I’m considering this historic lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay. Not sure where I’d park my car, though. Could be an interesting commute.
Okay, not really, but that’s a hell of a price.
I check out that site at least once a week. Never bought anything. There’s some interesting stuff I have no idea what I’d do with, but just about everything on there is a pretty ridiculous deal, dubious/unknown condition notwithstanding.
Anyone ever actually bought something from the GSA, or another government auction? What did you buy? How much did you pay for it? Do you feel like you got a good deal?
bought a 76 Jeep pick up with my dad back in the 80s from the GSA
Lime green, baby-poop colored interior 6 cylinder with manual tranny. Pulled out the bench seat and put in a pair of blue denim bucket type I got from a wrecked Toyota pickup, and a set of white stick on racing/pin stripes down the sides. It was an awesome truck and never had a problem with it.
Tried to buy a basic beater bicycle at the local police auction. I figured for $40 I could get something with rust and a minor problem or two I could fix for cheap.
But I was outbid every time. People were bidding damn near the cost of a new bike, $100+, for every last bike up for auction. Some real junkers among them. No idea why.
I bought my car, a 2007 Ford Focus, from a government auction. One thing about governments is that they usually replace vehicles when they reach years/miles limits–even though the vehicle is still running fine–in contrast to private individuals where there is a greater probability someone is getting rid of a vehicle because it has problems.
Not many deals buy the time the bidding ends. If you are willing to take chances on things where it says they don’t know if they are running or not sometimes you can come out good.
One thing I have tried is to find something like a large diesel engine for sale and then try to find a buyer before bid time. This gives you a good idea how much you can bid and still make money. Quite a few items you can locate buyers ahead of time but others are also doing this so it makes it tough.
I bought a Yashica Mat 124 twin lens reflex camera via a government auction. It came with a flash unit, several lens filters and a padded hard case. I paid $25 for the lot. I figured that, for that price, even if the camera didn’t work it would make a great display piece and I could repurpose the hard case. As it turns out, everything works perfectly and it takes wonderful pictures.
Apparently it was used as a crime scene camera by the police department in the 1980’s and was ultimately stored in a closet and forgotten until about 2 years ago.
Interesting. It seems like such a low-key, non-competitive site, relative to eBay, but I suppose an auction is an auction. The only things I’ve really seen bidding wars on are late model passenger vehicles. Also noticed the auctions can go on for months.
I’m pretty confident no one would bid against me for that lighthouse, though.
The state has a couple surplus auctions every year and I bought a nice Steelcase desk and a couple of filing cabinets off of one. The price was $10 for the lot.
When I was 18, I started my first business with an ancient city truck I bought at auction. It was a city auction so I guess it counts as “government” for the OP.
The sentences, “The underlying land will remain in government ownership. The buyer will be obligated to acquire and maintain a right of occupancy accordingly.” are disturbing. IANAL but it sounds like, at its option the federal government could tell you that you have no right to occupy, and you need to move your crummy lighthouse off of their land.
Back in the early '00s when CNG autos were a thing, I tried to buy one at a couple of live auctions. Like Past Tense says, government autos often are sold off because they reached a mileage limit and are otherwise in good shape. Like Iggy’s bikes, though, I was always outbid at about 3/4 Bluebook. In this case it was dealers getting them to resell.
I’m immensely amused that a) there is a category “lighthouse” on the GSA site and b) this is not the only lighthouse for sale right now by the government.
If you go out to the main “All Categories” menu, you’ll see there’s also a category for “NASA Shuttle/Hubble”! Unfortunately, there are none for sale. Right now. But the fact that there’s a category for it seems to suggest there was a point in the past (or possibly in the future) when such things were available.
If you note on the auction site the lighthouse auction does NOT include the land and it is not at all clear what the requirements are to rent the space or whatever. What are they?
I also noticed the lighthouse sits on wooden pilings. I would be concerned about their deterioration after such a long period of time. Anyone know?
I know a guy who attended an auction on behalf of his dad, who is an MD. His dad paid him to go and bid on a portable ultrasound machine, because the probe that came with the unit was worth what the unit would likely sell for.
He slept in on the day of the auction, and unknowingly arrived after the ultrasound unit had sold. Shortly after he arrived, the auctioneer announced “Lot number xyz, ultrasound unit”. He bid on it and won. Terms required everything be paid for by the end of the day and removed by the end of the weekend.
He paid, then went to put his purchase in his car, only to discover that what he’d purchased was huge, easily the size of three refrigerators! He had to rent a u-haul truck to get the unit home. It was not his best moment, he eventually took it apart and got scrap metal value for the pieces.
The government auctions can be good buys as the contents are not indexed by normal auction search engines like AuctionZip. I have seen many a good deal on machine tools, about the only thing I looked for on the government auctions. I bought a pair of small, very sought after, Sanford surface grinders for a great price.
When I arrived to pick them up (in my Scion xB) I found I had bought everything in the freakin’ photo, not just the grinders. Workbenches, dust collection system with high powered blower, all kinds of stuff.
The guys had already brought the lot to the loading dock when I checked in at the gate. I backed up and got out and we stared at each other, me with a car that has a capacity of 4’ x 4’ in the back, and these guys with a room full of stuff and a towmotor.
“You’re gonna need a bigger truck…”
With their help we removed the grinders from the benches, and I took the boxes of grinding wheels and spare parts. The grinding wheels for the little Sanford grinders are hard to find and can cost $10-20 each. I now have 110 of them, including very expensive diamond wheels.
Yeah you really have to read the listings carefully, and even then a lot of the descriptions are pretty vague. You may think you’re bidding on one desktop computer, generously priced at $25, then you show up and they bring out a couple pallets stacked with 200 computers and will not let you leave without every single one of them.
OMG I have a friend who is a boater and a foolhardy DIYer, with the disposable income of a two-doctor family. I’m totally emailing him that lighthouse link.
Looks like they’ve added a few interior photos. Doesn’t look like it’s in too awful a condition, however I’m certain it’s still a major renovation project. Just the logistics of getting materials there is something I wouldn’t even know where to start. If he pulls the trigger, I wish him luck! (and I’d love to visit sometime!)
