If you have ever driven down a road for very long, you may have found yourself wishing you had more room to stretch out a knee, or a place to hold your 64oz mug. If you do much traveling in the summer with the family, a little extra elbow room would go a long way for the kids in the back seat. In fact, you may have found yourself a little envious of your neighbors brand new Class A RV, with the slide out canopy and room for the whole family. You may have wondered why you could not get one yourself, and then looked over your shoulder at the small driveway and realized you have no room for such a luxury.
Fortunately, there is a way to have your cake and eat it too, as the saying goes. RV storage is a common obstacle for would-be RV owners. The practicality of parking the whale of a vehicle is sometimes less than accommodating. You can not just pull it into the garage for the winter and you can not very well leave your investment parked on the curb. Most city ordinances or homeowners associations would not allow that.
For some, with enough room to spare, a special shed or carport could be erected in the backyard to use as RV storage . However, it may become somewhat of an eyesore to The Missus and your neighbors. You may also be required to attain permits from your city in order to build the structure and it would have to meet building codes.
Insurance for your RV may also be a premium if you do not use adequate RV storage because it heightens the chance that the RV may be damaged.
One option that is becoming increasingly popular is offsite RV storage . Some RV owners may be reluctant to think about leaving their RV in the care of someone else. However, professional RV storage establishments are very safe and usually offer more security than your own driveway, garage and certainly your street side would offer.
Some of the most sought after features of offsite RV parking are :
Access Controlled Gate - This means that only tenants with their own RV parking spots can enter the premises. In most cases, each tenant has a unique pass code that unlocks the gate, so a property manager would know who is coming and going.
Fenced Perimeter - Along with a gate, comes a fenced perimeter. The fencing should be high and rolled over the top, aimed toward the outside, so that anyone thinking to climb it will think again. This will also keep wandering animals out of the area.
Video Surveillance - Every RV owner will appreciate an offsite RV parking spot that keeps a continuous eye on the property and records all activity with video cameras. Visible cameras are a great way to ward off possible vandals and hidden cameras are the perfect way to catch anyone in the act.
Covered Parking - RV owners may want their RV to be protected from heavy snowfalls or rain. Covered parking is much like using a carport and will provide some shelter for an RV.
ndoor Parking - This is just like parking an RV in a garage. An indoor parking space will house the RV and keep it completely isolated from any weather conditions.
Another perk of an indoor parking space is that the RV owner can put a lock on the door, as an added measure of security.
posted by May 15, 2008 6:25 | permalink | General Keys To Maximize Rentals - Customer Satisfaction
There are many people that do a lot of research when looking for and ideal place to store their items. They make many phone calls and search endless websites looking for the best of what they desire. The question is though, what are the customers looking for in a space to store things? What are they looking for when they are looking for their special storage rental ? What do you think they are in need of? What will get them to rent at your facility?
Those are the questions that property managers ask themselves every day they are in to work. No one wants to fail and not sell storage rental spaces. It would be a dream for a manager want to say that they do not have any spaces available to rent because they are completely full. However, they could still say to the customer that they can take their name and number and let them know when one becomes available. There are some facilities that can say that to their customers. Now are they doing anything differently than the next facility with rooms for storing? Are they the pillar of excellent customer service? Are they giving their storage rental spaces away at pennies on the dollar? What is their secret?
Some people say that the secret to getting people to come down to a facility to get a storage rental space from them is customer service along with a great location, mixed with some great pricing. Some of you managers might wonder if you have all of that to offer the customer? You can never be too sure. The combination above is hard to have and hard to attempt to possess. You cannot pick up and move your location to where the customers are after you have already set up your property. Now, you can change the prices on your storage rental spaces and attempt to give outstanding customer service, but what is the definition of outstanding customer service and what is the best price for a rental space?
You as a property manager can stress yourself out trying to figure out what is going to get you more business. Every facility is different and has a different customer base. Not everyone is going to be able to win over every customer. What you can do is completely take care of the customers needs. The great thing about that is that every customers needs are different. This is why not one facility is able to take care of each customer, but not everyone is committed to take care of people uniquely.
As people are out their doing research looking for the best facility, what are they really looking for? It is different from one person to the next. What would happen if people had personalities on the phone instead of trying to read from a script? What would happen if one company thought outside of the box, came out, and asked customers what they need? Most companies spend tons of money thinking up ways to get customers into their buildings to store their belongings. The funny thing is that the simplest solution is right in front of them. Just ask the customer what they want. Just think, if we actually knew what the customer wanted and then we could satisfy their needs fully.
Ever wondered how storage units got started? Was it one day when a man had an empty garage thought, Oh, I am going to rent this to someone? Did a farmer have a big open field and thought, I will build some sheds on this and rent them out? However it got started it is a huge business and a very needed business.
Hawaii predates to the earlier settles between 600 A.D. and 750 A.D. and that is a long time ago. Since Hawaii was so isolated from any outside contact, it was very important for their survival to steward their supplies to ensure the survival and livelihood of their civilization. These types of storehouses were called hale papa a. They were used to store various treasured possessions such as food, crops, tools, weapons, and other important items for their survival.
We would call them storage units today but the storehouses built in Hawaii pre B.C. were built 2 feet or more above ground and guarded by elite and trusted warriors. The ruling chief was in charged of the hale papa a. The chief managed the distribution of the goods and picked the warrior guards. The better the job the chief did the higher his status was.
Today, Hawaiian storage units perpetuate the history and the values of their heritage. Their facilities are well protected maybe not with a warrior standing in front of the door. But their security is very important to them today as well as it was then. They want to give the best service they can and ensure their customers that their belongings are safe and well looked after.
Some earlier rental unit stories are:
There was a story from New York about a lot of homes that were built with unattached garages and since so many people took the subway and buses or walked that they did not have a car so they did not need their garage. So they would rent them to someone who had car and wanted to store it in a garage.
There was probably a farmer or someone with a lot of land that started building sheds and renting them out for storing farm equipment and things of that nature, after awhile they saw the demand for this and built them better and more secured. They poured blacktop drives and fenced the properties. They put up gates and made them to have access pin numbers for only the customers to get in and out. They put an office in have it managed and call it a business!
However the business started it is a big demand all over the country. Customers store all their treasures and valuables with a company. Customers will get storage units to store their household goods while relocating, they will get a unit to make room in their house for company who are coming in for the holidays. They will get a unit for their son or daughter who are away at college. Instead of moving it back home, the parents will pay to get a unit in the town where they go to college and keep it safe while he or she is home for the summer.
Anyone who might need information on storage units can just look around, companies are popping them up all over, and they are just not in fields they are in middle of towns now. It might be hard to find a warrior guard but you will find them secure.
posted by May 13, 2008 5:10 | permalink | General The Last Person Wanting Storage
The last person wanting storage was looking to store her studio size downtown metro west coast apartment, because she could not stand being all alone. She thought she could handle living alone since her husband got deployed to Iraq serving in the United States Military. When he expressed his concern for her, she asked him how could he be worried about her. He was the one going to Iraq. How could he be worried about me, she said? She loved the way she felt about their first place together. She loved decorating the new apartment, how could she not be okay, she loved living there. He is the one going to Iraq. What a great guy. So concerned for her welfare. She was saying, oh my god, my hero is going to be in harms way, in Iraq for god sake. For god knows how long, that is how it is, she explained, when you are serving in the military. Those being deployed cannot say a lot about where they are going, and it has been two months and not a word from him. Anyway, being home alone, even in a great apartment in a fun city, is harder than she thought it was going to be. Now she understands his concern. She had not even considered how different it would be in that apartment when he was gone. She thought she was going to be fine. But now that she has been alone for two months she finds she is spending all her time waiting for that phone call or email.
What a way for nineteen-year-old newlyweds to start off a marriage, let alone a life. She spoke to her mother who lives upstate and her mother told her she should move home until her husband comes back. Her mom said she would be down in two weeks with her two brothers to help her move and that she should prepare by looking for storage to reserve and find a truck rental company.
She looked online and found lots of facilities with great amenities being offered. She found a climate controlled 5x15 unit available at a convenient location with a great introductory two-month special rate and competitively priced monthly rate and called the facility to rent it. It was reassuring to know there was security at the storage property offering controlled gate access and video surveillance. She booked the unit over the phone with a 10-dollar nonrefundable pre-payment on her credit card to hold the unit and was told it was good for three days. To her surprise, when she asked for a referral for a truck rental company, the facility offered free use of the truck to make her move in easy. She decided she would go to the storage place the next day to sign the month-to-month contract, get moving supplies, including a lock, and schedule the truck. Now she had something to keep her busy for the next two weeks and was ready to get packing. As her brothers were coming in two weeks with her mother, she put down the deposit for the truck on her credit card to reserve its use, and went ahead and rented her 5x15 unit and set up her account with a credit card for monthly billing. This way she could pay her storage bill every month from her moms house over the phone by charging the credit card on file at the store.
The evolution of the storage unit is an idea that us modern day humans do not typically think about. When we want to store goods we have multiple choices on location and design. This was not always the case, the evolution in human development and technology played the key role in how we store our goods today.
The earliest forms of self storing are found in caves. Hominids used caves as a natural storage unit during the Lower Paleolithic period. The Lower Paleolithic period is one of the three classifications scientist has separated the Paleolithic period into. The Lower Paleolithic period extends from around 2.5 million years ago until around 200,000 years ago. The middle Paleolithic period extends from around 200,000 years ago until around 40,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic period extends from around 40,000 years ago until the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 years ago. Even though storing began in the Paleolithic period with primitive technology using caves, it is a way of storing we as modern day humans still use today. In a crude way, the cavemen of the Paleolithic period can be credited with the advent of climate controlled storing, the most modern type of storage unit today.
As human civilization advanced from hunter gatherers to farmers the need for storing goods changed. With the development of communities of people living, working, and trading together storing has become more personalized. During this time the invention of clay pots became a great way to store goods. Using this new technology made it easier to transport goods from one location to another and allowed for new types if items to be stored. This allowed for the further advancement in community development as well as trade. As communities grew, technology grew with it, ancient Egypt is a great example. The discovery of new building materials and techniques has led to the large scale building of a community. Not only did this require the men for the construction, but supplies. These supplies needed to be stored, so we now see the first warehousing facility or storage unit being built. The housing of animals in stables, the storing of food for feeding the thousands of men, soldiers, and animals it takes to keep a community growing. If we take a look at the other side of the world we visit the ancient culture of Mayans. Mayans had the same need for storing as ancient Egypt, except for on major difference. The climate in Central America is much more humid than that of the deserts of Egypt. This created a need for more advanced storing technologies. Keeping food such as mesa dry when being stored was very important to the Mayan people. Not only was mesa a main staple of their diet, but also when mesa is stored wet it becomes flammable. Since keeping mesa dry when stored was almost impossible, new techniques in processing the corn and preparing it for storing had to be created. So drying of the corn in the sun to remove the moisture content had to be done first. This shows the correlation between the technology of how to store goods as well as how to process them.
The need for storing of goods has always been a priority of humans. It is the technology of what we store that dictates the evolution of how we store. In addition articles we will follow evolution of the storage unit from the ancient world to the Middle Ages on into modern times.
posted by May 10, 2008 5:40 | permalink | General Self Storage Amenities
When you are looking for your first home, what kind of qualities do you want that house to possess. When people are looking for their first home, they are looking for particular things that they want to be a part of their everyday life. While looking for that perfect house you do not want to make the mistake of paying for a home monthly when you do not really enjoy living there.
You might take months or even years to make that right decision that is going to get you the best home for the dollar. First, you should look at the most amount of money that you can give to the bank, monthly. Usually you want to see how much house or how many different amenities you can get for your hard earned dollar.
One great thing that most people look for but do not put a huge emphasis on is the ability to control how hot or cold your house is at any certain time. For most families this is a lifesaver on those very hot days or on those blistery winter days. Being able to control the temperature of your home is a key amenity to home ownership.
This same amenity can be said to be a great thing for the self storing industry. Many people are looking for climate controlled storage in order to keep their belongings from the extremes. When many people think about this type of rental space they do not really know what it is or why they should rent it. They see the higher price tag associated with this type of rental space, but they do not know the benefits.
Climate controlled storage does a great job of controlling the temperature inside the rental space. This different type of space allows you the opportunity to protect your belongings from the extremes of each temperature. It is as if you are placing your items in the living room of your house. These are things that you do not want to put in your garage where they could be damaged from the weather.
Another great benefit of climate controlled storage is it also protects you from the elements such as the rain or other elements. With storing on the outside, your items could be susceptible to dust and other harmful things that could hurt your belongings. Who wants to open up their door and see that their items are ruined from the elements? No one wants that.
Depending on your area of the nation, you might have many options when it comes to choosing which climate controlled storage will earn your business. Many facilities have both options for the customer to choose from. You as the property manager have to find out what the customer is storing to be able to assist them in finding the ideal rental space. You are the guiding light for the customer in terms of making sure they do not make a mistake in finding the wrong space for their needs.
Climate controlled storage can benefit a wide range of people. For people who are storing their priceless antiques to their very expensive furniture, they need to ensure the right space fits their needs. Ensure that your clientele make the right decision and does not focus solely on the price tag. Is their a price tag on their priceless belongings?
Have you ever realized that you will soon run out of closet space the next time your kids outgrow their clothes? Maybe you have already outgrown your closets and the kids have long since outgrown last summers clothes. Families who are lucky enough to have to children of the same gender can practice the hand-me-downs tradition. This tradition simply means that as one child grows out of his pants, you store them for the next son so he can wear them when he is that size.
The hand-me-downs tradition saves a family hundreds, of dollars. However, it does require a lot of room for packing boxes away until children are ready to wear them again. If there are several years between one child and the next, that can mean a lot of boxes to store. One solution to this space problem is a storage unit rental .
A storage unit rental can come in any size from a small closet, or half bathroom to rooms the size of a two-car garage or larger. Keeping your hand-me-downs stored in a storage unit rental and will help keep your life organized and save you tons of money.
If you choose to store boxes of hand-me-downs in your own closet or garage, be careful. Poor storing can ruin the value of second-hand clothing. Imagine depending on those 4T clothes and when it comes time to unpack them you discover they have been damaged by water, mice or mildew. Now you have to unexpectedly go and buy clothes that you had not budgeted for. This can be very costly.
Rather than risk your investment in years of clothing by keeping them in suspect storing conditions, put them in a secure storage unit rental . Some store room facilities even offer insurance on your property in case of damage from neglect on the part of the property owner.
Whether you put your items in a storage unit rental or your closet, there are some things you can do to organize the hand-me-downs. Labeling the outside of the boxes with the size and gender will allow you to quickly assess what you have. This will also allow you to maximize the usage you can get out of the clothing.
You should also pack like things in the same box, so t-shirts in one box, shorts in another, etc. If there are any sets, place all the pieces next to each other so you can unpack them all together years down the road.
Even if you have one child or your youngest child has gone through some of the hand-me-downs, you should consider keeping them in your store room for a while. You may have other children, but if you are certain you will not, a friend or charity would be grateful to receive your well-kept clothing.
If you are ready to get rid of some of your childrens clothing, you could sell them and use the profit to buy new clothes for your growing brood. A garage sale, or rummage sale, is an excellent way to sell your clothes, allow another family to save on buying discounted clothing and give you some money to buy more clothes for your family.
On a side note, the youngest in your family will find it a special treat when they get a brand new pair of shoes or pants that none of their older brothers wore. Make sure to treat them every now and then to something that is all their own.
America the beautiful they say. We know the state of the economy and it is not great. We did not have to wait for the government to admit we are in a crunch, after all, we are the ones putting gas in our car, buying diapers and food. We can talk about all the things that take money out of our wallets more quickly than we can put it in. We see minimum wage increasing, what seems like, every year. We complain about money and we complain about not having enough.
What we do not do is stop to think about those who are not employed. Some of us are actually doing well for what we have but we want more. Some people out there just want to have a job to go to five days a week. We can talk for hours upon hours about unemployment being a choice, but the fact of the matter is that 5 percent of our beautiful nation is unemployed. If you do the math, that is 7.6 million people not attached to a company payroll. That number is nearly the size of New York City?
Mostly everyone has their own take on what they would like to do for a living or what they would like to do day in and day out. Some jobs out there might not be jobs you think you would particularly enjoy but it is a job that you currently do not have. With different companies making a mark in the industry, you can decide to hop on the job growth express.
There is not any type of company that has shown the record growth as storage companies. This industry has been the fastest growing business within the last 30 years. Now, 1 in every 10 people in America use storage companies. The industry employs over 160K people, which is about three people per facility. This industry is looking at opening over 100 more facilities over the next couple of years. By doing that math, that is over 3000 new jobs for millions of unemployed people. That is not, of course, going to cover the gap of unemployment in America but it is a start.
Storage companies bring in people that like the idea of tasking mixed with a little bit of sales. Depending on what part of the nation you are in, your location might be busier than others might. Some people feel over whelmed with the amount of people walking through their doors. Do not forget, the associates also have to help the people on the phone. Some facilities have their phone ring off the hook and they have to help the people that walk through the door. Some managers at the storage companies also have to make sure that the building maintenance is up to speed as well. It is a lot of responsibility that these managers have, so do not take what they do as an easy job. By no means is their position easy.
However, back to the point. Do not shrug off the idea of working in these storage companies. You might be pleasantly surprised at the benefits the industry offers. It is a fast growing industry and there is some fierce competition within the industry from a vast number of companies. Some facilities are on top of their games and some are just starting to step out of their comfort zones. As a whole, storage companies are worth over 220 billion dollars. Most smart business people would quickly jump at the opportunity to be a part of the fastest growing industry.
Anytime a person enters into a rental situation there is a lease agreement involved. This lets both parties know what all of the rules and regulations are and what is expected out of both sides. These legal agreements are of course also used in the self storage industry, and it is very important for new tenants to read over the entire thing and to familiarize themselves with it.
The rental agreement will let the new tenant know what type of a lease it is, when the rent is due, and what happens if the payment is delinquent.
Most self storage facilities are simply month to month, so a tenant is able to discontinue the lease whenever they need to. Oftentimes the tenant is required to give a written notice to the facility manager as to when they will be vacating their space, so there is a record of it. This information is all spelled out in the rental agreement.
The written lease explains to the new tenant about the store policies concerning when the rent is actually due, any type of a grace period that is given, and what happens if the rent is not paid within this timeframe. For example, a company will often allow rent that is due on the First of the month to be paid as late as the Ninth without any extra penalties. On the Tenth day of the month however, the gate code for the tenant will no longer work and they will be assessed a late fee. If the renter continues to not pay the monies owed, then further action can be taken. After thirty days, the store manager may apply an over-lock, so the customer is not able to get into their unit. Another fee is added to the bill at this time to cover the cost of the labor. After forty-five days a unit can be put up for public auction for non payment. Yet another fee is added, to help to defray the costs incurred facility. Each state has its own set of laws concerning the timeframe and the procedures that a self storage company must take before anything is auctioned. All of this is laid out in meticulous detail in the lease that the tenant originally signs, so it is imperative that even an experienced renter read the fine print.
The lease agreement will also explain to the tenant all of the details for any security deposit that they paid on their new self storage unit. It makes clear that this deposit money is used to repair any damage that occurs while the tenant is in possession of the unit, or if the space is not completely cleaned out at the end of the lease. If the unit is left in good condition and swept clean, then the tenant will receive their deposit money back. This is usually mailed to the former customer in the form of a check that they will get in the mail in a couple of weeks.
The lease will explain the rules about what can and cannot be put into a self storage unit. Things such as food and live plants cannot be stowed away because they attract bugs and rodents. Explosives, ammunition, and petroleum products cannot be stored because they might blow up. And obviously anything illegal is not allowed in the unit, such as a stolen car, a murder weapon, or a meth lab.
Every tenant must sign a rental agreement before they rent a self storage unit. And they should always read it carefully before ever signing on the dotted line. Taking a few minutes upfront to understand the lease can save a lot of heartache in the future.
posted by May 06, 2008 6:37 | permalink | General Shopping For Cheap Storage
There are irreplaceable items handed down in families that sometimes have monetary value and always have sentimental value. When relatives pass on, many times family members are torn over who gets to keep certain items. Sentimental value is not to be underestimated when it comes to who gets to keep the family dining room set that everyone remembers sitting at every year for holiday dinners with those who spoiled you for fun and made your every wish come true. No doubt as generations pass, more and more stuff can accumulate. When space starts to become an issue consider your options. Sometimes disseminating items to family members just is not practical due to their space constraints. When no one in the immediate family has space to keep items that no one wants to throw away, consider utilizing a safe rental unit. These are items tied to memories that cannot be replaced. These items are part of your heritage.
Sometimes finding extra money in the budget can be a challenge, as a rental unit could be considered a nonessential expense on a fixed budget. Solicit relatives to assist you financially. Shopping around and waiting for the right time can be an excellent way to find the deal of the century, cheap storage.
Open the yellow pages or get on line and start finding places with amenities that give you peace of mind. Facilities that offer controlled gate access, fenced in security, door alarms, lights, video surveillance and protection coverage are assurances that the facility is professionally operated. Find facilities in your area and monitor a few of the national rental chains. Make note of the facilities that offer a free truck to move in. While cheap storage can be found anywhere offering space equivalent to a dark and dank dumpster, allowing anyone to dive in, take your time and shop around for a while.
Cheap storage can be found at facilities that offer high tech security. It is true. Because larger facilities on average figure a customer will rent for approximately six months or longer once the customer rents a unit they can offer cheap storage different times throughout the year and still make money. These facilities record ongoing statistics to better understand the market. These facilities can offer deals that beat the comparable competition, offering high tech security options and protection, and cost less than the dark and dank facilities that you would not want to use anyway. No one wants to enter a Specials run by the national companies can give away the farm, so to speak, because it is a dynamic numbers game. Throughout the year free months and 99 percent off deals are offered with month-to-month contracts. Understanding the business, gives you the advantage of being able to economically store items utilizing cheap storage in a very cost effective safe and smart manner.
Keeping irreplaceable items to pass on to younger family members when the time is right will be a legacy they will remember you by. Sitting at a large dining room table at a family gathering and reviewing family photos of generations past, while sitting at the same table in those photos, instill heritage and values that cannot be found any other way. This way you get to keep some family memories at close hand without having to part with the items.
