kane

It may vary in some states, but most states have a law where they have to announce the auction in the public record. This announcement has to take place a set amount of time before the auction can take place (I think it is two weeks, but that may not be accurate). So you can get your local paper, I always had the best luck with a sunday edition, but they can be in any day, and look under the announcement/public notice section of the classifieds. There you will see the location, day and time of the auction. They also have to list the storage until numbers and the names associated with them so you can see how many units they have up for sale.


What I did a lot when I was starting out was just get the yellow pages and called every one of the storage places in there and ask if they have unit auctions and when. Many of the little mom and pop places will actually put you on a mailing list or a call list and notify you when they decide on a date.

When you get there you may find that they actually have fewer units actually up for auction than advertised because some people may have come in and paid their bill. So when the day of the auction comes around if there were only a few units up for sale I would call to make sure they are still available before driving out there.

You will quickly find that there are auctions nearly every day of the week somewhere and that they take place at different times. A lot of them will schedule so that they don't conflict with other auctions so they can get the most bidders. I built myself a spreadsheet that I used to keep it all straight.