Picking the right tenant storage for your multifamily property can be challenging. Whether you’re the property owner, manager, or you’re with the company that’s building the apartment complex, it’s important to keep particular things in mind to be sure that this storage is going to be viable in the long run. You have a lot of options to choose from and, more than likely, a budget that you have to stay within. So what should you be looking for to be sure that you’re going to get the most bang for your buck?
Consider The Size Of The Unit
Size is important when deciding which storage units you want to go with on your property. If you want your tenants to have something closer to tenant lockers you’d probably want to go with something smaller. On the other hand, if you want to be able to offer full-sized storage units to your tenants, you’d want to look in that direction. This is important for numerous reasons, some of which might not be immediately obvious.
The first and biggest reason why this is so important is that you consider the size of the unit is that you probably only have a set amount of space to get this set up. If you have a lot of space to use you might want to fit as many into the area as possible, potentially because you plan to just tack the price of the storage unit onto the rent and give the tenants free storage. Regardless of how much space you plan on using, it’s important that you find the right choice for you.
Sturdy Vs Flimsy
Most people would prefer not to store their things in something that’s not sturdy. On top of that, if you’re investing your money into storage, there’s a good chance that you want to make sure that it’s going to last as long as possible. Lower quality units break more often which means that you’ll need to have someone out for maintenance or replacements more often, and those kinds of visits add up pretty quickly. If you have to replace a unit every year you end up spending a great deal of cash on this as time goes on.
That being said, in some cases, sturdier storage can be a little more expensive upfront. You really have to think about how much money you could be sinking into this over time instead of just upfront. On top of that, if the storage units are flimsy and break somewhat frequently, your tenants probably won’t want to rent them out from you. That can be incredibly bad if you hope to get any sort of a return on investment. Remember that your tenants could easily just go down to the off-site storage provider and have something that they know is sturdy.
Security Makes A Difference
The security features of your storage units make a world of difference. Ensuring that thieves aren’t going to be able to easily get in and out of the storage units means that your tenants will be more likely to use them. After all, no one wants their things getting stolen. If someone is going through the trouble of getting a storage locker or unit for their things, there’s a good chance that there’s a reason for that. If there wasn’t, most people would have just thrown those things out instead of paying someone to store their items somewhere.
That being said, you don’t need to have the kind of security that they use at Fort Knox. The truth about thieves is that most of them are lazy and opportunistic. The most common type of theft is done with a method called a smash and grab because of how quick it is. Really, you just want to make sure that no one is able to steal things in under a minute because that’s what thieves want. It’s unlikely that a master lockpick or someone with an angle grinder is going to be targeting your storage units, and even if they do unless you have armed guards on-site there’s not much you’d be able to do about it.
Of course, you could spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on locks that are nearly impossible to pick even for the best lockpicks and have protections that make the use of power tools less viable, but that’s not really necessary. People that are going through the trouble of planning something out like that are rare. On top of that, if someone has the skills to plan out that kind of heist they’d probably want to go after a bigger target. Remember, there are high-security off-site storage providers. If your tenant wanted the highest level of security available they’d use one of those services. All you need to do is provide protection against the common thief and everyone is happy.
Shop Within Your Budget
The price of the storage unit is going to make a huge difference because you are, after all, probably on a pretty tight budget. That being said, it’s good to do your research to make sure that you’re actually getting the most bang for your buck. If you know where to look you might even find something that’s cheaper and better than other options.
Making sure that you get the most bang for your buck possible is incredibly important here. You don’t want to overspend on garbage, but you also don’t want to underspend on garbage. There’s a balance to be found and taking the time to do your research on what’s available is going to be incredibly important for this. You might have a budget but that doesn’t mean that you have to get something that doesn’t work well for your multifamily property, no matter how much it might feel like that’s the case at first. You have a lot of options for this.
Privacy Is Important
This item kind of goes hand and hand with security, but it’s a different angle of it altogether. People want to be able to store their things without the prying eyes of the public being able to see exactly what they have. In some cases that’s because they have valuables, in some cases it’s because it makes them feel more secure, and in some cases it’s simply because they want their privacy. No matter the reason, people typically prefer storage lockers or units to provide at least a little bit of privacy so that they can store their items in peace.
Aesthetically Pleasing
Everyone that can see likes to look at pretty things. Of course, as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That doesn’t always mean that there’s nothing that you can do to ensure that the storage units add to the area rather than just end up being an eyesore. If your tenants feel like the storage lockers fit in well to the area, it can make them more likely to want to use them. On the other hand, if the storage lockers are nothing but an eyesore, you might have tenants that prefer to stay as far away from them as possible.
Flexibility In Use
Your tenants, at the end of the day, are people. Everyone has different needs and owns different stuff. That’s just kind of part of being a person. To go forward with that concept, people will use their storage lockers differently. Some people will use them to store things like nice dinnerware or extra blankets and an air mattress for guests and other people will use them to store their extra canned goods or even auto parts. The key here is to be sure that your units are able to accommodate everyone’s needs so you can rent the maximum number of them out.
Fortunately, you can do this pretty easily so long as you look at the features of the storage units. Some units are just wire mesh lockers while others are more what you’d expect to see at an off-site storage facility. You can also get options in between, at the end of the day it’s just important that people can use their lockers for whatever they see fit, and there not be any weirdness in trying to get it set up properly. There are few things as stressful as trying to get your storage locker set up and it is difficult to do so.
Getting the Perfect Storage Units for Your Property
Not every apartment complex provides on-site storage for its tenants. That being said, putting some extra thought into this can make the venture a lot more profitable to you. People can tell when thought has been put into a project and, by extension, if a project was only done with money in mind. By thinking hard about what kind of units you want on your property you can make your tenants feel like this was something for them while still pocketing the profits every month.