Storage units do great business when people can afford lots of extra stuff. But they also do pretty good business when people lose their homes and have to put their belongings in storage while they're looking for a place to live.

taxmantoo said:Here's the material cost of seven large units.

If you can rent all 7 units for a year at $130.18 per month, this will cover your material cost. You'll have to add more $$ to cover construction labor and property taxes.

gdrum said:I ran across a 40 small rental storage unit facility for sale at a fair price I think. Its listed at 110k. Currently its half rented with no advertising or anything of that nature. I was just curious as to who have had any experience on this forum with this type of investmestment and if its worth it? Are they really that profitable? Any opinions experience etc would be greatly appreciated.

I did a bunch of research on self storage units a while back, and they seemed to be a really great business. It's like an apartment building, without the hassles of tenants. Plus you can get great income per square foot numbers.

Anyway, 50% occupancy is low. It could be that they're not advertising. The industry averages 80-90% occupancy, at least in urban areas. One metric is that if your area is running at 90-95% occupancy, it's time to open another one (or raise your prices to get occupancy back to 80-90%).

Some things:

* how much is the land/rent? This is one of the gating factors. In my area land is just too expensive for SS...but it would have been perfect 10 years ago. Go figure. Low land costs = higher profits
* what's the maximum income if all the units are rented?
* is there a caretaker on-site? Apparently this is the best way to go - the caretaker lives there, and you have a 24x7 staff built-in.
* how does the rate charged compare to other units in the area?
* for its current customers, how many of them are on short term/long term rentals.

For some on-the-ground research, wander around and ask about storing 2 bedrooms of stuff in competing facilities. While you're asking, ask about the business you're thinking about buying. It could be that it floods, or the owners are retiring, etc. Is the security good, climate control (or not), pests, etc.

The bible for self-storage industry seems to be the Mini-Storage Messenger. They have all kinds of stuff about the industry that's probably worth reading if you're considering a facility purchase.

I thought it was 40, just read the add again its 30 units....this place is 20 minutes from my house(indianapolis) so I figured this would be a deal...ill have to research all of the questions mannyv asked as those all are very good. http://www.weichert.com/search/realestate/PropertyListing.aspx?P=17934428&cityid=2083&q=atlanta+in&pg=3 There is a link to the add.

thanks

Flat roof and snowfall can be an interesting combination.

lol nobody is going to steal a storage building from the middle of a bean field on here 90% of fwf are east and west coast individuals

and if you have ever worked with weichert.com its like alcatraz trying to find the location and phone number of the listing agent

delzy said:Perhaps you should rethink the whole thing anyways. Confusing 30 units for 40 units is a pretty big red flag. I wouldn't worry about others snatching it from you. Every business has its pitfalls and I doubt many of the armchair arbitragers would want to be managing an operation this size. In fact, have you figured how much gas you will spend each month running back and forth? Buying a business like this really has to be complimentary to whatever you are currently doing to be worthwhile.

The unit is no more then 12-15 miles from my house. If gas is the only worry any business situation in this era I probably shouldnt be doing business at all. Besides I paid 2.77 this morning and personally I think thats cheap.

I drive passed it everyday on the way to work. I would incorporate it with my monthly budget as I already spend it now. Being its only 30 units and its not fenced in etc...I doubt the amount of time I actually need to be there is minimal once advertised properly and its rented out. Its not even in the yellow pages that would be an easy start. Setup a P.O. Box and probably stop by couple times a week, or as matters arise. Gas would be the least of my worries, I need to figure out the repair costs of the doors, roof, possibly fencing it off so can offer trailer storage, and other expenses that would be more detrimental to the operation. I figured there might be a few on here who are currently into this in a larger scale that could share ideas and tidbits as to yes this is great to start on a small scale or no its a waste of time.

gdrum said:lol nobody is going to steal a storage building from the middle of a bean field on here 90% of fwf are east and west coast individuals

and if you have ever worked with weichert.com its like alcatraz trying to find the location and phone number of the listing agent
I just put in an offer of $95K.