Man Reported to Find $500,000 Worth of Treasure in Storage Unit

[Abin Sur]

http://news.yahoo.com/man-reported-500-000-worth-treasure-storage-unit-200501811.html

A San Jose man needed no treasure map when he reportedly stumbled on to $500,000 worth of gold and silver after bidding on an abandoned storage unit. The man, identified only as John, apparently paid $1,100 for the unit only to see his blind investment turn into a goldmine after a number of rare coins and a few gold and silver bars were found in the blue Rubbermaid container.

The reported find, in Contra Costa County, was so unexpected that even though the auction was held by American Auctioneers, the subject of A&E's Storage Wars, there were no cameras present when the cache was discovered. Even without cameras Laura Dotson, the co-owner of American Auctioneers along with husband Dan, still said she was delighted.

"It helps, it solidifies what we're doing in the business," Dotson told ABCNews.com. "It shows hope that with all these units, that there is treasure to be found."

Although the buyer wants to remain anonymous, Dotson said he called her after getting the gold and silver appraised. According to Dotson, the first thing he said was, "Wow, this is a wonderful life."

(more at link)

[JPZenger]

1. Most people would have kept it a secret to avoid taxes and claims by the unit's former owner

[unblock]

23. most people like to risk federal prison when arrows point to suspicious activity?

sure, if we're talking about a $100 profit, yeah, few people will be likely to bother reporting it as profit, but then the odds of the irs finding out about it are tiny, so the risk is low.

but when you're talking about $500,000, your friends and neighbors and so on are very likely to realize you somehow came into money, there will be records of any bank transaction over $10,000 and the irs is far more likely to have a provable case against you, so the risk of prison is considerably greater.

personally, i think most people would be more than thrilled to have net around $350,000 free and clear with no worries than to try to get away with pocketing an extra $150,000 and sweating out the next 15 years worrying about an audit.

[-..__...]

2. Should have kept his mouth shut...

now (anonymous or not... the Dept of Revenue/IRS, WILL find him), he'll have to pay taxes on his haul.

[Scuba]

6. He should be proud to do so. n/t

[-..__...]

14. Oh sure... maybe there's a gold badge of honor...

somewhere in that bin that he can wear with pride (after he pays taxes on it of course).

:eyes:

[LanternWaste]

34. I imagine there are still some people who valu

I imagine there are still some people who value honor more than cash... regardless of how that may be trivialized or minimized by others who may perceive integrity as merely an inconvenience.

:shrug:

[Scuba]

47. You sound like a One Percenter. n/t

[MattSh]

17. He should be proud to pay for endless wars and bank bailouts?

Cause that's where most of it's going...

[Scuba]

46. You sound like a One Percenter. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

19. Assuming the find is legit

and they weren't robbed or stolen from somebody...

[unblock]

24. taxes are owed regardless. if the plan was to evade taxes, yeah, a shut mouth would be part of that

but the stupid part would have been not paying the taxes rather than talking about it.

[tridim]

3. This article will probably cause thousands of people to buy lots of crap

with cash they need for food, clothing and shelter.

"Storage Wars" and the various clones are nothing more than ADVERTISEMENTS for the storage industry. Wise the hell up people, the odds of getting rich are still at lottery levels.

[MineralMan]

5. I've bought a few storage units. I quit, though. The odds of doing

well in buying storage units are long. Most often, you end up with a bunch of crap you have to dispose of. Storage Wars is not a reality show. It's a fantasy show. I suspect that the show seeds the units with the cool "finds" that are made in them. I've watched several episodes. Bogus, at best.

[tridim]

13. Yea, I used to go to government auctions, before the general public found out about them

I made some money reselling electronics, but I also ended up with a lot of worthless junk.

Collectibles and auctions have been dead for two decades now IMO. These shows aren't helping anyone except the producers, the "stars" and the former owners of the junk.

[MineralMan]

20. Ebay destroyed the market for antiques pickers, too.

These days, everyone checks items on Ebay, then prices them based on what they find. What that means is that the classic sources for pickers to find items, like estate sales, etc., are gone. Prices are already set at as much or more than they would realize, so there's no profit margin.

I can still find a few obscure specialty items from time to time at prices that will provide a profit, but I've really given up on it. You can go to a dozen estate sales without finding a single thing that can be sold at a profit. It just isn't worth the time and transportation costs any longer.

Oh, well...

[MineralMan]

4. A guy's got to pay the rent on his storage unit.

I'd think that would be especially true if you had a Rubbermaid container full of gold and coins. People do odd things, though. Or, they die, and nobody knows about the storage unit. Keeping one's affairs in order is a really, really good idea.

[AngryAmish]

8. What if they were stolen?

Waiting out the statute of limitations or the guy dies or he goes into the joint for a stretch.

[MineralMan]

10. All sorts of possibilities, yes.

Most of the people who buy those units at auction would say nothing. They'd just head for the local gold and coin buyers and cash out, a little at a time. This guy may have made a mistake, actually. But, he's an honest guy, apparently. Either that, or the whole thing's a publicity stunt for the Storage Wars TV show. I'd think that was a real possibility here.

[Scuba]

7. Republican jobs plan. n/t

[riverwalker]

9. I always feel sorry for the owners

who fell behind in payments for the lockers. Wonder if any see their collections or grandma's antiques rummaged through on those TV shows.

[MineralMan]

12. That happens a lot. Someone dies and the heirs don't know about

the storage unit. The rent doesn't get paid and it goes up for auction. Another good argument for keeping your important papers accessible to your heirs and letting them know where the information can be found. Sadly, a lot of people don't do that.

That said, most of what is in storage lockers is just junk. Sometimes, you wonder why they bothered to store the stuff in the first place. When I was going to storage auctions, I often asked myself that question after looking in the units. Storage Wars doesn't really reflect reality. It's not really a good business to be in - buying storage units at auction. It rarely pays off.

Worst of all, the Storage Wars show has caused a lot of people to jump on that bandwagon, making it even harder for people to get the units for a reasonable price. I went to such an auction a month ago, just to see. Sure enough, people were overbidding hugely. Nuts.

[redqueen]

21. Probably sentimental attachment.

Sometimes when someone's parent or loved one dies, they may find some things are hard to let go of... despite the items seeming to be of little to no value to strangers.

[MineralMan]

28. That's not really the issue with storage units. What often

happens is that those people related to someone has died do not know that the storage unit exists. Often, people don't keep records of payments to a storage facility or let people know that the stuff is there. Then, when they die, the rent goes unpaid, and the storage unit is auctioned off. I've seen a number of units where that was obviously the case. The storage facility tries to notify the renter, as required by the law in most states, but if someone has died, those notifications go unread and the unit gets auctioned because the rent isn't paid.

It's not a matter of sentiment, but one of lack of knowledge on the part of the heirs. Often, too, when someone dies, their possessions simply are not considered valuable by the heirs. I've been to some estate sales where personal things you wouldn't believe were for sale. Family photo albums dating back generations, items with no value other than to the heirs, and other things. Often, the surviving relatives are there at the estate sale. It's very, very odd. At one estate sale I went to, where there were thousands of books, I discovered two urns containing ashes from the very people who had died. The relatives were present, so I took them down the stairs and showed them to the relatives, so they could move them out of view. They were simply not even interested, but did ask me what I'd pay for them. I left that sale, despite my interest in some of the items. Very bizarre.

Then again, people store really strange things of little to no value sometimes. Every storage unit is unique.

[redqueen]

33. I have no idea if they're more often auctioned off because the renter died

or because they weren't able to maintain payments.

As for people putting some of their deceased loved ones' possessions in storage units, I've known people who did this. Maybe they were the exception to the rule.

[MineralMan]

35. That happens sometimes, yes. Other times, stuff is moved

into storage when an older person moves into assisted living or some other such place. Other times, storage is used by people to store excess possessions. There are many reasons. In some cases, storage units are used to hide stuff from others. It's complicated. Why the rent isn't paid is also due to many reasons. The bottom line is that the owner of the storage facility often ends up with units full of stuff and no rent for the unit. After a varying period of time, set by the state or other jurisdiction, the facility owner can auction off the contents to recoup losses. It's all laid out in the storage agreement you sign when you rent the unit. In most cases, the amount received when the auction occurs is nowhere near the amount owed. Most storage units bring very little at the auction of the contents. Since bidders are only allowed a brief look at the contents, they're often only willing to bid on what they can see at a glance.

Storage facilty operators don't want to auction off contents. They'd much rather have the ongoing rent. In many, many cases, people just stop paying rent when they realize that the junk they have stored isn't really worth much, anyhow. In most units, they're right.

In the case described in this thread, however, the contents were obviously of high value. That means that something happened that interrupted the tenant's ability to pay. I'd guess it was death or imprisonment or something. The bidder was the big winner in this one. That's exceedingly rare.

[redqueen]

39. That post right there

explains why those shows (if there's more than one) are a joke, and like you said, more fantasy tv than 'reality tv'.

[MineralMan]

40. Yup. I've watched several episodes of the show,

since I'm interested in such things. In most cases, I believe the really valuable, rare stuff has been planted in the units after the auction is over. That kind of show is rarely reality. You'd have to buy hundreds of units to score the things they find in every show. They don't have the money to do that. So, what probably happens is that they arrange to rent some valuable items from one of the "experts" these guys sell to every show, or just borrow them for the publicity the buyer gets.

A good example was a hovercraft they "found" in a storage unit in Florida. A little gasoline and it fired right up. Very unlikely. In another show, they "found" a whaling gun that shoots a harpoon in a storage unit otherwise full of crap. That ain't happening. Then, if you can imagine it, they found a gun guy who happened to have a harpoon that fit it and knew how much black powder to put in it. Sure...I believe that. The reality is that they borrowed that harpoon gun from the person who "bought" it from them. He got publicity for being someone who bought rare firearms. No money changed hands in reality, I'm sure.

[redqueen]

41. I'd think most on this board would of course be skeptical...

but the types who fall for this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2322128&mesg_id=2322247

Probably a little more susceptible to that kind of crap.

[uncle ray]

42. actually, people keep a lot of interesting stuff too.

i've seen some things tucked away in storage units that are quite valuable and unique. i once met a "neighbor" at a storage unit who was more than happy to show off his gun collection kept in his unit. collector cars are a popular storage item, too.

[MineralMan]

44. That's true, but such units are rarely auctioned off.

Go to a few storage auctions. You'll see. Such units are few and far between, and the bidding for them soon reaches the stratosphere.

[BiggJawn]

38. "Oh! we're so glad you called! We thought you might be dead!"

Couple of years ago I guess I paid a year's rent in advance ( I don't know, you think I'd remember laying out that much coin). after about 14 months, I went in to settle up 2 month's past-due rent.

They were glad to see that I was still in this vale of tears, apparently, a lot of people pay their rent annually, then die sometime during the year, and their survivors know nothing of the storage unit..

[WingDinger]

11. Fucking vulture scum.

[Nye Bevan]

15. I'm sensing a little jealousy....

[HappyMe]

16. What?

He bought it fair and square.

[WingDinger]

18. Just another system to entrap the poor. No payment, sick in hospital.

All your shit is sold for pennies. Predatory capitalism.

The recessions operate the same. Periodic downtrun, allows the rich to buy back all they had to entice us slaves with. Listen to Rick Santelli when the Tea Party was formed.

[redqueen]

22. I do wonder how long they give renters before auctioning off the things

that the renter found valuable enough to pay extra rent in order to keep.

[Blue_Tires]

26. 3 months in the story

I didn't know it was that short a time...

[tridim]

27. I'm guessing that any grace period they may have had in the past is now gone.

Considering they can now scam the public to come out and pay thousands for a garage full of crap.

[MineralMan]

31. Not so. Each state has its own rules. Notification is required

in most jurisdictions, with varying requirement for how that notification is made. Your cynicism is misplaced. Storage facility businesses have to follow the applicable laws, and there are laws in every state regarding this.

[MineralMan]

29. It depends on the state or other jurisdiction.

It's a matter of months in most cases. There are notification requirements, as well.

[HappyMe]

25. They don't just sell your shit like that.

If you fall behind, they send you a couple of letters. If they still don't hear from you they send a letter that says your stuff will be auctioned off at this day and this time, and there is a notice in the newspaper.

I feel bad for the owner, but family & friends dropped the ball.

[Blue_Tires]

32. I am curious just how much effort is made to find

estate managers/next-of-kin if it's the case of the little old lady dying with no immediate local family...

In that situation a couple of generic form letters won't cut it...Of course a surviving relative (not knowing the value of the stuff) could have just said "I don't care; do what you want with the junk"

[MineralMan]

36. No particular effort at all. The law requires them to mail notices to

the address on the rental agreement. In most jurisdictions, they also have to publish a notice that the auction will take place in the local newspaper of record. That's it. They don't know when someone dies. They don't know when someone goes to prison. They do what the law requires, and that's to send mail to the address in the rental agreement. It's all spelled out in the rental agreement, which nobody bothers to read, most of the time.

The reason they can auction off the goods is to recover their loss in rental income. Often, they get nothing close to that, since most units are won by low bids. Situations like the one in this thread are exceedingly rare. Usually, what's in the unit is used junk of little value.

[Tsiyu]

30. Another sickening reality show

What's next, a show where people rummage through an evicted family's possessions tossed on their front lawn?

How low can we go?

I suppose we're in the process of finding out.....

[BiggJawn]

37. That explains the rash of storage unit burglaries in my town...

And I thought it was Meth Tweakers, looking for stuff to sell/trade...

[isuphighyeah]

43. Dave Hessler is curled up in a ball

in a corner crying somewhere.

[ileus]

45. good on them...bidding to win, and win big!

[slackmaster]

48. I wouldn't tell anyone. Not even family members or most trusted friends.

I'd just give them all nice Christmas presents from then on.