I often speak on how a really good storage auction unit can change your life. Most people think I am talking about treasure and killer storage auction finds, which in some cases is true. A few units did change my life financially and I have students and folks who bought my books who have experienced the same thing! So yes it is possible but you will come across a “interesting” unit with greater frequency than the jackpot units.
If you want to understand my passion for storage auctions you will have to expanded your understanding I am a very curious person ( my mother calls me nosey) I have been that way since I was old enough to understand myself. The most salient thing about some killer units for me was the information and exposure to things in life I never knew about. Going through a unit is going through someones hopes, dreams, fears essentially you gain a myopic view of their life to me that is some hot shit!
The storage auction game broaden my scope and vertically increased my knowledge base on so many things that this world has to offer. Some of my hobbies and vacations spots would have never come about if it was not for the storage auction business. One the biggest storage auction influences I ever came across was Matty Stewart, he was many things, well read well traveled a sharp dresser incurable romantic and a criminal.
( names, dates, etc have been changed to protect my ass)
I won this unit early in my storage auction career. I remember the day so well I had just broke up a with my girl and I was in one those yeah it hurts but I am so glad that I made that move moment. Even had some extra pep in my step which was a sign it was the right thing to do. I was heading out earlier than normal and was eager to get to it. My hot sheet was full and there was some prime stuff around 2PM but you have to show up at as many auctions as you can to win in this game. You never know what you will see out there on the storage trail.
The day started off well I bought units at every stop and was damn near tapped out at the fifth location . Many of the lockers I won were going to make me three or more times my money thus the day was a stunning success at that juncture. Some nice rooms came up, but I held off knowing I would have to drop my last dime to have a chance. I had only $300 dollars on me and I was with the Clampetts, Snowball and some old timers that thought blowing money fast was good for a laugh.
We were on a Public Storage trail the next and final location on the run was in a crappy neighborhood many folks did not even go to this spot because it was known to produce copious amounts of trash. Which only left three bidders and six units Ma Clampett was tagging along and I knew if anything decent was there she was going to be on it. She was a hunchback but she was a persistent hunchback. As advertised the first four rooms were trailer park trashy one unit was full of dirty Elvis Presley memorabilia, Elvis definitely wanted to get the hell out of that room! The next room was not too shabby there was some Herman Miller Ethospace office cubicles everyone walked off! Ethospace is very expensive office furniture and rare, I saw hundreds of connectors which was the money! When you need a spare part to finish an installation you have to go to Herman Miller and it is always a grip! Anyone who worked with Ehtospace would buy this unit when connectors can cost you $250-$400 for just one! I bid a dollar and got 5K (that is what I sold it for) worth of office furniture I could not believe my luck I wondered could the day get any better!?
The last unit was nothing but boxes, moving boxes, liquor store boxes and bins and totes. No one seemed interested until I started bidding. For some strange reason I thought I was going to get that puppy for little or nothing. I opened at $1 and was getting ready to close it out then the evil hunchback came out of nowhere. Ma Clampett took a liking to the unit.
I was getting really sick of her shit and I knew I had some money making units on deck. This was a time to roll the dice it was more about fucking with her than actually getting the unit!
She bumped me to $25 and I went to $50 and she took it to a $100 I waited for a moment and hit it at $110 and she came back at $120 which told me I was going to get this unit and she was just running me up for sport. I hit it at $150 and she started laughing walking off shaking her head. This unit was a 10 x 20 and full from the Roota to the Toota! I knew I could not lose with the Ethospace unit on hand, I was thinking $2K when I got it and I did much better than that at $5k, so the hunchback running me up was not really a problem and honestly I was shocked she stopped bidding so soon.
I rented both of the units I got at the last stop I had no choice over the the course of that day I bought a total of 12 units from 5 x 5s to 10 x 20s I had a some heavy lifting to do for the next two weeks. Once I got a handle on my inventory I decided to see what was up with the box unit. I also had one of my furniture dealer folks come over to look at the Ethospace who made a decision to buy the whole stock from me in 5 minutes he wrote me a check on the spot and I gave him the key to the lock and the gate code. I knew this guy well, he was also very well off so there was no worries on the check.
Feeling flush and excited I decided to check out the box unit even if it was a turkey there was no way I was going to be upset. I had just made a killing on a unit and did not even have to move it! I was alone this day and I came in the van. It was still early and the heat had not started to boil and I had about two hours to investigate my unit. The first foot was nothing but household stuff dishes, curtains, pots, pans, flatware but very nice household stuff the drapes were silk at the time I did not know a lot about drapes other than they went over windows. Custom drapes are very expensive and these drapes curtains and drapes were extra nice my fist clue to what was inside. Which I discovered when I came back the next day. I really did not like sorting at the unit it draws too much attention.
When you are finding really good stuff, it gives you energy like Red Bull gives you wings good shit gives you juice. All of the pots were high end, the flat ware was from Pottery Barn this guy had very expensive taste. It went from good to gooder the first big fine was grand mother sterling silver flatware set from Tiffany and Co I knew it was expensive but when it went for $6200 on ebay I was floored! I think if I knew what I was doing back then I could have gotten more. There were many Baccarat crystal pieces in the unit about 140 from small cats to larger birds which is why there were six curio cabinets in the unit very nice mahogany glass front cases and that was the only furniture in the unit.
I think there were two units or more to add to the equation of Matty Stewart. There were pictures of the house and some of the pictures had the curios in them, the house was huge! Did the other units go up for auction? I inquired at the office but this was the only unit in his name in their system. that doesn’t mean that they did not rent units else where which is common, I have bought units from different storage facilities that belonged to one person. I named this guy Matty Stewart as a play on Martha Stewart because of his exquisite taste and attention to detail on everything he had in the home. I have never come across a straight guy with this type of tastes and color coordination before or since, he would put some gay guys to shame.
This unit contained the smalls, can you imagine a unit full of only smalls making $24K when it was said and done? The Matty Stewart was a collector on a grand scale! Currier and Ives Plates, Hallmark Christmas ornaments, Hummel plates and hundreds of pieces of art work it took me months to sell all of that stuff! The vast majority was in the $25-$150 range but it all added up to some very pretty pennies.
You would think that was the good stuff but it was far from it. Some of the smalls of this unit was letters, journals,court papers, tax forms and prison papers. This is when the real story of this unit emerged. Matty Stewart was arrested for burglary and forgery he spent 10 years in prison from his late 20s to late 30s. Either he stopped or he became more adroit at not getting caught! I often wondered if the stuff in the unit was from his criminal escapades there was so much high end stuff in that unit it still boggles my mind. I could have paid 10K for that unit and still made out very well!
Matty was cultured and refined he spoke three languages and was somewhat of a ladies man. There were many Hugh Hefner style photos in the unit with several very attractive women, what made them all so cool was there were in black and white very iconic. I think when I got his unit he was around seventy five if he was still alive, this man had a full life and it was really unclear what his business was that allowed him to live such a lavish lifestyle. There was more mystery than definition to this unit so many unanswered questions. This is one unit I have no ideal what happened to the owners.
He was an impeccable dresser and more than likely the life of the party as evidenced by his pictures and spicy letters to his love interests. I took a great deal from his letter writing capabilities dude could put it down on a woman in a letter, they were well shaped and lengthy 5-15 page letters in a slim even script that spoke of practice and consideration for the craft of penmanship ( I hated to give them back) I read those letters with abandon and I read them over and over, highly sexual and would have been shocking in content in his day! He inspired me to write again and here we are 10 years later it is what I do for a living, so in a word thanks Matty that is what I got out of that unit that you cannot put a price on and the money was not bad either!
Storage Auction Confessions © If Boxes Could Talk 2012
