bshpilot wrote:
pitch wrote:
What is the rent in that Taj Mahal? Doesn't seem to me that a facility like that would be feasible most areas of the country. It would take a very large customer base to cover expenses.
Once you add power and climate control insurance cost start to add up. If you allow any kind of work at all to be done on site your liability expense just went up again.
there is no climate control, only the roof is insulated (or the side wall if you're on the end cap).
its not a matter of PERMITTING work to be done on site, you cant really prohibit it - each person has a lease (month to month after the 1st year), everything has to be contained IN your garage & the lease prohibits certain items (cant live in them & cant run refrigerators or air conditioning).
We're in (houston) Texas so we don't really need insulation (in fact last year i didn't even drain my water lines or winterize our unit), while we got down into the 20's for a week or so the interior of my bay never got below 40. I run small electric radiator/oil heaters if it gets really cold but have never had an issue. I drain my water heater after every trip.
The owner has been VERY smart about it - he's a coach owner (foretravel) himself and he says the only problem renters he's ever had is NON coach owners.
To minimize his risk he builds one barn at a time (about 15 units per barn), fills it up and then builds the next one, there are 6 barns currently and he has room for at least 3 more.
the land is on next to a busy railroad track & some kind of small water / treatment substation (no smell) & while there are plenty of homes around, its not the ideal location for homes.
the large majority of leases are for LARGE 5th wheels & coaches, there are a few travel trailers and some other renters including simple storage (one guy has cars & a lift) some folks store boxes & rubbermaid bins (some have installed scaffolding in them (like a 2nd store) for all their boxes.
I put the link to the site in my post, which contains more information & pricing, give the guy some hits -http://vintagervstorage.com
Dynamite facility. However, it is located in Houston, which has a metro population of over 6 million people and as you said, doesn't get to freezing temps very often. The OP is in Iowa, the whole state has a population of less than 1/2 the population of Houston and if my geography memory is correct, the vast majority of Iowa's population is not in the center of the state, which is where the OP is located. I seriously doubt a venture like this would be nearly as successful in the middle of Iowa. The very reason this one is successful is it's access to a large customer base that cannot store their toys on their property. Not sure that same demographic exists in rural Iowa.
