Storage Wars on A&E TV

On November 29th, 2010, posted in: Newsroom by 25 Comments

Are you a fan of any of these reality shows ?

American Pickers, Antiques Roadshow, Auction Kings, Pawn Stars ……

Well get ready for A&E’s newest series called STORAGE WARS premiering Wednesday,  December 1 on A&E at 10 pm. Evidence that storage auctions have now gone mainstream.

Sign up here for our => Storage Auction Mailing List

So now you know what happens to those who fail to pay their storage bills.

The Washington State self storage statue allows for the execution of a lien sale of all personal property for non payment of rent, fees and other charges incurred. The sale of personal property must be done in a commercially reasonable manner and a live bidding process is most typically the manner in which the sale is carried out. The process is not taken lightly by operators who face substantial legal risk if procedures are not followed strictly and requires numerous attempts and extended efforts to reach those who are contractually liable for renting the storage space. The whole process takes 60-90 days but ultimately these public auctions do happen.

From a storage operator’s perspective a tremendous amount of time and resources are dedicated toward trying to collect on delinquent accounts. With no idea of the storage unit’s contents or its “value” to the renter of the space, we cut our losses and endure the legal risk of executing the lien and sale of the property in order to get the unit cleaned out and back in to inventory. As operators we typically receive 20 to 30 cents on the dollar at auction.  

Sign up here for our => Storage Auction Mailing List

So it is these auction winners who are making a killing right?

There are those in the business who occasionally strike it rich but often times there is a good reason our customers have failed to respond to our numerous efforts to pay their outstanding balance. Quite simply, they owe more that the value of the contents and are less than straightforward about making good on their rental agreement commitment.

Remember these realities of playing the game

  • Bidders buy everything in the unit, including the garbage.  Veterans say: “Bid based on what you see, the rest is profit.”
  • Bids have ranged from as little as $1 to several hundred dollars or more.  
  • Look but don’t touch: Every bidder gets a chance to look in from the door, but no
    one can enter a unit.
  • Bidders pay the storage company by credit card or cash and must remove all contents immediately.
  • Some say the best items usually are stored in the back.

 

Do you have what it takes to play this high stakes game of cat and mouse?  If you’d like to be placed on our email auction bidder list please sign up here => Storage Auction Mailing List

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