Most 17-year-old boys spend their free time playing video games or goofing around with friends.
But for Michael Haskell, his hobby is more enterprising. He buys abandoned storage lockers at low prices and resells the contents – making a pretty penny in the process.
‘Any of these could be a gold mine,’ Michael told the New York Times while walking through a storage facility on Staten Island.
The idea struck him two years ago after he watched a rerun of the reality competition TV series, Storage Wars.
Since then, he has scavenged goods from units run by CubeSmart, Extra Space Storage, and Manhattan Mini Storage in and around the Big Apple.
The 17-year-old opened his own eBay store, Mike’s Unique Treasures, to sell his finds, where he earns over $7,000 a month, he told the outlet.
His business is based at his New Jersey home, where Michael lives with his mother, Anna.
The hobby was simple at first, until the teen bought a unit in Brooklyn for $450 and discovered tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of art inside.
Michael Haskell, 17, is a New Jersey highschooler who makes thousands from buying abandoned storage units and selling its contents
Michael (right) says he started his hobby after he watched an episode of Storage Wars two years ago
The teen has an eBay page where he sells all his storage unit finds
The unit once belonged to 1980s art dealer Andrew Crispo, inside he uncovered a Man Ray painting and drawings by Walt Kuhn.
Michael walked away with nearly $50,000 in profit.
‘I’m always on the search for the next Crispo,’ he told the outlet, referencing his first unit with a big find. ‘That was my first big score.’
‘My family took my hobby seriously after that,’ the teen quipped.
The 17-year-old has uncovered countless stories in these units. One in Hackensack, New Jersey, belonged to a socialite and was filled with designer dresses and accessories, along with empty vodka bottles and divorce papers.
Another Upper East Side, Manhattan, locker he explored belonged to a relative of the first black mayor of Richmond, California.
Although he’s still a senior at a Bergen County school, with English essays to write and college applications to complete, his next treasure hunt is never far from his mind.
His room, once filled with Legos, is now his office, adorned with rare antiques like a Hermès 3000 typewriter and oil paintings.
The 17-year-old’s first ‘big score’ was a storage unit in Brooklyn. He purchased it for $450 and inside there was $50,000 worth of art
More items Michael listed on his eBay website, some products range from designer clothes to rare objects
Corridor of self storage unit with yellow doors (stock) the teen has uncovered a plethora of items and valuables in each facility he purchases
Alongside his textbooks on his desk are Michael’s income tax documents, which his mother is helping him file.
Anna, an investor herself, told the outlet that her teen has always enjoyed reselling things.
Since middle school, he would research items that were going out of production, buy them, and then resell them.
‘I don’t know what he could be one day, but what he’s doing is almost like distressed investing, buying distressed assets,’ she told the Times.
She believes he might follow in her footsteps and pursue investments. For now, she sees his hobby as a valuable learning experience.
‘I think he’s learning about human paths, about human nature,’ she told the outlet.
‘People’s lives are in these lockers. Belongings can tell you a lot about a person. When you meet someone, you might think you know them, but you just don’t know,’ she added.
