Is it my imagination or am I on to something?

[Ronald Hiemann]

During the past 3-4 weeks, i have been searching for temporary storage, covered or uncovered. I made calls in the Northeast and now some calls in Florida (St. Pete). All I get is "sorry we are full".
At typical rates of around $300+ for storage and another $50 for electricity, if available, there seem to be a lot of people who have the means to pay such rates for storing their coaches.
Sounds like a business opportunity?
Your thoughts?
Cheers,
Ronald

[Woody]

We have summer inside storage for $100/mo in Rockland Maine and outside secure storage in Sebastian Florida for $85/mo.

[BoaterAl]

We own a small "diesel pusher only" inside storage in KC. full occupancy for 6 years as of Feb 2012. My oldest tenant began renting Oct of 2002. 3 coaches later and now at a 45 footer. Rent is $350 month.
As for business opportunity the big gorilla is taxes. Those tax assessors see those pretty steel buildings and there computers just start smoke-in.

Have you checked Millennium in Sanford FL. POG advertiser inside storage with 50 amp , very nice.

[garyde]

I've spoken with several people who have operated storage rental in warehouses. They lease the bldg and then charge rental for boats autos, rv's trailers, etc.
A guy in Las Vegas had some 10,000 sq ft set aside from his normal warehouse buisness for such monthly rentals. He decide to go back to fulltime ware- house storage because it was less trouble. It can be seasonal and you need to consider insurance, security, staff, etc, rates ; $8.50 and up a foot.
The best deal I saw was storage condo's which was growing rapidly before the recession/depression. You pay for a storage garage.
You can build the interior anyway you like for weekend retreats, to watch games, have freinds over, while you tend to your cars, boats, rvs , whatever.
Those were selling anywhere from $78,000 to $125,000.00 depending on sq. ft.

[redprevost]

I spent 2 weeks in the san antonio area looking,finally finding one nearby with the help of a fellow pog member/I am working with a builder in the canyon lakes area to develop 5 acres for enclosed boat and r.v storage/every one I looked at around san antonio was full with waiting lists and buckhorn only has 6 spaces and a waiting list/as we get the numbers worked out for cap rate I will decide if we go forward/joe

[BoaterAl]

There were two RV Condo developments here in KC. Interesting both developers have put their construction plans on hold. I don't want to throw a bucket of water on this topic...but. It's the small percentage of RV owners that will pay $300 plus for indoor storage. I have friends with $3-500 K motor homes that park outside. A secured fence area, thats all they want. Cheap...might be the word. Spend $300 K for a motorhome and then complain about a safe secure indoor storage at $350 a month.

Yearly contracts have to have enough up front to prevent the tenant from just storing for a few months then pulling out. That has always trying to get a gut feeling when meeting a new tenant. Some can't get past the concept that that stall rental is a yearly fee. My phone gets pretty busy in the late summer, early fall. " One of the most important concerns in my dealings with the renter is security. On our building the stalls are private. This makes the ideal comfort level for the renter that he has no worry about another renter trespassing his space.

I have been not so lucky over the years with the tenants having to deal with several accidents. 1) Tenant stops the garage door prior to full lift, says the door malfunctioned ripping his sat dish and a/c off the roof. 2) Tenant forgets he has rear slid is out.... This RV had no fail safe. Owner blames his wife who wanted something to eat. 3) Tenant calls me about the building is flooding with water. Another tenant left garden hose turned on at wall...Burst brass fitting on hose end. Thank god for floor drains. Normal water usage is very low. As the building sits unattended the tenant refuses to pay the $400 water bill increase. He says the water is included in the rent.

And so it goes in KC

[rahangman]

I can attest as a former owner of "Rental" housing that the tenants will invariably cause or insist that "it wasn't my fault" or "it should be included". But wait, my question might then be, if there seems to be a long list for availability, why not rent on a shorter duration or offer some other incentives, such as subleasing etc. ??? I am curious. My rentals (long ago) had some perks, few to be true, but I tried to make it work. Reason I got out, too much time spent on rentals. Oh well ....

[Kenneth Brewer]

The business opportunity is certainly there, but the question is the real return on investment, versus doing something else with the property. Although there are places where there are waiting lists, such cases do not necessarily mean immunity from economic down turns, unless the customer base is, or appears to be, very large. In such instances, nature agains abhors a vacuum; people tend to move to the newer facility or more convenient facilities, paying the same rates or higher. The older places, successful or not, suffer increasing vacancies. The area land surrounding will often grow with other businesses, reducing access and security - just like mall properties that have matured. Rents go up, so does the risk, occupancy and profitability down. Generally. Even here in the San Antonio area where RedPrevost and I garage our coaches, I don't see new facilities in the area yet. The potential for higher investment return, especially given our litigious nature in this country (seems so, anyway), along with new taxes, permitting, and fees, I think is what trumps development of the larger, enclosed w/power available, multi-unit RV storage sites. I think this is true also even for the outside fenced & secure(?) storage yards. We see new storage facilities going up around here more and more but, it seems clear to me, not the larger storage that could enclose an RV, and not with power, water, and dumping capability, as we have where I garage our coach.

Then, there is the case where we not only had power outages due to storms and the like, but also where tenants leave the power on in the coach for the water heater and electric space heaters, portable or otherwise, which pop the main breakers when the temperatures dip significantly (freezing). And the case where an auto-start generator engaged and the fumes worked into adjoining stalls. People cry bloody murder to the management, with everything that goes with it.

My unsolicited two cents - free.

[BoaterAl]

I had a question asked about the slid hitting the building.

Yes, there are 6" square posts filled with concrete on each side of the overhead garage door. The RV cleared with the slide "out" over the post by a inch.

[garyde]

The RV, Boat, auto, etc storage people I have met offer full service as well. They will wash, clean,empty tanks, fill tanks, prep for trip, Pick up & deliver RV,
Paint, and so on. They also do not allow the customer to park the RV. You deliver it to the storage facility, they wash and put away. Of coarse this adds to the costs but they can actually make higher margins.

[Odie]

As a newbie to the group I am amazed to hear of folks struggling with paying $300 or so for monthly indoor storage for a significant investment of a coach worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. In Florida I am paying $400 per month for a basic hanger to protect my investment and insure I obtain the highest price when I go to sell the aircraft. If you do not pay to properly store your investment then you need to figure compounding your depreciation factor in your cost of ownership. I guess the old adage fits, you get what you pay for.

[Kenneth Brewer]

Well, 'struggling' may be a bit of hyperbole, but I have a feeling that most of the folks in POG are pragmatic, generally aware of the important things in life and what it took to get there, worked for what they have now, and know how easy it would be to lose it through poor decisions and bad luck. So they would 'struggle' in any case, even if it were just four bucks a month, just on gp (general principles).

[merle&louise]

As a newbie to the group I am amazed to hear of folks struggling with paying $300 or so for monthly indoor storage for a significant investment of a coach worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. In Florida I am paying $400 per month for a basic hanger to protect my investment and insure I obtain the highest price when I go to sell the aircraft. If you do not pay to properly store your investment then you need to figure compounding your depreciation factor in your cost of ownership. I guess the old adage fits, you get what you pay for.

Odie,

Truth be known, high end coach owners are as tight as Kate Smith in a phone booth. They will plop down $400,000 for a coach then spend 6 hours looking for the best price on oil filters (I am included in this group - I could be the president of the group).

My good friend, Dee Christianson who owns Buckhorn Lake RV Resort in Kerrville, TX told me that he will have a customer pull up a new Liberty and then try to get him to come down $5 on the site rent!

Everybody's different!

[Pete]

Tuga, probably because he paid way too much for the Liberty, has no gas money to get it home!

[merle&louise]

Oh boy! Now the Liberty guys are going to come out swinging! Maybe we could take up a collection to buy food for them; you know, potted meat, vienna sausage, spam! The kind of food that won't spoil while they are waiting for gas money to be wired from home.

Speaking of Libertys - Where is Jon? Could he be repairing his OTR? Oh I forgot, Libertys don't break they just malfunction!

[rahangman]

Don't overlook the Vienna "Weenies" Sausage, yum!

[Kenneth Brewer]

Odie;

I trust now that you realize, especially as a newbie, how easy it is to start fights on the forum. Please do not provoke us like this. See what you've done?

[merle&louise]

Odie,

I'm sure you know that we just like kidding around. The guys at the top are always the ones who are shot at first!

Thanks for bringing up the subject and again, welcome to POG.

Now let's beat-up on the Country Coach guys!

[BoaterAl]

Odie is thinking.....what in the H... have I gotten into on this web site ?

Tuga. the Kate Smith in a phone booth LOL

[merle&louise]

Thanks Al, my aunt used to say that all of the time. I was very fond of her; it's nice to remember her.

I think Odie will be like the rest of us; he'll make some good friends on POG, love his coach, and look forward to the rallies.

[Gary Carmichael]

Well I have to chime in most of the Liberty guys eat cabbage and corn bread, pinto beans, sort of make gas This is passed thru the headhunter into a chamber where the sludge is heated and the methane gas is removed and stored in a vessel, the sludge is then moved on to the holding tank. Now for the kicker the methane is injected via compressed air into the fuel injector sort of like nitro in a dragster. Bottom line we get 10- 12 mi to the gallon. This process is called blowing smoke, no need to dicker on camp site prices!

[merle&louise]

Good post Gary, that was funny!

[M#1003]

Ronald, You might want to try calling:
Florida Covered Storage
10666 66th St N, Pinellas Park, FL 33782
727-530-7867
We stored there for several years, gated, safe, dump, etc.

[hhoppe]

Gary S you forgot to mention what happens to the solids in our Libertys. They are discharged in little plastic sacks. Hence the fact that Liberty Owners S#*t does not stink. This fact has been verified by Jon.

[hhoppe]

On the main subject of storage. We have been using an indoor storage here in Northern California for about 3 years and are very happy with them. At a rate of $ 317.00 per month we park outside and lock up, they dump the tank, wash the coach, park it indoors and hook up 30 amp electric. We call them a day in advance and they pull it outside, fill the fresh water tank and check the air in all of the tires and leave a note showing air pressures. The owner leases this super large concrete tiltup building for RV, Boat, and classic car storage. He has two locations in the Sacramento Area. It is a first class operation with very dependable employees. No repair work is done within the building. Minor repairs can be done in the outside area.
He appers to be making money with his operations.

[Liam]

I am 50 miles west of DC and pay $125 for indoor, heated storage. Local regional trucking company with excess warehouse space. $40 for outdoor at local manufactured home company. With a tight economy, companies are looking for creative use of empty space.

[Ronald Hiemann]

Hello! Thanks for the recommendation! I did call and asked about available space in early January when I am arriving from Toronto. They said they do have several open spaces and I did not even have to make a reservation.