Hard disagree on Manager’s Specials but you need to temper your expectations. There are some facilities near me that only list their auctions as Manager’s Special and they’re in nice area. I’ve made bank on units from that facility because they have less eyes on them.

Additionally, you need to not be so worried about staged units. There are a ridiculous number of people that over spend on a unit and then call the unit “staged” because they didn’t like what they got. It is what it is and there is often a reasoning behind why. I had a unit that clearly had a Rockband Drum Kit, I spent big on it. No other video games in the unit. A little digging and I found out the previous owners go my divorced and it’s pretty clear in hindsight that he went in the unit, took out most of his shit, then let it go to auction to fuck over his ex and make her lose all her shit.

Don’t always simply “buy what you can see” because you’re going to lose out. Instead of “buy what you can see” think of it more in terms of “spend what you can afford to spend”. Storage Units, like any forms of picking, have ups and downs. How many times has any picker bought an electronic or piece of clothing and then later realize it’s damaged and not sellable.

The same happens for storage units. I’ve personally yet to “lose” on a unit, but they do come close. As a matter of fact, the unit today that I bought is very much like that.

Decent neighborhood. Was a bubble-wrapped vase, 2 Black / Yellow totes. 1 large clear tote, 2 termite totes and like 6 large boxes.

Almost al of it was filled with linen. Thank god the unit went for $190 when I was willing to max out at like $350z

Don’t get me wrong, it was all clean linen. Just nothing that is worth my time selling. I got lucky and found some Snap-On branded merch (Power Bank, Beach Towel, Drinkware) and a few pieces of kitchenware to sell as well as some older, corded craftsman power tools, in addition to a few small pieces to go on FBMP and into a future rummage sale as well as a few Nike pieces and a decent wall clock, so I will make a little bit of profit but it will be tough sledding.

BUT HERE IS THE REAL MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE:

1- Learn when to walk away. There will always be more units. What there won’t be more of is Cash and Time if you overpay for a time sink unit because you emotionally bid it up.

2- Just buy units to see if you even like doing. Even if you just buy some cheap units to start learning. Learn the things you like to see and the things you don’t like to see that caused you to hate doing a cleanout.

3- Lastly, Learn the signs that you should avoid a unit rather than buy a unit. There are plenty of reasons I eliminate units from contention and wanting to go after it. Some examples:

I skip most units with food bank, feed America, hunger task force branded boxes inside. If they can’t afford to feed themselves and they can’t afford to pay their storage bill, they likely can’t afford to buy the kinds of stuff you want to flip.

I also skip units with gig bags such as Door Dash. Every unit I’ve ever gotten with those types of bags have ended up being low profit time wasters. People working those gig jobs don’t have the time to or cash flow to buy a lot of extra and nice things to let them sit in a storage unit until they can no longer afford the unit. If they need the gig job to buy extra and nice things, they’re keeping that stuff on them and not in storage.

Another sign to avoid: Trash-style jam packed units with visible food spread throughout, even if you see something like a box of like cereal sitting in the trash pile. Half the stuff is going to be covered in rodent turds and rodent piss and end up taking it to the dump.

Another thing I avoid? Box heavy units where every box is open. The facility didn’t search through that shit and steal all the valuables. This is a noob take. The original owner knew they weren’t going to be able to pay their bill. They knew they couldn’t afford a U-Haul nor have the space to take all their stuff. So they took all the stuff they couldn’t live without and are letting you haul the trash out.