Category - Frequently Asked Questions

Emily recently asked the following question:

Hi, I'm trying to understand how all of this works. Since you guys seem to know what some of the lockers have inside, does this mean the storage facilities have already gone through the lockers and they could have taken out items they wish to keep for themselves?

Emily,

Storage facilities in the state of Texas are required to provide a brief description of the contents of the storage unit in the legal notice that they have published. Some storage facilities choose to ignore this as they do some of the other requirements in Chapter 59 of the Texas Property Code, but we won’t get into that at this time.

Once the storage facility has made several attempts to contact the tenant for payment, with no success, they will cut the lock and usually inventory the contents of the storage unit based on what they can see from the door. Very rarely do they ever move things or open boxes.

Should you be worried about this? Not really. Most storage facility managers & owners are very honest and respectable people. I’m sure there are a few bad apples, as there is in any business, that do enter the unit and remove the valuables before the auction. However, if you are only bidding on what you can see from the door, what may have been removed from the unit will not effect you.

I hope this answers you question and alleviates your concerns.

Most large cities have multiple smaller cities and towns within them and most of them have their own local newspaper. Subscribing to and reading them all every day isn't an option. Don't worry though, we have you covered. At AuctionsTX.com, we provide a comprehensive list of every storage auction occurring within Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin and their surrounding areas.

Over half of the storage facilities in these areas don't advertise in the large, mainstream newspapers due to the cost or because they are located in a suburban or rural area and aren't in the newspaper's coverage area. These other storage facilities typically place their public notices in  smaller newspapers located within their immediate area. Public notices placed in these local newspapers typically get less exposure, resulting in fewer bidders attending the event. These are the auctions you want to go to because when there is less competition, chances are you will be able to buy a unit at a better price.

So, how can you tell which storage auctions were advertised in smaller, local newspapers?

In our auction list, we highlight all auctions that weren't listed in the mainstream newspapers in bold print.

AuctionsTX.com is the only service which provides a comprehensive schedule of every self storage auction in Houston, Texas and the surrounding area. It lists over 300 storage auctions every month including over 40 auctions that you cannot find on any other website. 

If you are a sucker for punishment, you can get storage auction information through several other sources.

There are handful of companies which provide storage auction listings on a national level; However, they fail to list over 85% of the auctions in our area. These companies are a waste of money.

There is a local business newspaper which lists about half of the auctions occurring in our area; However, the information they provide is incomplete and often contains mistakes. This business newspaper only lists the auctions of the storage facilities that pay them to publish their legal notices. Although they claim to publish notices for 99% of all storage facilities in the greater Houston and surrounding areas, over 700 storage facilities do not advertise with this publication. This is where AuctionsTX.com picks up the slack. It supplies every storage auction that this business newspaper furnishes in addition to the auctions from the other 700 + facilities.

There are also a handful of auctioneers in our area that provide storage auction information on their websites. The storage auctions listed on the auctioneer's websites are basically the same listings found in the business newspaper mentioned earlier. They can be good resources for auction information involving the larger storage companies but, expect a crowd.

If you have a lot of spare time, you can call the storage facilities and most will be happy to provide information on their storage sale. There are also over 40 smaller local newspapers that you can find public notices in. The problem with this is the cost to subscribe to all of these smaller local publications would be hundreds of dollars every month. Even if the cost weren't an issue, it would require you to spend hours every day researching & organizing all of the legal notices.

If you are new to the storage auction scene, allow me to give you some advice that will save you a great deal of time and money. If you are an experienced storage auction buyer, you already know what I'm about to tell you. The auctions listed in the business newspaper mentioned above are swarmed with new buyers due to the popularity of the storage auction reality shows on television. Most of these highly publicized storage auctions have 50-100 or more people in attendance and it has become more difficult to buy a storage unit at a reasonable price. If you want to make money in this business you have to get off the beaten path and avoid the crowds.

AuctionsTX.com is really the only way to go. For about what you would pay for a burger & fries you can save yourself a great deal of frustration and be confident that you know about every storage auction in the greater Houston & surrounding areas.

A member recently asked the following question:

I am a annual subscriber to your storage auction listing service. I have read your blog and all the helpful information thru your links, including your beginner's guide. What I am wondering about is how to do more research on the units being sold. Do you need to access the public legal notice to get that information? Is it common practice to call the storage facility? Just want some tips on how to research more than likely what will be in the unit beyond what one can see.

This is an excellent question. First of all, thanks for being a member, we really appreciate you. Allow me to begin by explaining how the storage facility manager takes inventory of the contents of a storage unit scheduled for public sale. After a storage facility manager has given a delinquent tenant notice, they are required by Chapter 59 of the Texas Property Code to publish legal notice in a newspaper of general circulation for two consecutive weeks, which includes the name of the tenant, location, date and time of the sale and a description of the contents of the storage unit.

See the following example of an actual legal notice:

Demarques Tucker: furn Darrell Conley: furn, boxes, sprtng gds, applnces, TV/Stereo Equip LaTwanecia Willingham: furn, applnces Traqueva Langrum: hsld gds, furn, boxes, TV/Stereo Equip Adam Jackson: hsld gds, furn, boxes, TV/Stereo Equip Jacqueline Thurman: hsld gds, furn, boxes, tools Maria Rios: furn, dishes, boxes Geary Matthews: hsld gds, furn, boxes, sprtng gds, tools, TV/Stereo Equip Billy Greer: furn TeTierre Hamilton: hsld gds Jaime Mendoza: hsld gds, furn, boxes, sprtng gds, TV/Stereo Equip Maria Rios: hsld gds, furn, boxes Antrum Critterdon: hsld gds, furn, boxes, applnces; Stephanie Cannon: hsld gds, furn Andrea Williams: hsld gds, furn, boxes, sprtng gds, tools, applnces, TV/Stereo Equip Leonetta Green: hsld gds, furn, boxes, applnces,TV/Stereo Equip Tiffany Huitt: furn, boxes, TV/Stereo Equip Kenya Barnes: hsld gds, furn, boxes, account records Muriam Watkins: hsld gds, furn, boxes, tools, applnces, TV/Stereo Equip, accnt rcrds Tywanna Ferguson: hsld gds, furn, boxes.

Pretty monotonous right? Some people actually do read the public notices to get an idea of what is inside the storage units before the auction. But, once you have been doing this for a while, you realize that it is a gigantic waste of your time. I say this for a few different reasons.

1. Over half of the units advertised in the legal notice will not go to auction because the tenants will get current on their payments before the auction begins. Nothing is more frustrating than getting excited about a unit and then finding out that the owner paid the bill just minutes before the auction begins. It happens a lot.

2. The person doing the inventory does not enter the unit, open boxes or move things in order give a better description of the contents. This is why the descriptions are so vague.

3. We do the research for you, that's what were here for. Whenever there is a unique or valuable item in a unit, we list it in bold print. If there is nothing listed, it means that the storage facility did not list the specific contents in each unit or that the unit contains any of the following common items: furniture, appliances, electronics, household goods, clothing, tools, boxes, sporting goods, accounting records, etc. If there is a business unit for sale, and the contents aren't listed, we research the business for you, so you can get a better idea of what may be in the unit.

As far as trying to determine what could be in the unit beyond what one could see, research is most likely not going to help you. You will have to buy a lot of units to develop the skills and experience which will help you identify clues as to what may be inside the unit.

Yes, it is a common procedure to call the storage facility if you plan to attend the auction. Some people call the day before and some call the morning of the auction, but either way, it is strongly recommended that you call to make sure that the auction hasn't been cancelled. Also, this will give you an opportunity to speak with the property manager and you might even be able to get some inside information.

I hope this has been helpful and if you or anyone else has a question, feel free to post a reply or send me an email. Have a great day.