'Trailers for sale...' ...but will you be left as a 'King of the Road?'
Auction allows FEMA to recoup Rita money spent
By SHARON KERR Staff Writer

Newsboy photo/Charles Kerr BUYERS AND A FEMA CONTRACTOR take a close look at this week's lot of trailers up for auction at the lot near Jasper. Trailers are auctioned off every week by the government.

After almost two years holed up in less than 300 square feet of space, many families never want to see their FEMA trailer again.

Scary stories about formaldehyde exposure and the general stress of cramming adults and children into such a tight quarters make the hurricane survivors glad to move back "into a real house" and have the thing hauled off with all due haste.

Where do all the old trailers go?

Turns out, not very far. The Jasper Marshalling Yard, which was a major distribution point right after Hurricane Rita, is now receiving them back to be sold in government surplus auctions.

Almost 3,000 travel trailers of every make and model are packed tightly onto a few acres off U. S. Highway 190 west of the airport in Jasper.

There's little on the highway to give you a clue- a small white sign on County Road 138 and a twisting lane that goes off through the pines.

Newsboy photo/Charles Kerr A ROW OF TRAILERS CAN be found at the Jasper Marshalling lot that are up for sale by GSA.

CNN, the television news channel, filmed a segment here that aired July 4. Their transcript reports, "The Federal Emergency Management Agency spent $2.7 billion on mobile homes and trailers after Hurricanes Katrina and then Rita... your money, all of our money."

The segment focuses on delays, foul-ups and trashed trailers and asks, "Who wasn't looking out for their property and your money?"

It shows trailers with bullet holes, toilets ripped out, trashed and vandalized, but if you visit the lot, the trailers you see are in pretty good shape.

Gsaauctions.gov has pictures and descriptions of each unit's deficiencies, but most of the problems are cosmetic and could be repaired.

The trailers were never designed to be used everyday for years; they are called "weekenders" for a reason. Upholstery and mattresses show obvious wear and tear. On walls by bunk beds, bored children have scribbled and drawn pictures.

Other trailers look like they could be fresh off a dealer's lot, and in fact, may only have been used briefly. They met a need when an unprecedented number of homes were wiped out from Texas to Florida in the three major 2005 hurricanes, Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

With delays caused by labor and material shortages, some people are just now moving back into permanent housing. No longer needed units are returned to marshalling yards in several states to be sold at auction.

Jasper Marshalling Yard: you can look but you can't buy.

The auctions are conducted online at www.gsaauctions. gov. The marshalling yard is for viewing and pickup only. Anyone can visit the yard Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Every person in the vehicle must sign in and out at the guard gate.

Josh Davis manages the Jasper yard. At his office, you can pick up a list, typically 72 trailers, that have been set up in a special section for the weekly auction. You cannot visit the other 2900+ trailers on site, because they are parked so close it's difficult to open a door.

Their turn will come in due time, according to Davis.

Davis is a tall young man who was in the dairy business in Kentucky until a few years ago. He started hauling trailers to supplement his income, learned the business, and now oversees a staff of 12 at the Jasper yard.

Seventy or so units are auctioned each week, and about half that many new ones arrive, so the auctions that began May 12 will continue for many more months.

To visit the website, go to gsaauctions.gov and then click on "trailers and tractors." Click on "state" to alphabetize the list. There are a dozen or more pages and Texas doesn't start until about page 10 or 11 (this changes weekly).

The website describes the make, model and condition, including whatever is obviously broken or missing.

Davis said they don't hook things up to check if they work; they don't have time. About eight percent of the trailers the Jasper yard receives are bad enough that they scrap them, Davis estimated. The rest go to auction as is.

They just vacuum and clean, remove any personal items left in the unit, and inventory the obvious.

He's learned to say "no keys" regardless of whether the unit has them.

"We actually have keys for some of them, but we don't want to have to figure out if they work or get a locksmith in here if they don't, so we just say 'none' on every unit," Davis said.

On a visit last Thursday, we found the same to be true of propane tanks, batteries and other items listed as missing but observed to be in place on the trailers.

People don't complain when they get something extra, Davis said, but they sure do get upset if something is missing.

There are at least two interior pictures of each unit, but the website urges you to make a personal inspection at the yard before bidding.

Davis said people are coming from all over. They've had buyers from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, just about every state and Canada. There are other yards in several Gulf states and Arkansas.

One bidder from Oklahoma said he likes Jasper because the trailers are generally in better condition. He's bought four so far, done minor repairs and resold them.

Two types of trailers

Davis does his best to answer questions from prospective bidders.

A retiree approached and told Davis he was looking for one he could "take on the road." He asked about the holding tanks and whether it would be expensive to add one.

"The holding tank itself is not that expensive," Davis explained, "but there's a whole lot more you have to do."

FEMA-spec trailers come with a standard household flush toilet and no holding tanks because they were designed to be parked on the owners' property and hooked to the sewer or septic system.

Davis explained that where the holding tanks go is a difficult location to work in, and you really need to put a low-volume travel toilet in as well.

"You'd be better off overall to bid on a unit that has a holding tank than try to go back and re-trofit one," was Davis' advice.

The reason there are both kinds of trailers on the lot goes back to the storms of 2005. So many people were homeless over such a vast area that FEMA put every trailer manufacturer to work building FEMA-spec units as fast as possible.

That still was not enough to meet the need, so FEMA began buying true travel trailers off dealers' lots wherever they could find them.

A FEMA-spec trailer is a stripped down version designed to temporarily replace a home too damaged to live in. FEMA recognized that there would not be enough labor and materials to immediately replace housing, and in fact, many families still need the trailers they are living in.

The FEMA-specs have a regular household refrigerator instead of a 12-volt. The trailers are all electric, no propane. They have a standard flush toilet and no black or grey water holding tanks, and no fresh water tank. The ones with a slide-out expansion side have a hand-crank instead of a motor.

The true travel trailers bought off dealer lots often have extras like canopy awnings and deluxe appliances.

Some are one bedroom, some two. In some of the two bedroom units, there are four bunks. Allowing for two people in the master bedroom, a couch that folds into a bed, and a breakfast booth that makes another bed, this unit can sleep eight. It's designed for camping, not comfort.

When you buy

You have two business days after the auction closes to arrange payment by credit card, money order or cashier's check.

"Please," Davis begs, "don't show up here with a check. We don't take money here; all payment must be arranged with the GSA and they have to notify us the unit is sold."

The buyer has to pick up the unit within 10 business days. Davis' people will verify who is picking up the unit, and take the hauler to it, but they don't arrange delivery or set up.

Nothing is warranted, and customers are clearly advised parts other than what is listed may be broken or missing. Just because the air conditioner is there doesn't mean it blows cold air.

"Repairs may be required," is plainly posted and Davis is careful to explain to potential buyers that the units have not been checked to see if anything works, just to describe the general condition and obvious damage.

Items that don't work or are missing (such as a cooktop) are standard items at RV supply stores and easily interchangeable or replaceable, according to Davis.

Is it a good deal?

Thursday last week, a 32- foot Pilgrim trailer was going for $2,000 with 5 bidders, but by the end of the week that will be up, Davis predicted.

Sure enough, it went for more than $7,000. By the close of auction, the lowest priced unit went for $2,700 and had exterior damage, mattresses missing, and a "strong chemical odor." The highest-priced unit was a Crossroads Silverado with a motorized slide out and holding tanks that went for $12,200.

FEMA representative Don Jacks said when CNN filmed the Jasper yard, they focused on a unit in poor condition that was bid at $700 on the second day of the auction. They never checked back with him to find out that by close of auction it had sold for $4,700.

The Pilgrim trailer we inspected goes for about $29,000 new, and about $8,000 used, according to several websites.

According to Davis' rough estimate, FEMA is getting close to $8,000 on average.

The units were purchased for about $19,000 per unit, so that means FEMA is recovering about 40 percent for something used longer and harder than anyone expected.

Who is buying?

According to Jacks, anyone other than a government employee can buy. A lot of dealers are picking them up, refurbishing them and selling them as used, but with warrantees.

Other creative uses are for fishing retreats, camp houses, deer stands and fancy dog houses with air conditioning. (The dogs don't need holding tanks.)

With wiring in place, they make good shops, offices or storage buildings.

Davis said to speed up the auction process, he plans to group some FEMA-spec units into lots of 20 and sell the whole lot.

"We'll have a sale each week." Davis said, "until I'm told to quit."