Back when I’d visit my parents a decade or so ago, one of my father’s guilty pleasures was watching Storage Wars.
If you’re unfamiliar with this cable staple, it features competing teams of people bidding on abandoned storage units, then going through the ones they won trying to figure out what things were worth. Storage Wars was infamous for every episode having one or more “surprise items” that the buyer just happened to know an expert who could identify the item and its value. It was a little cheesy, and like all realty TV, was fake and scripted, but was a higher, more nourishing brand of cable junk food, than, say Ice Road Truckers or Deadliest Catch (which is evidently still on).
Anyway, people still bid on abandoned storage units, and a guy who has a YouTube channel bid a princely $5,786 for a unit because he saw some gun cases in there.
Did it pay off?
Boy did it!
There were a few cheap handguns, but also a lot of expensive hunting rifles, including:
But also thousands of rounds of ammo, a whole lot in loaded magazines.
This video is almost 100% pure gun pr0n:
Let this be a reminder: If you have a large firearms collection, you want to make sure you have an itemized and notarized will, so your designated heirs end up getting fair value for your collection.
Tags: 45/70 Government, Guns, Modern Sporting Rifle, rifle, Storage Wars, video
Because you don’t want your widow selling them for what you told her you paid for them…
I watch that show and I weep for the people who lose fortunes – or just obviously precious stuff – for want of a monthly payment. It’s sad.
If you’re going to store assets, find someplace that makes a good-faith effort to track you or your heirs down if you miss payments instead of immediately putting it up for bid.
I know it’s legal but those people who bid on the storage units seem to be profiting from other people’s misfortune. I can’t shake the feeling that it’s vulture-like.
How are firearm transfers handled in a case like this?
My greatest fear in dying is that my wife will sell my gun collection for what I told her I paid for it.
(Old saw, but a goody)
Bucky says:
September 7, 2022 at 6:05 AM
How are firearm transfers handled in a case like this?
It depends on the state. But it is entirely a “private” sale. And unless the storage unit owner (not the renter, but the owner of the specific Jack Rabbit/Allsafe/UHaul) knows the guy bidding cannot possess firearms, it’s all copacetic. A “large” number of firearms like that might best be handled by a FFL, though.
In less free states you’d have to do the FFL thing, no matter what, just so they could register all the firearms.
I know several people that own storage units. My understanding from them is it takes six months to a year of non-payment before they’ll sell what’s in the unit. They’ll try to contact people, but there’s only so far that they can be expected to go. The key thing is if you use such units it to make sure you give them multiple ways to contact you and a backup contact as well.
Shameful confession: “Storage Wars: Texas” was re-run on one of the low rent over-the-air channels a while back. My mother liked it, and I kind of got into it as well…
…mostly because I found Mary kind of hot.
bobby b says:
September 6, 2022 at 7:48 PM
find someplace that makes a good-faith effort to track you or your heirs down if you miss payments instead of immediately putting it up for bid.
Some personal knowledge: almost nowhere puts your unit up for auction after you miss one payment. Some won’t put it up for auction until you’re at least 90 days overdue.
Also, understand that, unlike the tv shows, most rental unit owners do not make money by auctioning off the overdue units. What they get bid for a unit at auction is often less than what is owed. And the bidders seldom make these sorts of finds – often it’s a low bid for a room full of junk with a few saleable items buried in it. Though I know of one case where a handyman/contractor lost a lot of expensive professional power tools because he didn’t keep up payments. And I think there was another who lost a nice hobby car. But mostly just lots of stuff.
Pbar says:
September 6, 2022 at 8:52 PM
I can’t shake the feeling that it’s vulture-like.
But vultures serve a purpose: they clean up death that might otherwise turn to disease. The people who most often have this happen to them are 1) neglected old folks and 2) people who miss a lot of payments in their life and suffer for it. But auctioning off these units allows for other people to move in and use them. And it allows the owner of the storage business to continue making money. Otherwise, these places would gradually fill up with junk and have to be closed – like giant materialism mausoleums, filled with ‘dead’ stuff.
I did some research on this for a story. The rules vary slightly by state; but in every jurisdiction, the facility owner is required to make a good-faith effort to contact the owners. They are required to have both contact information for the renter AND for a secondary contact who can speak for the owner. They must attempt to contact both for at least a month. AFTER they fail to make contact, they must publish public notice of the auctions. In Michigan, these notices must run at least a month before the auction. It takes three months of zero contact before they can hold the auction.
And at the auction, the facility owner is ONLY entitled to back rental fees plus legally established collection fees. If the bid exceeds that total, the rest must be remitted to the owner or contact (or to the state’s unclaimed funds system). So the facility owner cannot profit beyond agreed rental fees. (The bidders can profit more, but they also take the risks.)
As for guns… Those haven’t come up in my research, but I understand that the bidder must turn those over to Federal authorities, who investigate whether these are properly licensed or were ever involved in a crime. Assuming the feds find nothing illegal about them, the guns can then be transferred to the winning bidder. It’s not a perfect system, but the bidder can profit from them eventually.
Motorized vehicles are another special case. Before a bidder can claim them, the facility owner must check for a prior lien that takes precedence. If there’s a lien holder, the vehicle goes to the lien holder.
It’s never pleasant to think about losing your assets due to hardship, but the laws here seem pretty balanced. You have to basically abandon your property to lose it.
Pbar: Here in TX, have a neighbor who tried their hand at this. When they encountered some old pictures and a military award, they decided to try to get those personal things to the family (both are retired from USAF). They found the lady in FL. She had no idea the family back here she shared it with had stopped paying for the unit. They gave her all the personal stuff, plus some of the furniture she treasured (which was very valuable). We need more folks like my neighbors!
Also… In some jurisdictions (not Michigan, unfortunately), the facility owner and staff are legally barred from bidding. This removes any back door incentive to auction off a unit. Yes, an unscrupulous owner might find a secret partner to bid, but they’re risking prosecution if they do. I wish more places had this rule.
And in many jurisdictions, they are NOT required to blind bid on the contents, though it’s an option. They do it on the show for dramatic effect, but the facility owner may be allowed to open the unit and do an inventory, and also allow bidders in to inspect. In the case of an inventory, they can/must open anything that’s not locked or sealed—even such simple seal as a rope tied around a box.
“How are firearm transfers handled in a case like this?”
I don’t see how this would be any different than any other private sale of firearms. As long as the buyer was a resident of the state and isn’t a prohibited person, they can take possession of the guns.
If the State in question has a “universal background check” law, then it would be up to the state. but as far as federal law goes, I don’t see how it would be an issue.
Sadly, the guns and ammunition will be lost I. a tragic boating accident.
“I understand that the bidder must turn those over to Federal authorities, who investigate whether these are properly licensed or were ever involved in a crime.”
I didn’t consider that…good point. I don’t see how it could be enforced unless the owner of the storage place has some sort of reporting responsibility, but I’d hope the buyer checks them at least to make sure they aren’t stolen property.
My wife KNOWS what I paid for mine… and I told her to get our son and make him research (if he is gonna get some of ’em… he can work for it some!)
Fortunately, I already lost all my valuables in boating accident.
“I understand that the bidder must turn those over to Federal authorities, who investigate whether these are properly licensed or were ever involved in a crime.”
I don’t know where you got this information, but you need to mark that source as “unreliable”.
There is NO federal licensing, nor do most states have a firearm licensing scheme.
State laws may require that the firearms be transferred through an FFL to verify that the person taking possession of them is not a prohibited person, and they *might* check to see if the firearm was stolen at that point, but that’s as close as they can get to “was this involved in a crime”.
I think (but am not sure) that handguns would have to go through a FFL, but that might be state by state.
He lost that lawsuit, and was ordered to pay A&E’s court fees
https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/3398267/what-happened-to-storage-wars-dave-hester/