you typically receive from the newspaper you use when you run an advertisement? What do they typically charge you for it?

It is a great idea, and we are constantly looking for ways to improve our service. Our service providing low cost legal notices for storage facilities is still in the planning phase because it is all dependent on S.B690 becoming law. I have a good feeling that the bill will pass because it was uncontested in the first hearing. We are optimistic and prepared to accommodate this change in the notification process.

Also, if there is a Notary Public who lives in the Houston area and would be interested in partnering with Houston Storage Auctions on the above mentioned task, please contact me at [email protected]

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Default Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
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Very interesting. I didn't realize that this service isn't offered standard with the paid newspaper advertisement. The main business newspaper in Houston, normally sends out a copy of the advertisement when runs. I'm not quite sure if they offer notarized copies of the advertisement.

What do you typically receive from the newspaper you use when you run an advertisement? What do they typically charge you for it?

It is a great idea, and we are constantly looking for ways to improve our service. Our service providing low cost legal notices for storage facilities is still in the planning phase because it is all dependent on S.B690 becoming law. I have a good feeling that the bill will pass because it was uncontested in the first hearing. We are optimistic and prepared to accommodate this change in the notification process.

Also, if there is a Notary Public who lives in the Houston area and would be interested in partnering with www.houstonstorageauctions.com on the above mentioned task, please contact me at [email protected]

Currrently, newspapers of "general circulation" have a notary on staff that cuts out various ads published in the legal notices section, notarizes them and pastes them to a form typically entitled "Proof of Publication." This cost of this service is simply builit into the ad rates that newspaper legal departments charge. Most States have this requirement (publication in a newspaper of general circulation) and therefore most facilities use publications that can give us this proof. This comes in handy if the facility owner is sued. If a suit is commenced, we simply find our proof of pubication or we can get one from our local country recorder or newspaper.

If a self storage facility wanted "proof" of publication on your website, you could provide this service. This would be the best of all worlds, a better advertising medium AND legal proof if needed.

For a notary willing to participate, this is easy money since the work can be done anytime and from any internet connection. An enterprising notary could keep the cost low and still provide a valuable service. This would make your website truly a replication of the now, archaic newspaper legal advertising department.
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Default Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
Hey, just one more thing. Publication has been an integral part of common law and statutes for over 150 years. Even in Texas, the statutes usually provide that publication may be proven by the affidavit of the publisher. If this method is not prescribed by statute, then, in most states, publication may be proven by competent evidence.

Here's my point: Wouldn't it be nice if the new Texas statutes actually prescribed that "Owner may publish an advertisement of the sale on a pubic website, or a newspaper of general circulation, published in the judicial district where the self service storage facility is located if the publisher of either provides an affidavit of publication indicating the tenants name, unit number, time and date of the sale." or some similar wording to this effect.

By the way, I mistyped county in the above post, sorry.....
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Default Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
[QUOTE

By the way, I mistyped county in the above post, sorry.....[/QUOTE]

No problem, but for future reference, that's what the edit button is for. Just kidding. That's good advice and I will try to figure out a way to incorporate it into our service. Our biggest obstacle is getting facility owners to open-minded about this change. Obviously, our service will have a lower cost than a newspaper advertisement and will target storage auction buyers directly; However, facility owners that have been using the same method for years may choose to stay with the traditional forms of notification. Our goal is to inform them of the benefits of advertising their auction via a public website and allow them the choice that represents their best interest. I feel that, when all of the benefits are considered, storage facilities in Houston will want their auction to be advertised on a website that unites storage facilities, auctioneers & storage auction buyers. The storage auction buyers would only have to look in one source and the storage facilities would save money and be confident that their auction advertisement was seen by a targeted market. It is a win win situation for everyone.

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Default Re: If S.B. 690 becomes law, will it cause more confusion than the current system?
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[QUOTE

By the way, I mistyped county in the above post, sorry.....
No problem, but for future reference, that's what the edit button is for. Just kidding. That's good advice and I will try to figure out a way to incorporate it into our service. Our biggest obstacle is getting facility owners to open-minded about this change. Obviously, our service will have a lower cost than a newspaper advertisement and will target storage auction buyers directly; However, facility owners that have been using the same method for years may choose to stay with the traditional forms of notification. Our goal is to inform them of the benefits of advertising their auction via a public website and allow them the choice that represents their best interest. I feel that, when all of the benefits are considered, storage facilities in Houston will want their auction to be advertised on a website that unites storage facilities, auctioneers & storage auction buyers. The storage auction buyers would only have to look in one source and the storage facilities would save money and be confident that their auction advertisement was see by a targeted market. It is a win win situation for everyone.[/QUOTE]

Though I am a strict constructionalist from a legal perspective, I think website advertising is a much better forum. The real beauty of website advertising is the centralization that it provides plus, you can publish pictures of the units, an inventory of the contents if desired, an "auctioneers rating", i.e., A, B, C or D as an example, a google map of the facilities location, rules of the sale, etc., etc., etc., something you cannot do with a newspaper ad. Storage owners are like kids watching another kid ride down the hill first. Once they realize that there is no real danger, they then embrace the thrill of the ride.

Keep it up, you will be successful at this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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What the heck happen!?!?!?!?! Did we get hijacked by another forum or something??

Mr. Anderson, I believe Public Storage makes its auction advertising decisions on a district basis. For example, in Houston, Public Storage has several districts. Each of these districts have their own manager who calls the shots on when and where the legal notice is placed. We have spoken with Public Storage corporate and although nothing has been confirmed yet, we have received requests for additional information on our service. We would like to be the exclusive provider of Public Storage auction information in the greater Houston and surrounding areas. Our goal is to attract Public Storage & U-Hual by providing our resources at a low cost. We could save each of these two companies over 100K a year in advertising costs on their Houston based facilities.

Perhaps our goals are a bit lofty but no company has ever succeeded by being pessimistic.   

Mr Anderson, has TN. passed a law allowing online notification of storage auctions or is you state currently drafting legislation?