posted on January 1, 2001 05:27:30 PM new
Reston_Ray- Oh DUH, I thought it over for a second and realized your name probably says it all!! I lived in Springfield briefly, had some great friends in Reston too.
posted on January 1, 2001 06:18:28 PM new
I went to one last fall where when the door was opened there were dead roaches all over the floor and it had a real vinegary sour smell. She could not even get a $1.00 bid on that one.
But at the same auction I saw a fellow get a Chevy van that was in nice shape - not all rusted for $375.00 It was a work van with no windows and we were all wondering if there was anything good in it?
If you see something that you don't need and would be hard to sell - don't forget you can donate it to charity. I bought a unit that was mostly fast food containers by the case.
Hot dog containers of foam and the snap shut salad containers. I donated them all to the local meals on wheels and got a write off for my taxes.
posted on January 1, 2001 09:04:43 PM new
Reston, VA - 20ish miles west of DC.
No bodies found and it may be an urban legend but I do seem to remember some police stories on TV about "longterm missing people" being found in storage units. I have found a few lots of pictures of bodies (quite live and very pretty).
The money finds have been limited. Mostly large jars of change but it exceeded the unit bid price.
Small businesses and contractors often use units, go broke, and walk away from some great stuff. The most interesting one I've even seen was a very large unit (?12 X 24) with a car, fully packed and every sq. foot filled (think moving van with nothing boxed) with everything from a small house. Guy cleared over $12,000 on the buy but it took a lot of work, 3 or 4 trips of a big truck and he dumped a lot of stuff at auction.
Take some business cards. People who attend auctions, often during the middle of the day and week, are different but a great addition to your business network. They will often also sell you part of the unit's items right then and there.
posted on January 1, 2001 09:57:48 PM new
last night I was talking everything over with my boyfriend and he says that he's heard of people in this area who've won storage unit auctions & found them full of brand new movie equipment- cameras, lenses, gels, grip stuff, etc. eureka!! He said he also knew of someone who won a motorcycle, among other things, in a storage unit auction.
sounds like it could be really addicting- I mean, aside from the amount of work involved, aren't your odds way better than they would be in Vegas? since most people aren't going to pay to store absolute junk.
good advice about the business card thing, reston ray!! You never know when you'll meet a good connection.
gosh, back when I was accepting paydirect I remember there would be times when all my customers would pay that way and I wouldn't have cash on hand to ship anything out- but then I'd resort to rolling change and taking it to the post office to pay for shipping. I'd say a change jar is a godsend, whether you've accumulated it yourself or won it in an auction. Sounds like a good find to me!!
posted on January 2, 2001 06:46:32 AM new
CAGrrl -
Cats are more a problem with garagesd and backyard storage ... they will wander in if you are removing stuf and if they don't bolt out the door wehen you come back, will get locked in. One of my cats spend al;most a week locked in the neighbors garage.
And just pay CASH for the stuff so the big ugly dudes don't come after you.
