Making Money With Storage Units

1. Rate the location from 1 to 5. Give a 5 to a facility near dense housing, active resale markets, and convenient roads. Give a 1 to a remote facility with long travel times and weak local demand. Location matters because every mile adds fuel, time, and vehicle wear, while nearby buyers make bulky items easier to sell.

2. Rate the size from 1 to 5. Judge the unit against your available vehicle, storage space, labor, and selling capacity. A full five-by-five unit may fit in a pickup and clear quickly. A full ten-by-twenty unit may require a box truck, two workers, temporary storage, and several weekends of sorting. Size earns a high score only when you can handle it without creating new costs.

3. Rate the tenant history from 1 to 5. Review the auction listing, facility notes, photographs, and any available delinquency information. A recent move-out notice or business-related unit may point to organized contents. A unit with signs of long-term neglect may contain more trash, moisture damage, or low-value mixed goods. Treat history as a clue, not proof, because you usually cannot inspect every box.

4. Subtract cost pressure. List purchase price, buyer premium, sales tax, transport, labor, disposal, cleaning supplies, temporary storage, and expected selling fees. A unit should not receive a high final score simply because it looks full. Fullness creates profit only when the contents have enough resale value to cover the work.

Use a simple worksheet rather than relying on memory. For example:

| Factor | Score | Evidence | |---|---:|---| | Location | 4 | Near apartments, weekend pickup access | | Size | 3 | Ten-by-fifteen; requires a box truck | | Tenant history | 4 | Business closure noted; labeled shelving visible | | Cost pressure | -3 | High current bid and likely disposal load | | Final score | 8 | Review carefully before bidding |

The score does not replace valuation. It helps you compare units consistently. A unit scoring 12 with a $900 purchase price may be weaker than a unit scoring 9 at $250 if the first unit requires expensive hauling and the second contains easy-to-sell household goods.

Location deserves a closer look than the facility’s city name. Check the address in Google Maps and measure the drive from the facility to your home base, resale outlets, donation centers, and disposal sites. Look for road restrictions, stairs, elevator access, loading hours, and parking rules. A facility five miles away may still cost more than one fifteen miles away if it has narrow loading areas and limited pickup windows. Call the office and ask whether buyers can use carts, whether the unit sits on an upper floor, and whether staff require a reservation for large vehicles.

Size affects both inventory and handling. Estimate volume from the photographs, not from the unit label alone. Boxes stacked to the ceiling can hide low-value clothing and broken household goods. A half-full unit with clean shelving, tools, or commercial fixtures may outperform a packed unit of loose bags. Match the size to your exit plan: how you will remove the contents, where you will sort them, and how quickly you can list or sell them.

Tenant history helps you form a working hypothesis about the contents. Look for labels, matching containers, inventory tags, office furniture, children’s items, workshop tools, or restaurant equipment. These clues can suggest a household, a contractor, a small business, or a move. Do not assume a business unit contains valuable equipment; verify visible brands, condition, and local demand before you raise your bid.

Applying the Scorecard to a Real Auction Listing

Use the following example as a model for making a decision with actual numbers. Assume the auction listing shows a ten-by-fifteen unit at a facility near a growing apartment district. The current bid sits at $325, and the buyer premium, tax, and transport remain your responsibility.

1. Confirm the location. Google Maps shows a twenty-minute drive from your base, a nearby donation center, and a disposal site twelve minutes away. The facility allows pickup from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. but requires a box truck for the larger unit. You assign a location score of 4 out of 5 because the route supports both pickups and resale activity.

2. Measure the handling burden. The photographs show a clear path to the back, labeled plastic bins, two metal shelving units, office chairs, and several loose bags. You estimate one box-truck load and two workers for four hours. You assign a size score of 3 out of 5 because the unit fits your equipment, but it will not fit in a pickup.

3. Read the tenant clues. A visible label reads “Cedar Ridge Cabinetry,” and the unit contains shelving, boxed hardware, a shop vacuum, and office furniture. The listing states that the tenant became delinquent after closing the business. You assign a tenant-history score of 4 out of 5. The business explanation fits the visible contents, but you still allow for damaged or obsolete hardware.

4. Estimate costs before bidding. Your worksheet shows: - Purchase bid: $325 - Buyer premium and tax: $65 - Box truck and fuel: $180 - Two workers for four hours: $160 - Disposal and cleaning: $90 - Selling fees and packing materials: $75 - Total estimated cost: $895

5. Estimate conservative revenue. You identify $700 from shelving, usable hardware, and the shop vacuum; $250 from office furniture; and $200 from smaller items and scrap. You value the contents at $1,150, but you apply a conservative reduction because photographs cannot confirm condition. Your working revenue estimate becomes $900.

6. Set the maximum bid. The projected revenue barely exceeds the estimated cost at the current bid. You decide that a $250 margin is necessary for unknown damage, slow sales, and extra disposal. Since the estimated cost already reaches $895 at a $325 bid, you set a maximum bid of $80 before buyer fees and taxes. If another bidder pushes the price above that limit, you leave the auction.

7. Review the outcome after pickup. The unit produces $1,080 in sales over six weeks. Disposal costs run $110 instead of $90, and selling fees reach $82. Total costs finish at $917, leaving $163 before considering your own time. The scorecard worked because it exposed the truck, labor, and disposal costs before the bid, even though the final margin came in below the original target.

The result shows why location, size, and history must work together. The nearby facility helped control transport time. The unit size created a truck and labor burden. The business history helped identify possible buyers for the contents but did not guarantee a strong return. The final decision depended on the combined picture, not one appealing clue.

Quick checklist

• Confirm the facility address and measure travel time. - Check loading hours, stairs, elevators, parking, and vehicle rules. - Compare unit dimensions with your truck, labor, and available storage. - Record visible tenant clues without treating them as guarantees. - List purchase, fees, transport, labor, disposal, cleaning, and selling costs. - Estimate revenue conservatively and allow room for unknown damage. - Set a maximum bid before the auction becomes competitive. - Walk away when the price passes your limit.

Mistakes That Turn Good-Looking Units Into Bad Deals

Mistaking a convenient location for a profitable unit

A nearby facility reduces travel, but it does not create demand for damaged furniture or outdated equipment. A unit close to you can still produce a loss if the contents require several dump runs.

Do this: Use location to reduce transport and improve access to buyers, then value the contents separately.

Not this: Bid aggressively because the facility sits in a busy neighborhood.

Ignoring the cost difference between unit sizes

A ten-by-twenty unit may look like a larger opportunity than a five-by-ten unit, but the extra volume can require a truck, several workers, temporary storage, and weeks of sorting. If your selling channels cannot absorb the inventory, size becomes a liability.

Do this: Match the unit to one specific removal plan. Write down the vehicle, number of workers, pickup hours, and storage destination before bidding.

Not this: Assume more cubic feet means more profit.

Treating tenant history as a guarantee

A business name, moving notice, or neatly stacked boxes can improve your estimate, but the tenant may have stored obsolete stock, broken equipment, or unsold merchandise. Tenant history provides context; it does not replace inspection and conservative pricing.

Do this: Use history to form a list of likely contents, then assign realistic resale values based on condition and local demand.

Not this: Pay a premium because the listing mentions a contractor, retailer, or business owner.

The best unit is not always the fullest, newest, or cheapest. It is the unit whose location keeps handling practical, whose size fits your resources, and whose tenant history supports a believable resale plan. Score those factors before emotion enters the auction, and your bids will reflect profit potential rather than appearance.

End of chapter one. 4 more chapters in the full book.