Stories from Storage Lockers...: If money grows on trees, then we are branching out!

When we started this business, we did it because we wanted to have fun, and like others- we had watched Storage Wars and thought it was interesting. We continued the business because we realized that it was fun (although hard work) and that we were good at it. So much has come from it-- so many other things are falling into our laps that we never would have thought to do otherwise, and it's a total blessing. Brian's background in commodities (as well as his education in geology) and my background in automotive (as well as my education in psychology) are proving to be very useful to us, in all arenas.

And, it's a natural progression. The questions from people about what we find in lockers led to the blog, which led to the Facebook page. The letters that I was fascinated with led to the book. The gold and silver and gems that we would find in units reminded Brian of his commodities past and brought him back to some of his same contacts. Same with me in automotive and with some other jobs I've had in the past. It's funny how it has all come together, almost full circle.

We've started toying around with doing other things on the side (and it's really not on the side, because it's all related). We've been successful at that as well, so now we're ready to offer these services to you. When we went for a name, we picked "Storage Heroes" for two reasons. 1) We already had the nicknames "Captain Trashbag" and "The Gold Digger" (and Lily's "Crockpot Killer") -- and they already sounded sort of like characters one might find in a comic book, and 2) Storage Heroes is broad-- it allows us to do all sorts of things. We could name ourselves something like Storage Seekers, but that really only talks about the auction aspect of it. We could have named ourselves some sort of flea market name, but that only accounts for the sale aspect of it. This way, we can cover a couple of areas-- 1) buying units at auction, 2) selling goods at low prices, and 3) helping people organize their homes / estates / storage units / commodities and/or sell them for money. Eventually, we could even start our own line of organizational items or sell nothing but Sterilite totes and containers and the name would still fit. We are helping people de-clutter their lives, make some additional money, get organized-- and saving them and other people by providing products for cheaper than they can get them everywhere else. A win-win-win situation.

So... our giant advertisement, I guess (it's our blog though, so we can do whatever we want), continues with a brief look into some of the other services we offer that you may not know about.

1) Estate Sales

If you have a loved one who is older, who has passed on, or who has a home full of things that you need to sell-- we can help. We can assess values to collectibles, and sell all things either to our contacts, on eBay/Craigslist, or at garage and estate sales.

2) Collection Sales

If you have inherited a collection, or are just looking to sell your collection - we can help. So far we have done comic books, coins, jewelry, sports cards, and sports collectibles-- but we have contacts for pretty much everything. And Brian is a coin expert, so in that particular case, it helps a LOT-- we're both very good at sports collectibles, and we can research just about everything else (or team up with someone who can help us out). The best part is, we always give you a value on your collection and let YOU make the decision about whether to sell or walk away. No bullying, haggle-ing, or anything like that allowed.

3) Garage Sales

If you have a ton of stuff you want to sell, we can do it for you and take a percentage. We can either sell it at your home, or have the sale at one of our locations. If you're not comfortable with us doing the selling for you (you should be, but that's neither here nor there), we can at least help give you tips on what will increase your revenue and how to price things. Our garage sales generally yield between $300-$1200 a day depending on the amount of stuff we have out there-- for me, I consider that successful!

4) Moving Sales

If you are moving and have a bunch of things that cannot accompany you on the move-- leave them behind and let us go into the house and sort them before you sell or rent it. We can clean up WHILE generating more income to help you with moving expenses. We did one of those recently and had the good from the bad sorted in just a few hours.

Before:

our pile of trash:

After:

It didn't take us long at all to assess values to everything and prepare it for a sale:

5) Repossessed Storage Unit Recovery

If your storage unit has gotten repossessed and you can let us know as SOON AS POSSIBLE, we may be able to purchase your unit from auction (or from whoever bought it at auction) and get the contents back to you. Here's an example of where we did that recently:

*Some rules apply. We have to have an okay from the facility, and we WILL NOT sell the contents back to you for less than you owed the facility.

6) Past-Due Storage Unit Recovery

If your storage unit bill is overdue, they have cut your lock, and are threatening to auction your goods, we can help. We can pay the past due bill on your unit (which can be much cheaper than buying it at auction), and TOGETHER we can go inside and give you back your sentimental items that have no worth to us (for free), and sell you a few other items (whatever you choose) piece by piece. This is good for people, who say, don't necessarily want the couch or fridge, but can't live without their laptop that's inside the unit. It's a good way to only have to pay some of the money, not have to be put into collections, and not lose the thing(s) you cannot live without.

The unit with all of those beautiful antiques (mentioned in our Top 15 units) was one of these!

*Rules apply here, too. We're obviously not going to pay your bill and let you go into the locker without us. We're not stupid.

7) Storage Unit Sales

If you're paying the bill on-time but are just sick of paying it in general and want to move your belongings out of storage, we can help you figure out what to keep, what to sell, help you move it and recover some of the money you've been paying to store it all this time!

8) Gold and Silver Sales

I could have included this in collection sales, but I didn't, and I won't, because it's a completely different ball game right now. With silver consistently being over $30 an ounce for the last several months and with gold fluctuating between $1600 and $1800 an ounce for the last several months both of these metals are at an all time high and people are going nuts. Stores have popped up all over with guys in gorilla suits on the median with signs saying "WE BUY GOLD" -- and one of the most constant questions we get from our blog readers, competitors, fellow auction buyers, friends, and family is "Do I sell now? How much money should I get?"

The answer to the question is yes, you should sell now. There is a way better chance of gold and silver going down than going up, and even if they dropped they would STILL be at an all-time high. If it's something of sentimental value, then absolutely, keep it. But if you're holding on to a class ring that you haven't worn in 10 years, or a piece of broken chain because you think the ex-boyfriend who gave it to you would be upset if you sold it, you need to sell now. Most people have no idea how much $ in gold they're holding on to.

If you have pieces you aren't sure are gold, let us know-- we can test gold and silver for you. We can weigh it (and show you on the scale), we can tell you what it's worth. Unlike pawn shops, jewelers, or buy gold now shops, we do not give you "the price we will give you" and only that- we tell you what it's worth, and THEN tell you what we'll give you for it. It's then your decision to keep, sell, or try to find a better price elsewhere. And believe me, our price is the best. Through a long-time contact of Brian's, we are able to provide 80-90% of spot price on your gold. The best we've found anywhere else in the city is 65%. Some pawn shops only do 25%. (Another win-win, we get a small profit, and even with our profit you STILL get more than you'd get anywhere else!) If you know that your gold is gold and have a calculator and want to weigh/calculate it yourself, there's going to be a special "members only" article tonight on the Storage Heroes Facebook page that gives some helpful hints. Feel free to check there for some more guidance. As always, feel free to call us or e-mail us for gold sales.