Do WI Storage Facilities hold Auctions on Defaulted Units? (Milwaukee: sales, foreclosures)

[QwertyFarmer]

I was wondering what the laws or the practices of WI storage units is regarding the units that are defaulted on? Does anyone have experience with this, does it range city to city, or is there a statewide regulation?

[SportFury59]

Can't help much with regulation info but I live in Wausau area and every so often see these type auctions advertised/listed in the classified section of local newspaper.
It lists time and date of auction, name of defaulter and brief description of contents.
I've never attended one though.

[2HHI]

I work for a storage facility in Milwaukee, and we in fact have auctions all the time. We give the tenant every opportunity to pay their defaulted rent, and often times enter into new contracts that allow them to pay a portion of what they owe until they get caught up...to avoid auction. Other who do not call and attempt to pay or make any arrangements will ultimately lose their belongings. I am not sure at what point a persons unit goes to auction...meaning they have to be 2, 3, or 4 months behind or longer...not sure what our company ruling is on that, or if the owner just goes by a case by case basis. When one bids on a locker, it is for the entirety of the contents...you can not just buy some of it...you get all of it.
Everything is very documented however, and must be advertised, by law. This affords the tenant every opportunity to retain their belongings if they can come up with whats owed.

[midwestmom]

2HH..
Since you're in the biz, maybe you can advise us. We had things in storage in WI and the owner switched hands while we were in another state. The new owner didn't return calls or cash payments, so we called a nearby business that said mail was piling up, etc. we heard the gate in was locked. This was pretty big - like 5 rows of double sided units and in town.We weren't ina position to come visit and its been a long time. We tried the police dept and found out there were some issues with the new owner, they gave us his cell number (never an answer). We stopped paying some time ago not wanting to send money when we didn't know what was going on. Is there a way to find out what happened to our things? There's no listing for them or anyone else at that location. (if they'd been bought out for instance ). Would court records tell us anything if we wrote the county?

We're a few states away and I don't know how it would work with what we would now owe since we could never reach anyone and it would cost a bit to go there..and gate might be locked anyway.

Any ideas?

[Hbomb]

Regulations on storage unit foreclosures / auctions are state-based (law 704.9). I am not aware of any local laws.

[Hbomb]

MidwestMom - Have you resolved your problem?

[midwestmom]

Hbomb,
Not yet - still not sure what I could do short of driving there and checking to see. People I've asked have said our stuff is probably gone. Our things were pretty much only of value to us but irreplaceable like our traditional Christmas things, kids school projects.

[Hbomb]

MidwestMom

If you want to call my office on Monday I could do some research to track down the owner. I am a storage owner myself and a board member of the WI self storage association board. 262-236-0612

[QwertyFarmer]

Originally Posted by Hbomb

MidwestMom

If you want to call my office on Monday I could do some research to track down the owner. I am a storage owner myself and a board member of the WI self storage association board. 262-236-0612

Thank you for the info. I have checked out the website you provided. Is there a source which shows a broader range of sales, this site seems as though there are only a few auctions per month. Please advise, thank you. I have also researched auctionzip.com which seems to represent more estate sales than anything. I am looking for a broader listing of specifically storage facility auctions. I am willing to travel WI, IL, MN, & IA

[Hbomb]

That is the only site I am aware of. Sorry.