Unscripted Show Delves Into The Competitive World Of Storage-Unit Auctions

Series Following Two Expert Auction Hunters Premieres

Tuesday, November 9 at 10:00 PM, ET/PT

NEW YORK, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ — Spike TV explores the cutthroat world of storage-unit auctions in the new unscripted original series, “Auction Hunters,” premiering Tuesday, November 9 at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.  Every day in America, there are over ten thousand abandoned storage units that are put up for public auction.  Each unit has the potential to be a goldmine or a bust for those who make their living hunting unclaimed property.

Amidst a struggling economy, the business of auction hunting has emerged as a thriving trade for many Americans.  “Auction Hunters” follows two of the best prospectors in the business, Clinton “Ton” Jones and Allen Haff, in their quest to win auctions, acquire abandoned treasure and sell it for a profit.  The series offers viewers a rare look into the high stakes, financial risks and potential rewards where the right purchase can bring in serious cash.

Allowed only a brief glimpse inside the units before each fast-paced auction begins, skill and strategy are paramount as our hunters have only seconds to estimate the value of the unit and determine how high they’re willing to bid to beat out the competition.  Once an auction is won, the story and true monetary worth of the unit emerges as Haff, a second generation antiques dealer and Jones, a gun, knife, sword and military paraphernalia expert, begin “the dig,” a process by which they literally dig into the contents of the unit and assess every single item within.  Sometimes, they find nothing but at other times, they score big, bringing home a trove of items for which prospective buyers around the country will pay top dollar.

“Auction Hunters” also follows our prospectors during “the sell” as they consult experts, establish value and ultimately scour the antique and collectible markets in search of buyers.  The show will focus mainly on items with great historical and cultural significance such as America’s first black powder revolver and a depression era slot machine.

“Auction Hunters” is an eight half-hour episode series produced by Gurney Productions, owned by Scott and Deirdre Gurney.  Credits include Animal Planet’s “I’m Alive” and Discovery Channel’s “I Was Bitten.”  Sharon Levy is Spike TV’s executive vice president, original series and animation, Tim Duffy is vice president of original programming for Spike TV and Joe Weinstock is director, original programming.

Spike TV is available in 98.6 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks.  A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at http://www.spike.com/press.

Orginal link- http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spike-tv-uncovers-a-hidden-treasure-with-new-original-series-auction-hunters-101491149.html

I was curious to see what was behind the door at a storage unit auction and curious about the prices that the storage units were bid up to. I also found out I’m not the only one who has experienced the ‘thrill’ of an auction.

I was determined to find one nearby so I didn’t waste gas if it was a bomb. I found a couple near my zip code when I went to the Auction Zip Locator; they have auctions for real estate, businesses, homes and storage units.

So what is a storage auction exactly?
“It’s a Treasure Hunt!! Self-store facilities are all over the country. People store their possessions when they’re moving or when they simply need more space. Businesses use self-store facilities as an alternative to renting warehouse space. Despite management’s efforts to collect rent, some folks simply don’t pay their bill and management must sell the contents of the unit to the highest bidder.”

On this day I got to see 3 of the large storage units put up for sale. The ad said it started at 11am and I got there about 10 minutes early, already about 25 people were there waiting – Families, friends and single men and women – a nice variety of young and old. Once the auction was to start, we had a good 3 dozen people ready to take a peek at what was left behind in the storage units.

While waiting I noticed a few tools of the trade:
1. Wear old clothes – If you win, you will be taking home dusty, greasy and sticky items.
2. Carry a big light – The lights most people had were handheld spotlights to see into the back of the units
3. Have a truck – Most who were bidding drove up with their trucks or had pull behind flatbeds to take the stuff home immediately

While waiting I wandered around and eaves dropped on the stories and tips being told by the experienced buyers.

One young lady in a baseball cap told a friend of hers about buying a unit for $500 that had a bunch of boxes in it and very large, filled black trash bags what she found was kind of interesting and I will come back to that later.

An older gentleman told a couple new to the storage auction experience, a few tips- the smaller units usually go for a couple hundred and the larger ones can go into the thousands. He also said that you can tell a possible good find based on the type of boxes used (thick, sturdy ones) and the way things are stacked in the unit if they person has valuable items.

Dax, the auctioneer, walked us to the first storage unit and laid down the ground rules:
1. Must pay Cash after the auction (plus tax)
2. Must clean out the unit in 24 hours
3. Can not go into the unit, only look in and can’t touch anything

After the rules were given out, they unlocked the unit and tossed open the door. Spotlights were clicked on and weaving and bobbing began as everyone peered into the unit to see as much as they could.

After a couple of minutes, auctioneer Dax, opened up the bidding at a low, but reasonable price.

Storage unit 1
This unit had a bed, box spring and mattress, a poker table, heavy plastic table and chairs and a washer and dryer in the back. The bidding started at $100 and we were off. Occasionally Dax had to stop and let people know they didn’t want to bid against themselves or help need to explain where in price the bidding was, but it all went smoothly. The unit sold for $325.

Storage unit 2
When the door flew open on this unit, people oohed and ahhed, a couple guys walked away bummed telling their friends, “This is out of my price range.” The unit had a 5 foot tall tool box, tools for woodworking, a gun safe was in the back, a couple of rifle cases sat beside it and stacked to the ceiling were boxes and boxes of thick, sturdy liquor boxes all neatly organized. This unit started off at $500 but jumped quickly to a couple thousand before the final two bidders fought over it, the storage unit was sold for $3600.

Storage unit 3
After the previous unit, people were excited to see the potential of the this unit. It wasn’t as spectacular, but was probably about average. This unit had a lot of furniture, large pieces and small, mostly wood. A few lamps scattered here and there and a very dusty mountain bike at the entrance. The bidding again started at $100 and ended in the 300 range.

The half hour went quickly and the experience was an enjoyable one , Dax Gillium of the ShurSuccess Auction Services had a congenial style that put us all at ease, both newbies and experienced bidders. It was a free and fun way to pass the time that I wouldn’t mind doing again.

I certainly don’t have a few thousand lying around to buy up self storage units as either a hobby or a resell business, but it was neat to see what was behind the doors. Which brings me back to the young lady in the baseball cap and what her $500 bought her.

After she bought the unit full of boxes and garbage bags, she and a friend looked through the boxes and found they all contained Avon supplies, Avon collectibles and samples. And what was in the garbage bags? Trash, every garbage bag had crumpled up newspapers, peanuts and Styrofoam. From what I overheard, it sounded like a bust as she recouped only a couple hundred on what she bought the storage unit for. Sometimes you come out a winner with something good and sometimes you lose.

Original article link- http://frugalforlife.blogspot.com/2009/04/experiencing-self-storage-unit-auction.html

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. — Elvis fans from across Chicagoland are bringing their checkbooks to Boyer-Rosene Storage in Arlington Heights this afternoon as the contents of seven vaults of memorabilia belonging to ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich are going on the auction block.

The storage company hasn’t received payments for the units in more than five years, and owner Joe Saverino says Blagojevich owes him in the “tens of thousands of dollars.”

Blagojevich has said he’s broke.

Click here to sign-up for Breaking News text alerts and you could win a $250 gift card at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse

Proceeds from the auction will benefit Children’s Memorial Hospital, which Blagojevich was accused of trying to shake down for campaign contributions.

The memorabilia included in the auction:
One life-size Elvis statue
An Elvis concert picture from when he played in the Civic Center Feb. 16, 1957
A guitar clock with Elvis on it
A poster of Elvis reading a book promoting American libraries
A framed picture of Napoleon
Newspaper articles of Blagojevich’s inauguration day
Boxes and boxes that are marked, “media”
Other items include dozens of boxes labeled, “tapes”, a Wrigley Field poster, and a box marked “Congressional Archives”.

The crates have been in storage at the warehouse since 2002, when Blagojevich was a state representative.

Side note- if you have shit in storage for almost a decade you really don’t need it!

Buy the Best book on Storage Auctions- Making Money A-Z with Self Storage Unit Auctions

Original article link here- http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/wgntv-blagojevich-possessions-auction-aug19,0,6083728.story

by Max Wong on 5 October 2009

This week I did an intervention on Sarah, one of my dearest friends. It wasn’t the first time. Over the last few years I have unsuccessfully attempted to get her to seek help for a problem that has cost her conservatively $48,000 and put financial and emotional stress on her family.

This week, after over five years of trying to manage her problem, she finally hit rock bottom. She once again had to borrow money from her family — this time to pay for her daughter’s healthcare. Sarah had $800 of the $900 doctor bill in the bank, but she’d already earmarked that money for the horrible monkey on her back. Sarah has a substance abuse problem — but not with drugs. Sarah has a problem with self storage.

Sarah used to have financial stability. But five years ago she made a major life change when she decided, at age 40, to adopt a child and become a single parent. Sarah sold her beautiful 3000 square foot home so she could afford to quit her high-powered job and be a stay at home mom until her daughter could start pre-school. She moved into a 1200 square foot apartment in a good school district. This was all part of a good, long term plan.

Unfortunately, she then made what became possibly the worst financial decision of her entire life: She put the 1800 square feet worth of possessions that didn’t fit into the apartment into self storage.

Using a technique that drug dealers use to reel in future customers, the storage company offered Sarah, the first time user, free product to ensure her loyalty. Convinced that she would be able to sell, donate or otherwise dispose of her extra stuff during the “First 30 Days Free Rent” period that her storage company offers to all new customers, Sarah moved her designer guest room furniture, her Christmas decorations, her art collection, etc into four of the cheapest storage units available.

“I’m just going to use this as a staging area to get organized,” she told me at that point in time. “That way, I’ll have four weeks to figure stuff out and won’t have to make any financial decisions about what to get rid of under duress.”

She never moved out.

Although she has plenty of very valuable things in storage, as we surveyed the contents of one of Sarah’s units earlier this week, she finally did the math. Even if she pulled everything out of the unit and set it on fire in the parking lot, it would still be a better financial decision than keeping it in storage for another month. 5 years x $200 a month per unit x 4 units = $48000. And that total doesn’t even account for the money spent on gasoline to get her to and from her storage or all the late fees she’s paid on other bills because she chose to pay her storage bill on time so her stuff wouldn’t be seized for non-payment. The phone company can turn off your service, but the storage company can auction off your dream diary, fake IDs, and herpes medication to the highest bidder.

Although Sarah’s situation may be the worst that I know of personally, she’s hardly alone. According to the Self Storage Association, 50% of storage unit renters are storing what won’t fit into their homes. 1 out of every 11 Americans rents storage.

Watching Sarah’s horrible journey has made me realize that, although self storage (like easy credit), can be beneficial to a percentage of the population, it’s a pact with Satan for many folks who don’t have an iron fist over their finances or excellent time management skills. Quite simply, it’s bad on several fronts.

Self storage is a bad investment
I called four different storage companies with units in my area of Los Angeles. The cheapest price for the smallest storage space, a 5 x 5 unit, in my neighborhood is $67 per month. The first month costs just a mere $1, but that’s not counting the one time only $22 “Administration Fee” that they’ll also tack onto the first 30 days.

Although all those numbers sound doable financially, if I rented this space, I’d be out a whopping $760 in the first 12 months, all to rent a space that’s the size of my laundry room. In other words, stuff that isn’t functional enough to put in my house and use every day would become more and more expensive with each passing year.

(On a side note, I had to hang up on three out of the four storage sales reps because I was getting such a hard sell, that they continued to demand my personal information even after I’d told them that their rental prices were beyond my budget.)

Self storage can lead to overconsumption
Self storage is like diet food for material goods. It fools the mind by fooling the eye. If your clutter isn’t visible in your house, do you really have a spending problem?

The first self storage facilities were built in Texas in the late 1960’s. It took 25 years to build the first one BILLION square feet of storage. But it took just eight years (1998-2005) to add the second billion. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average 1960’s home was 1200 square feet. In 2004 the average home had ballooned to almost twice that size to 2330 square feet.

Bigger houses are harder to fill up, which may explain why Americans buy twice the number of consumer goods than the citizens of any other first world nation. (Okay, so we’re a geographically huge country, but if we’ve got such big homes, why do we need an additional billion square feet of storage space?) The environmental cost of creating, transporting and finally housing two billion square feet of unused possessions is mindboggling.

Original article link- http://www.wisebread.com/5-ways-self-storage-units-are-more-sad-museums-than-savvy-solutions

The best storage auction book on the net!-Making Money A-Z with Self Storage Unit Auctions

This blog came to be because I had all of this knowledge rolling around in my head seeking a release! I needed to tell folks about life on the auction trail! Many interesting people and yes the rooms can talk!

When you are in the business you never tell what you really get out of those rooms, if people really knew the deal they would come out in droves! If you have the urge to get in the game check out the end of the post, there is a surprise for ya!

Wait! I am no longer an auction hound; if I were still in the game there is no way in hell that I would be telling you these secrets!

I spent the last seven years of my life being a junk man per my best brother Fred G Sanford by a good friend and a workaholic by my own admission. In short I am an entrepreneur that loves the challenge of starting and running a business.

I stumbled into this business completely by accident, I had a garage sale and it was over, I got hooked on selling used stuff and thus my introduction into the world of storage unit auctions.

I breathed and even dreamed about storage units ( yes it was that bad) in the course of doing this business I came across some new tricks that were beyond the regular and they enabled me to grow my income.

Once you become hooked on auctions it can become a very time consuming very quickly! Like any addiction there is a downside, my personal life went out of the window ( just found it in the last year) if I had it to do all over again know what I know now. I would not change a thing! There good was like a tidal wave on the north shore!

You can say the sun and moon came in perfect alignment for my latest venture, which is a lot of fun and it gives me time to do what love which is talk a lot of trash and I get to write about it! On the real, I always wanted to be a writer.

I have had this dream for a long time, however sometimes life gets in the way of dreams if you let it. So for the last eight years I have been either self employed or a business owner, yes, there is a difference!

Now that I am free I can share all of my techniques that I used to make it in the resale business. As I write this and look over the notes and old auction receipts, I recall just how much fun I had being in the storage auction business. There are so many stories; human nature is definitely stranger than fiction. Hop on you are in for a ride!

Regards,

Glendon Cameron

You can get my book on Amazon!!!!

A metal cutter slices through the sturdy padlock affixed to storage unit CC390 in the cold, dark basement of Harlem’s Tuck-It-Away self-storage facility.

An oversized Mickey Mouse plush toy is the only hint as to the contents of the newly revealed muddle of bags and boxes.

Auctioneer Dave Karmin starts the bidding at $10 as potential buyers train flashlights on the mysterious heap. It will all be sold because the person renting the locker stopped paying the monthly fee.

The rules are simple but strict, especially the restriction on rummaging through the contents before bidding begins. An auction winner must finish clearing out the contents of a locker within four business days.

“People show up thinking they might furnish their apartment, but they usually lose interest when they realize they have to take the lot,” Karmin said.

Lately, business has been brisk.

“The number of auctions we’re doing has gone up in recent months,” said Karmin, who organizes sales every couple of months at each of Tuck-It-Away’s 14 facilities citywide.

“We always try to work with the people who rent our units, but some say, ‘Have it,’ because they can’t afford it anymore. Others move on and we can’t get hold of them for payment.”

The boxes and bags in unit CC390 sold for $25 to one of just two bidders, both women, in a crowd of a dozen potential buyers. They chatted guardedly about making a full-time job of the treasure-hunting game at storage unit sales throughout the region.

“There’s a sale somewhere every week. I get e-mails from auctioneers or see ads in the newspaper. … It’s a cash business,” said one Bronx man who, like many buyers, didn’t want his name used. He wound up with the winning bid on the contents of several of 27 units for sale at about $100 each.

“You see the same guys all the time, but we keep a low profile because one guy got a gun pulled on him by the guy whose unit he bought,” the man said.

While there’s not a lot of glamour sorting through what often turns out to be old mattresses, bags of dirty clothes or piles of old magazines, buyers know what will sell.

“I have to dump a lot of garbage, but I’m looking for flat-screen TVs, DVDs, CDs, books, some vintage stuff. Electronics — if they work — and tools,” said a buyer from Queens. “This is how you support your family. I’ve gone to some really bad places and found good stuff.”

Others claim to have struck gold, literally.

“I’ve found gold jewelry and foreign and American coins, but I’ve also found a dead person’s ashes,” said a buyer who’s been working the scene for almost two decades.

“Lately it’s started getting tough because there’s more competition, so prices are getting higher,” he said. “I sell mostly at flea markets and second-hand stores, but eBay’s turned the world into a bunch of sellers.”

gsalamone@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/06/22/2009-06-22_abandoned_storage_locker_contents_up_for_sale_what_can_you_get.html#ixzz0wz90Hp19

Storage Auction eBook-Making Money A-Z with Self Storage Unit Auctions

Original link- http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/06/22/2009-06-22_abandoned_storage_locker_contents_up_for_sale_what_can_you_get.html

Q&A with Glendon Cameron a

Storage Auction Addict!

Q&A with Glendon Cameron a Storage Auction Addict! by CJ

Imagine if you could invest $1 and make $62,000.

Welcome to Glendon Cameron’s world. Cameron is a self-proclaimed self storage auction addict who turned his addiction into an extremely profitable business.

Cameron, who lives in Atlanta, started attending storage auctions in 2002, and as he puts it, he “got the bug” right away. He started part-time and then made buying abandoned storage units his full-time job, buying as many as 50 units a week.

Cameron quit the auction game last year and turned his attention to educating others on what it takes to make money buying and selling other people’s stuff. Heblogs and has YouTube videos about his odd (and often ridiculously funny) experiences. He also teaches webinars, and wrote a book, Making Money A-Z With Self Storage Auctions.

In our Q&A with Cameron, he shares some of his more interesting experiences (that could be the premise of a good sitcom) and what it takes to make it in the storage auction biz.

Q: What made you start going to self storage auctions?

A: It’s kind of funny. I used to own a contract furniture business, and I had a lot of customers who wanted residential furniture. So I went out to a few estate sales for one of my customers to really round out her reception area the way she wanted it. At the end of the project, I had a lot of stuff left over.

So I had this huge garage sale and it was amazing, we made $1,300 in like four hours. So I kind of got hooked and started looking for a way to buy used merchandise because people were crazy about it, and I started going to storage auctions.

Q: What made you decide that you could turn storage auctions into your own business?

A: Initially, it was really part time. It was fun, and it was more about treasure hunting than actually the profit margin. The money was nice. The money was great. It’s the best part-time job I’ve ever had in my life, but you never know what you’re going to find. You open up a box, and there’s a pocket watch. You open up a box, and there’s a diamond ring. You open up a box, and there’s a bag of broken gold. It was always something pretty much every unit, unless the unit was total garbage.

Q: How many auctions a year would you go to?

A: I’m a nerd, so I sat down from the beginning and mapped out where all the auctions were. I probably went to anywhere from nine to 15 auctions a week, probably 300 to 400 auctions a year.

Q: How many did you actually purchase?

A: In the beginning, probably buying anywhere from three to five per week, and when we had the merger operation, 25 to 50 a month, depending on what our needs were and what we had or didn’t need. I know one month, it was crazy, I bought 63. That’s the most I’ve ever bought in one month.

Q: How many people did you have working for you?

A: Initially, the first year I had a partner and we did everything together the first year. After that, it just became really overwhelming and I had to hire people. I pretty much outsourced loading and outsourced a lot of stuff, but actual on the payroll employees, two, and everything else was outsourced.

Q: How do you know when you want to win a unit?

A: We have an operation and we have a lot of different clients, so there are certain things we are looking for. It just depends on what you see when the door goes up. I’ll give you an example: let’s say it’s a tool unit. We didn’t have a lot of people in the beginning that were really crazy about tools. So even though it was a really good unit, I wouldn’t buy it, because that wasn’t my customer base.

It just depends what was in there, and you can see the clues, but until you get in there and you start pulling it out, you really don’t know if you have a great unit or not.

Q: What are the keys to winning a storage auction?

A: Oh man. There’s several. Be there. It depends on how much money you have. There’s not one key. The best unit I ever got cost me $1, and I made $62,000, and there was a crowd there. It’s wild.

I have people who come to my webinar, and they’re like, ‘Well, I need a lot of money.’ I say at some point, you will, but if you’re willing to do the groundwork, you can make decent money until you get your operating capital to a certain level. Because I’ve bought units ridiculously cheap – $10 or $20 – and I’ve made anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000. I think one of the reasons I was so successful with it was I bought a lot of rooms. A lot every month. The numbers were in my favor.

Q: What was in that $1 unit?

A: He was a developer, an old-time Atlanta developer. And I don’t think he put the stuff in there, I think his kids put it in there, because it was from his estate. And it was a safe, an old safe, and the safe you could tell was probably 1940s or 1950, and there was a brass bed, a roll-top desk and a few boxes with papers and stuff. The safe had a proof Krugerrand, a diamond necklace, several really distinct type pieces of jewelry, three guns (a Beretta, Colt 45 and a Dillinger), some old coins, Morgan silver dollars, a bunch of Kennedy silver dollars, a Walking Liberty.

I mean the coins got 10 grand – not counting the Krugerrand – the coins got 10 grand by themselves. And I could have made more if I was wiser, because I sold them at a coin store. Three years later, I looked up some of that stuff, and if I knew what I was doing, I probably could have made $20,000 off those coins.

But the thing is, I rationale that it cost me $1. So it’s not like I lost. That’s one of the things that I speak about, because a lot of people have what I call holditis. They’ll wait to get that right price, but sometimes that can be kind of short-sighted, because if you paid only $300, and you can make a $1,000 on a unit in a week, why not? Each day that you hold onto it, you’re losing money, because you have to store it, you’ve got to move it – depending on what your operation is.

Q: What’s the most you’ve ever spent to win an auction?

A: I bought two units from a nice estate for $6,200 for the both of them. Now I wasn’t at this auction, but I know a guy – we used to be friends – he paid $13,000.

Q: How much of a profit would you make per year?

A: My profit margin was 72 to 78 percent. The expenses were running 20 to 25 percent. It was huge compared to traditional businesses; most traditional businesses, they’ll do single-digit profit margin – maybe 12 percent. Thirty percent is considered outrageous – say a Fortune 500 company – so the market was pretty good. It was great. It allowed me to not have to work for a year when I got the book written. I was just living on savings, and I don’t know too many jobs where I could save that type of money.

Q: What’s the most expensive item you’ve ever come across in a unit?

A: The unit with Herman Miller chairs. They’re 800 bucks. Back then they were going for $1,200, and I bought a unit that had 50 of them in there.

Q: Most interesting unit you ever purchased?

A: I’d say that was probably the Madam. I had no idea. If these guys knew what kind of information she had on them, I think they would reconsider. If she wanted to nail them to the wall, she could have. She had that much information, just stuff that you would not think would happen in that type of transaction.

I have never done that type of stuff, but I was just amazed. And she was a little bit of a nutcase. I think she had psychological issues and there was some other stuff. She didn’t have a really good relationship with her mother. She was a beautiful girl. That was the strange thing about it. Her thing was she liked a lot of attention and she liked a lot of money, and I think it was borderline psychotic. I don’t think one man could have given her as much attention as she craved.

If she’s not the most interesting one, she’s top 10. It’s hard. There are so many, but a lot them are really, really interesting. I found a lot of units where you get in there and there’s six boxes, a few pieces of furniture and that’s it – not too much interest there. But I’ve gotten a lot where their whole life story was in there. But I’m going to say the Madam.

Q: Have these auctions become more popular in recent years?

A: Every year more and more people come out and last year was probably the biggest increase. It was economy-driven. People were looking for other sources of income, so people started digging, and going forward, I think this is pretty much going to explode. There’s three reality shows coming on this fall or at some point this year. I fully expect my book sells to skyrocket, once that first show hits. People will go around and start looking and they’ll find me.

Q: What made you decide to go into the teaching/advising business and get out of the auction business?

A: I’ve always had this ambition to be a writer, and I did a little research and fiction is really hard right now. Publishing companies are not giving out the advances they used to give out. Several friends are writers, well-known writers, and they used to get the nice advances. They’re not getting that anymore. Between Amazon and WalMart, they’re really, really making it hard for a writer to make a full-time living.

I looked at business books, and those guys are getting great advances, and they were still doing pretty well. Because someone that buys a business book or a motivation book, they’re looking to make money or get motivated to make money. It doesn’t matter how bad the economy is, people are going to buy those books. So I decided to go with the nonfiction business stuff first and write the fiction stuff later. I was a little bit taken aback by some of the emails I get and all the attention. Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of starting that project. I did my first YouTube video Aug. 3 last year, and it’s picking up. Every week I’m selling more and more eBooks. I’m selling more books, so the word is getting out.

I think in the next two to three years, this is going to skyrocket, because I have a lot of students across the country. There are people in markets where they have no competition. I have one guy – I can’t tell you where he is – but he is the only game in town and he went from no money to pretty much $8,000 to $10,000 a month net profit within six months. He bought the book and then once he started making the money, he took the webinar.

It’s not for everyone. It’s not easy and it’s a lot of hard work, but if you put in your time and money into it, you can make money. How much? It depends on a lot. It depends on what city you are in. It depends on your access to auctions. I’ve met guys from California who are just going crazy. There’s like an auction somewhere in California nearly every day – six days a week and sometimes they have them on Sunday.

I think it’s going to be a growth industry. There’s about 56,000 storage facilities across the United States. If each one of those facilities had two or three rooms a month every month, that’s like 180,000 auctions across the country. Some places are going to have more; some places are going to have none, but we’re talking millions of rooms that go up for auction every year. And no one really knows about it. It’s such a niche, cottage industry. That’s a lot of stuff being sold every year.

http://www.storagefront.com/therentersbent/qa-with-glendon-cameron-a-storage-auction-addict

Buy my ebook! -Making Money A-Z with Self Storage Unit Auctions

[05.18.10 - 08:26 AM]

SPIKE TV GREENLIGHTS NEW ORIGINAL SERIES “AUCTION HEROES”
Released by Spike TV
[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]
SPIKE TV GREENLIGHTS NEW ORIGINAL SERIES “AUCTION HEROES”

Unscripted Series To Follow Two Enterprising Friends Who Find Riches In The Competitive World Of Storage-Container Auctions

Spike TV Also Announces New Pilot, “Wild Animal Repo”

NEW YORK, May 18, 2010 – Forget playing the stock market. Storage-container auctions are a place for high-stakes financial risks and rewards where the right purchase can bring in serious cash. Spike TV has announced it will go into production with a new series showcasing two business-savvy friends who make their fortune by purchasing storage containers at these auctions and re-selling the contents for a profit at pawn shops. This world is as cutthroat and angst-filled as Wall Street, where only the most brazen can turn someone’s unclaimed goods into treasure.

“A century ago it was the gold rush or the search for pirates’ buried treasure,” said Sharon Levy, Spike TV’s executive vice president, original series and animation. “In 2010, storage container auctions are the new frontier for uncovering riches. And the stars of “Auction Heroes” will show the audience just how you can strike it rich by outsmarting the competition.”

Spike TV has ordered eight half-hour episodes. Cast and airdate will be announced at a later date.

Produced by Gurney Productions, Spike TV will have unprecedented exclusive access to one of the country’s largest storage facility chains. “Auction Heroes” follows two of the most successful guys in this underground business as they travel across the country hoping to make a living on the “storage bin auction” circuit. These abandoned storage bins can be hiding everything from prized valuables to priceless artifacts, some worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Allowed only a peek inside the unit using flashlights, both skill and technique come into play as our heroes analyze everything from the type of lock on the container to the thickness of the dust on the boxes. How does the unit smell? What’s written on the boxes? Where did these items come from? How long have they been sitting here? All these questions will help to determine whether the contents contain trash or treasure and how much the guys will bid.

Gurney Productions is owned by Scott and Deirdre Gurney whose credits include “I’m Alive” for Animal Planet and “I Was Bitten” for Discovery Channel.

Spike TV also announces a new special, “Wild Animal Repo.” In the one-hour show, Scott Lope (Animal Planet’s “2009 Hero of the Year”) puts his life on the line as he rescues extraordinary, wild, and endangered creatures from unfit owners, illegal trade, and harmful environments. No animal is too dangerous or too forgotten for Lope as he works with law enforcement teams from around the world to rescue tigers, lions, alligators, chimpanzees, wolves and many more all with the goal of finding them a worthy home. Viewers will follow Lope as he plans the rescue and outlines all the risks, and ultimately, follow him and his team on the mission. Jay Blumenfield and Tony Marsh of The Jay and Tony Show Productions serve as executive producers, along with Tom Forman. Date and time will be announced shortly.

Sharon Levy is Spike TV’s executive vice president, original series and animation, Tim Duffy is vice president of original programming for Spike TV and Joe Weinstock is director, original programming.

Spike TV is available in 98.6 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com.

Buy my ebook! -Making Money A-Z with Self Storage Unit Auctions

original link-http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2010/05/18/spike-tv-greenlights-new-original-series-auction-heroes/20100518spiketv01/

History Channel About to Unveil Storage Wars

By Kim KilpatrickJune 30, 2010 1:41 PM

The History Channel is preparing to debut a new reality show this fall — and it will be about storage. The show, called Storage Wars, will focus on what happens to the contents of a storage unit if it is abandoned by its owners. It is being developed by Thom Beers, who previously produced reality shows Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers. Beers hopes that Storage Wars will follow in the footsteps of other hit new reality tv shows, like Antiques Roadshow, American Pickers, and Pawn Stars.

Yesterday, the show’s cast and crew arrived at Safeguard Self Storage in Victorville, California, where 25 units had been abandoned by the tenants who originally rented them. The crew filmed the process of opening the units to see what was inside, as Safeguard’s manager, Sean Hofmans, dramatically cut the locks off the units. “I cut the locks off in front of everybody,” Hofmans explained in yesterday’s Victorville Daily Press. “It becomes a surprise what’s in it.”

Surprise seems to be the element that makes a reality show succeed. The idea behind Storage Wars is that every abandoned unit has its own story — and the contents of the unit may tell that story. In some cases, the contents of the unit, bought at an auction by people hoping to resell the items in secondhand stores and at garage sales, can turn out to contain a treasure that may have long ago been forgotten about.

The other element of the show that makes it so compelling in a recession is the back story, of people finding creative ways to supplement their income after losing a job, or when the income from a 40-hour per week job is not enough to support a family. The host of HGTV’s Cash in the Attic (a similar show which is currently on hiatus), John Sencio, noted how the recession had affected viewership of his show. “Before the recession, it was about families raising money for luxury items like hot tubs,” he said in USA Today last February “But that morphed into something more practical — like raising money for a new stove.”

The History Channel has already had some success with related reality shows, such as American Pickers and Pawn Stars. Those shows, which feature people who are down on their luck and looking for ways to make a little money, get more than four and a half million viewers every week. Originally based on PBS’ hit series, Antiques Roadshow, both are among the top 10 most-watched shows in cable television.

“Not all of us are going to hit the lottery, but all of us have something laying around the house,” commented media analyst Shari Anne Brill in USA Today this February. “The beauty of these shows is they can help you assess if the junk you have is actually worth something.”

Buy my storage auction ebook here!