Auction Draws Crowd

A crowd of about 100 people gathered, though only about 15 actually bid, at a storage auction last week in Seymour.
The auction was held at Seymour Storage on Burnett Station Rd. Sept. 16, and owner Connie Parson said it ran rather smoothly.
“We had a little larger turnout than I expected,” Parson said. “We were able to recoup a portion of what was passed due on those units, but it basically opens them back up so I can now re-rent them.”
Auctioned off to the highest bidder were 26 separate storage units that were in default. Under Tennessee State Law, once rent on a storage unit is 90 days past due the renter can be notified that their possessions can be sold or disposed of.
“Most of the accounts were more than a year old, or pushing a year,” Parson said.
Parson bought the storage facility last October, and said most of what was auctioned was in default under previous owners.
“You hope not to have to do it,” Parson said about the auction, “but sometimes people just don’t pay.”
According to Parson, before the auction the 140 unit facility had 26 percent of its occupancy in default.
The highest winning bid of the day was $900 for one unit and the lowest was $20. 
“There were a lot more $100 units then there were $20 or $900 units,” Parson said. “Really it just depends on what people are storing in them.”
During the auction the doors of the units are opened, and potential bidders can only look in from the outside before making the decision to bid or not.
Winning bidders then had 48 to 72 hours to completely clear out what was being stored and Parson will now put the units back up for rent.
“We are trying to turn it around and make it into a better facility,” Parson said.
Now that her first auction is over, Parson said she expects to have more in the future, but on a smaller scale with about 15 units at a time.
“I was pleased with the total results considering it was our first auction,” she said. “The biggest thing about that is being able to turn those units over so they actually generate income instead of just sitting there with people’s stuff in them.”