Storage unit auction bidders seek treasures in leftovers of others' lives

Travis Herinckx of North Plains Travis Herinckx bids on auctioned storage units and sifts through the goods he finds to supply A & T Resale, which he runs along with Angel Philippi in North Plains. Up to 80 percent of the store's goods come from storage units, Herinckx says, though only about 20 percent of what he buys is suitable for the store. 

The man with a clipboard leads 22 men and women into the maze of storage units just off a main thoroughfare in Gresham.

"OK," he announces, "you all know the rules; same as always."

He opens a padlock, lifts the door, steps aside and the group, each holding a flashlight, files by to peer inside.

The crowd is there to bid on the contents of a storage unit put up for auction for non-payment of rent.

Inside are the remains of someone's property – in this case, five mattresses and stacks of precariously leaning cardboard boxes which deal-seekers are not allowed to open before they make an offer. Bidding starts at $20 and goes in fits and starts to $50 before only three bidders remain. In two minutes the unit's contents – abandoned by its owner, foreclosed on and then auctioned by the

– fetches a price of $100.

The new owner has 48 hours to clear it out.

Over a period of five hours last week, the Public Storage manager led a group of bargain hunters through five more of the company's facilities in Gresham and east Portland. At one point the crowd grew to more than 35 as more people caught up to the traveling auction.

Such auctions unfold monthly in the Portland area and among the 50,000 storage facilities across the country, as bidders in a hard economy take their chances on finding treasures among the leftovers of renters who no longer can afford to pay. Over the last two years, a reality TV show inspired more people to bid on auctions. Those numbers, however, have dropped as bidders discovered the amount of work involved and that most storage units offer items of little value.

Two years ago the A&E cable television channel started a series called

which became the channel's biggest hit. In it, bidders are shown traipsing through California (and now Texas and New York) storage facilities, bidding up prices to $3,000 a unit and often finding thousands of dollars of saleable treasures buried beneath the flotsam of someone's life

The show is roundly trashed as fake by Portland-area auction regulars. Its producers this month were

by one of its stars – fired earlier – who claimed the sales are staged.

Travis Herinckx of North Plains Travis Herinckx worked 15 years as a general contractor before hitting the storage auctions two years ago and opening a resale shop in North Plains.

Fake or not, the show transformed storage auctions everywhere. In the Portland area, where once there were a handful of people paying $1 to $25 for a full unit, now there can be 20 to 50 driving bids as high as $600.

"The glamour of the TV show does not in any way match what happens in reality," says Shawn Weidmann, chief operating officer for Glendale, Calif.-based Public Storage, which has 2,200 facilities nationwide and dozens across the Portland metro area.

In reality, much of an auctioned unit is worthless. Instead of gold coins, cars and valuable art, what remains is stained bedding, outdated TVs, bikes, toys, worn furniture and athletic equipment – all old, nothing new.

The best stuff helps thrift stores stock their shelves, stocks perpetual garage sales or become items for Craigslist and EBay. The rest ends up at the dump or Goodwill.

"Remember, this auction is occurring because of the misfortune of someone who once owned the stuff," the manager of Gresham Mini & RV Storage, who declines to give her name, tells bidders. Shortly afterwards, a beat-up but operable 1970s Dodge motor home is auctioned for $220.

Abundant overflow

Self-storage units are everywhere. Tucked just off main streets, rural roads, along interstates. Small towns, big cities. More than 50,000 nationwide, They hold the overflow from garages or basements or closets. It's a place to put your stuff while you are between homes, jobs, or traveling.

But after paying rent on a unit for months or years, some folks stop mailing their checks. Thirty days after a missed payment the storage companies send renters a certified letter letting them know that after another 30 days their belongings will be put up for auction. Then the company twice publishes a newspaper legal notice giving the auction date and naming the person in arrears.

More than 80 percent of the time the letter or notice is enough to prompt a payment or for renters to collect their stuff. The remaining 20 percent go up for auction.

"We do not like auctions. It's absolutely the last resort for us," says Weidmann of Public Storage.

Public Storage has so many sites that it groups auctions by geography and two or three days each month has managers lead deal-seekers from place to place. On Dec. 19-21, it held auctions at 40 facilities stretching from Salem to Vancouver.

"These buyers are professionals," says Weidmann. "It's what they do for a living, so they like it to be organized."

Smaller outfits like Gresham Mini & RV Storage need just a half hour one morning a month to conduct their auction. To keep crowds manageable – it once had 80 people show up to bid – the company charges a $10 fee.

There are even websites full of auction advice and where prospective bidders can sign up for auction notices

Some get hooked

Most bidders are reluctant to be identified but will say they do it to help make ends meet, or like a recently retired TriMet driver, as a hobby to earn a bit of cash. For others it's a business. There's a couple who drive up from Klamath Falls each month to hit Public Storage's auctions. Lynn and Mike Lowen of Prineville braved snowy roads over Mount Hood last week to help stock their second-hand store.

Storage unit auctions A crowd waits in the rain outside a soon-to-be-auctioned unit at a Public Storage Co. facility in Gresham. Auctions of units on this day last week ranged from $5 to $600 as bargain hunters looked for deals left behind when original owners could not pay rent for their storage units.

Travis Herinckx spent 15 years as a general contractor before he started hitting the auctions two years ago and, as he admits, "got hooked." Then last May he and his partner, Angel Philippi opened a resale shop along the main drag in North Plains.

"We have good months and bad months," he says. "We're still in the learning stage."

Up to 80 percent of the items in their small store are gleaned from storage units, Herinckx says. But only 20 percent of what he buys ends up there.

He avoids big furniture like couches. Tools are always good, but hard to find and often get bid up. He doesn't work from a budget, tries to be conservative but in three days last week bought eight units in Public Storage's auctions.

"It's definitely not a get-rich occupation," Herinckx says. "It's a ton of work for a very small wage."

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