Tenant OptionsContrary to what some might think, storage facility owners don’t really want to hold auctions for delinquent units. As a facility owner, your bread and butter is the regular rent you receive from your tenants each month. Delinquent tenants disrupt that income, and putting their units up for sale is a time-consuming hassle.

It’s especially difficult when you know that the renter is behind on his payments and will have no way to bring the account current. It puts you in an uncomfortable position knowing that the tenant cannot pay his rent. Unlike an abandoned unit, these delinquent storage units put a lot of pressure on you to find a solution – but you can’t make exceptions for every person who falls on hard times.

Fortunately, there is a compromise that you can suggest that will relieve the financial stress from the tenant without putting you in a bind: Online Storage Auctions. Although many of the auctions at OnlineStorageAuctions.com are put there by auctioneers or storage facilities, the tenants themselves are always welcome to post their own units for auction at no charge. And, if they’re delinquent, this allows them the chance to liquidate their belongings and pay off the debt with minimal hassles. Here are a few perks to this method:

— The owner of the items will have a better idea of what’s in the unit and what it’s worth, so he’ll be able to post a better description, take great photos and really up-sell the unit to interested buyers who will pay good money for the contents. This can result in higher bids than if they were sold through a traditional auction.

— You don’t have to worry about passing profits beyond the debt on to the tenant the way you would if you were facilitating the sale. Normally, you’d have to relinquish those funds to the state if you couldn’t get in touch with the owner. Now, the owner gets the money first and pays you out of the profits.

— You, the tenant and the buyer can all meet and exchange money on-site, allowing you to get the unit paid off immediately after the sale and the tenant to walk away with any profits over the amount owed to you.

— The unit will be cleaned out by the buyer, saving you and your tenant the effort and hassle of cleaning it. This gets you an empty unit that can be rented out again more quickly, and it alleviates some stress on the part of your tenant as well.

For most facility owners, storage auctions are a last resort. Giving your tenant the option to liquidate and sell their items on their own to interested buyers can help to meet both of your needs with minimal conflict. It also relieves you of the work and responsibility, so you can get back to doing what you do best: Managing a storage facility!