Anyone on SSTalk or for that matter in our industry knows the commitment that Jeff Greenberger has made to educating all of us in self storage legal issues and even keeping or getting some of us out of trouble. I just got to look at his updated website – www.selfstoragelegal.com searching for one of his articles for a client.

I was blown away by the changes and the greatly expanded article archive. I think everyone can benefit from Jeff’s articles at various times. If you don’t know about this great resource or haven’t visited the site in awhile it is worth a visit.

I want to publically thank Jeff for this ongoing dedication to our industry. I will get a chance to thank him personally at the Vegas EXPO.

MisterJim444

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Learning Never Ends, But Will Time?

Thanks for the heads-up. Bookmarked.

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James A Mathews
Facility Manager
CBD Indoor Mini Storage

Jim,

Thanks for letting us know of the updated SSL website. Jeffery has some great information that everyone should take time reading.

Michael

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Michael T. Bishop
Sperry Van Ness/Jackcon Cooper, Inc.
Commercial Real Estate Advisor & Self Storage Consultant
www.svnjci.com
michael.bishop@svn.com
208-806-1550 (Direct)

Follow me on Twitter: @MichaelTBishop @StorageLand @StorageForSale

Jeff has saved our butts so many times!

Even if some of his info is "generic" in nature you can take the suggestions and adapt them to your location.

Thanks MisterJim for the heads up on this one.

And to Jeff -- Thanks for all the hard work you have done for all of us.

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Wayne
All American Self Storage
Palmdale, CA.


All arguments can be resolved ... with high explosives and Humor!!!

The site is great, and I just found the answer I have been looking for re: do I need an auctioneer to run my lien sales, or can anyone who is bonded do the auctioneering? Here is what I found at the site:
"...the state of California which merely discusses the concept of a lien sale (this is of course after an enormous amount of other work) the term “auction” is not present. We can assume that the legislature in California did not intend for the sale to be an auction, rather a public or private sale, what they refer to in California as a lien sale. Thus, California does not require the use of an auctioneer."

So, Gina, Autodoc, Storman, shae, and other CA facilities, who does your lien sales, and are they bonded?

I do my own lien sales, I do so few that I don't see the need to hire an auctioneer. I have heard from some attendees though that a good auctioneer brings their own following of bidders along, but I've never really wanted a big crowd bidding on my units.

I advertise in a very small newspaper that just barely meets the definition of public notice, and have a couple of guys that read that paper and show up to my auctions that are easy to deal with and know my facility. I probably don't get top dollar for the units, but I consider them a total loss by the time they go to auction anyway, I'm more interested in getting them cleared out and re-rented than getting the most money for them. When you're owed $1000, I'm not going to chase an extra $50 or $100 by placing an ad in a bigger paper that costs me $50 more to place and brings in all sorts of riff-raff.


Sorry to hijack your post, that legal site is a keeper, thanks for posting it!

Sounds like our facilities/lien sales are quite similiar.

Are you bonded?

I am the "auctioneer" -- like Storman we just want to get rid of the deadwood before their tab gets any higher.

Basically give me $5 and empty the unit! As long as I have a minimum of 5 registered bidders it's a good sale.

And, like Storeman said - didn't mean to hijack the thread -- Jeff is still my hero.

And no I'm not bonded, just covered by the site insurance and protected by the owner.

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Wayne
All American Self Storage
Palmdale, CA.


All arguments can be resolved ... with high explosives and Humor!!!

Thanks for the website Jeff. Reading through it is on my to-do list.

We do use an auctioneer service and they do bring a crowd with them. Our guy is great at getting top dollar for those units to decrease the hurt from the unpaid rents. I personally like the distance between me and the auctioned units as that is one more layer of protection for me. The auctioneers are licensed and bonded and we are a check & balance system for the handling of a delinquent unit. They come out and do the lock cuts, we inventory the unit, their seal goes on, our overlock goes on & it stays until the bidders show up in front of the unit. The buyers like knowing the unit is intact as well.

Let's end here and start a new thread for auction questions in the California forum area.

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Gina 6k
CochraneStorage dot com
Morgan Hill, California
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough!

All persons conducting auctions in California must maintain a $20,000 surety bond and file it with the Secretary of State's Office. The bond number must be published in the newspaper auction ad. A legal argument can be made that all lien sales are invalid because you didn't follow the letter of the law by posting the bond number. I don't know if this has ever been litigated before but who wants to be the guinea pig, especially when $20,000 bonds are so cheap. I've actually canceled auctions when my people have forgotten to put the bond number of the auctioneer in the auction ad. It's kind of like the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine.

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The views expressed on this posting are not necessarily the views of anyone, including me. Nothing in this message should be construed as advice to anyone, nor should it give the impression that I actually know what I'm talking about.