Things left behind in the bust

EVAN WILLIAMS/ FLORIDA WEEKLY Brian Hallman, manager of Budget Self Storage on Cleveland Avenue has seen an increase in people abandoning their belongings in storage. Lee County residents who have lost their homes to foreclosure have resorted to putting their belongings in selfstorage units.

Increasingly, the contents of those storage units are going to the highest bidder at weekly or monthly auctions because the owner has fallen behind in rent and essentially abandoned his or her belongings.

"It's a growing issue," said Brian Hallman, manager of Budget Self Storage on Cleveland Avenue. "I don't want to see anyone have their life sold out from under them."

Like other storage unit managers, Hallman asks that the winning bidder at auction return personal effects found in lockers, in case the owner comes looking for family photos, documents, diplomas or other items that hold no cash value.

The most interesting thing that's been returned to Budget Self Storage? An urn containing someone's ashes. "There was a tag on there from the funeral home," Hallman said.

That doesn't surprise Rene Castellanos, who manages a U-Store-It on Pine Island Road in Cape Coral (one in a national chain of about 400). He's seen all kinds of oddities sold at auctions, and much more recently.

"(Storage locker auctions) have increased tremendously due to the economy," Castellanos said. "We've seen increases of about 30 percent."

One Southwest Florida man who has made buying the contents of storage lockers his business for the last 15 years says there are "100 percent more (storage locker auctions) than two years ago. In the state of Florida, there are probably 5,000 per month." He's known by local storage locker managers like Hallman, but spoke only on the condition of anonymity, for fear that former owners might track him down and try to get their things back.

The auctions are competitive, he said — and if he makes the winning bid, the contents, no matter how personal or beloved, are legally his. But at each auction there is also a sense of buying and selling property that was forfeited under sad circumstances.

"I feel damn sorry for all of them, every single one I've ever bought," he said. "From family Bibles to jewelry… They're taking what they can in their car and leaving the rest because they can't afford to pay for storing it. It's really hard times."

While he returns personal effects to the storage unit, sometimes it's hard to tell how personal an old watch or necktie was. He's not required by law to return anything, but removes the frames of family photos to sell, and brings back the pictures.

Within the last month, he claims to have bought one unit that contained a jade statue appraised at $80,000, which doesn't impress him. "The appraisal means nothing until you sell it," he said.

It's always a risk buying a storage locker, he said — like buying a grab bag. "In a lot of cases, they'll store it for five, six, seven years and the products in the unit aren't worth $20."

Bidders only get a glimpse of what is in the storage locker but don't discover the total contents until after they win. The anonymous bidder said after many years, he's developed an instinct for the good lockers. "I'm not a gambler," he said. "If you're a gambler, this is the wrong job."

A St. Petersburg-based company called Storage Protection Auction Services handles auctions for most of the storage units in the area, Hallman said. The auctions are publicized in trade magazines and the daily newspaper.

Hallman, however, said he does everything he can to keep units from being auctioned.

It isn't pleasant to see people's things being sold off in such a blunt manner, he said; but it also costs Budget money. Once a unit is auctioned off, Budget doesn't pursue the losses on late payments or penalties. He estimates the business loses about $400 in payments, on average, per auctioned unit.

Hallman makes telephone calls and sends out late notices. And after 31 days of late payment, a judgment is made against the property and it can be legally auctioned off. Still, he waits longer to sell it, even though the owner might owe hundreds in late payments, fees and penalties.

Hallman gives owners up until the day of the auction — at Budget, auctions take place every third Friday of the month — to pay up. Many locker renters push themselves to those final limits again and again.

"A lot of people spend thousands in late fees to bail themselves out," he said.

But if they don't, they aren't allowed to come to the auction because of the high emotion they bring to it. "A lot of times they've put their whole life in these storage units," Hallman said.

So what happened to the cremains that were returned to Budget by a winning bidder? Hallman called the owner, who came back to pick them up.