Some of us are lucky enough to have some spare space at or around home -
it could turn into a nice little earner.

SpaceOut was featured in one of the cover articles from the September 2010 edition of Money Magazine  – An Extra $200 a month renting out spare space.

The Money Magazine “Smart Money” article outlines some of the many benefits of renting out your spare  space and Quotes our Technical Director (Andy Henderson) :

“Almost everyone has unused space around their home,apartment, or business – whether that’s your garage, your parking spot, your shed, a spare room or even your fridge – you’ll find there is someone out there willing to pay you to use it.”

Private rentals are increasingly becoming recognised as real alternatives to traditional self-storage facilities – and are often much more convenient, and significantly cheaper as well.  Using online services such as www. SpaceOut.com.au, ordinary Australians can lease out their excess or unused space privately and make a little extra cash on the side.

“Many of us have got a spare bedroom or shed. More often than not it’s half-filled with our own junk,  Why not do a reshuffle and rent it out?”

Private storage suits all types of people – particularly retirees and “empty nesters”,  who wouldn’t dream of  getting in a tenant (and sharing their house and lives with someone), but are very happy to store someones furniture in the spare room for a few months or more while the person is off travelling.

“Typically you are looking at between $100 and $200 a month for doing little more than putting stuff in a room and shutting the door”

If you’d like to read more about how you can make money from space, and turn your unused bedroom, shed or garage into an extra regular income, get out today and get your own copy of Money Magazine – September 2010.

From 1 September 2010 we have introduced a fee of $6 per month for Space for Rent listings (although Searches, Membership and Space Wanted listings are all still completely free).

Spaceout has always been outstanding value (we think that it still is),  and  we have always wanted our service to be used by (and useful to) as many people as possible throughout Australia, so introducing a small fee is not a decision we have taken lightly.    But  after much debate and consideration we are confident that introducing a fee is the best way to ensure that SpaceOut and the unique service that we provide, continues to grow and improve in the future.

Why A Listing Fee?

Here are some of the reasons why we have decided to introduce a fee for creating a new Space for Rent listing :

• Is it Really Free ? - this was by far the question that we got asked most often.  People were surprised that we were offering Spaceout as a free service in the first place, and even after we explained that it really was free, many were still suspicious and wondered what the catch was (there wasn’t one!!).  By introducing a fee, we recognise that some people may no longer list with us, but our market research suggest that even as a paid service SpaceOut offers great value (the possibility of earning $200 or more a month, easily outweighs the listing costs), and that in fact, many people are likely to be more comfortable paying a fee.
• Improving the Listing Standard – we’ve noticed that the listings some members create are very basic – often containing very little (or no) additional information about the space itself. This makes it harder for people to decide whether or not the space may be suit their needs.  Because the listing was free, some members seemed to feel that they shouldn’t bother about putting much effort into their listing (probably not realising that more detailed listings tend to get rented out faster). We believe that the small fee will encourage people to spend a little more time preparing their listings – making them more detailed and informative – which is better for everyone.
• Keeping it Fresh – Free listings provide no  real incentive for the owner to flag their space as leased once they have rented it out.  Some people members just let their listing expire at the end of three months – even though they have leased out the space.  This meant that they would get extra “contact requests” – which were sometimes ignored, and sometimes when people enquired about a space they were told that it was no longer available.  The monthly subscription provides an incentive for space owners to be a bit more proactive about managing their listing – which leads to a better experience for people looking for space, as they are less likely to find a space which is no longer actually available.
• Ongoing development – creating and running an online service like SpaceOut is not a cheap exercise.  We get suggestions and requests from members for improvements to the service (thanks very much for those), and have lots of plans or how we can improve and expand the functionality of the site.  Generating some sort of income from the site means that we will have more funds that we can put towards improvements – and will be able to offer additional functionality and features faster (and better) than we would have been able to otherwise.

How is the fee applied?

Once we had agreed that a  fee was necessary, we needed to look at the best way to apply this.  We considered quite a few different approaches, including

• a one off  fee, to allow listing  until the space had been rented (e.g. $50 for the life of the listing),
• a commission (a percentage of the space rental rate) once the space had been successfully leased (e.g. 20% of the monthly rental rate),
• a set price for a set listing period (e.g. $30 for 3 months),
• a sliding fee based on the advertised monthly space rental,

… but decided that a simple fixed price monthly subscription was the most reasonable and best value approach.

Monthly Subscription via Paypal

A monthly subscription allows us to charge a relatively small fee, and means that owners only need to pay for their listing until they rent out their space – they don’t have to pay for a big chunk of time that they may not even need.

We have decided to use Paypal (probably the world’s most popular payment system),  to manage the subscription process as this allows our members to have complete control of their own subscription and lets them review and update (or cancel) their subscription whenever they wish.  This means that members will need to register with Paypal (if they don’t already have an account), but provides them with greater flexibility in payment methods, and guarantees safe and secure payments.

When a new listing is created, as the final part of the listing process, owners will be directed to Paypal to confirm the subscription.  An initial payment will be made, and the listing will be activated, then, each month (on the anniversary of the original listing start date) another payment will automatically be applied, and the listing will automatically be extended for another month.

The subscription can be cancelled at any time (via the members Paypal account) – for example once the space has been leased out, or if it is decided that the listing is no longer required.  Once a subscription has been cancelled, the listing will remain active until the end of the current month’s listing period ( the status can still be set to Leased or Do Not Display to stop it showing up on SpaceOut).

Members will receive email notification when the subscription (and listing) is created, and monthly notification each time a payment is made.

You can find out more about the current space listing fees, or read more details about how the  payment process works.  We would also love to get your feedback on SpaceOut subscription, so if you’ve got anything you’d like us to know, please feel free to contact us.

One of the biggest decisions many small businesses inevitably face as they grow, is whether to buy or lease their business premises and office space.  Although buying and owning your own office space may have some advantages, in these times of economic uncertainty and with steadily increasing property prices, buying can be prohibitive for many business owners.

Instead of buying a commercial property though, renting office space is increasingly becoming the solution of choice for many small businesses.  Leasing  office space can be great option for many different reasons.  We’ve collated a list of 5 advantages renting office space has over buying :

1. Flexible – Renting office space allows greater flexibility and doesn’t usually commit you to long term decisions. If you are uncertain of the future growth of your business choosing to buy office space can be a very scary prospect. Short to medium term leasing arrangements allow you to could choose a space that meets your current needs and provides greater flexibility to expand (or reduce) your space needs in the future.
2. Try it Out – choosing to rent office space – particularly for a new business, or in a new area – allows you to “test the water” and check to see how the business performs in that particular area or environment. If things don’t happen to work out as expected it’s generally a good deal easier to break a lease than it is to sell a property.
3. Mobility – Choosing to rent an office space means that you are more mobile. You will not be tied down to a particular location and will find it a good deal easier to move premises if and when you choose.
4. Cost – Renting Office space is almost certainly going to be significantly cheaper than buying it.  You will also not have the responsibilities of all the other expenses associated with owning a property.  Property maintenance can add a significant overheads for property owners, whereas if you are renting the space this will be the landlords responsibility.
5. Responsibility – Running a business is tough enough without having to worry about all the extra issues associated with property ownership.  Renting your space means you can focus on running your business.

The primary aim of any business is to get a reasonable return on their investment – with as little as possible cost, or effort.  Small business owners in particular often struggle with the logistics of the day to day management of their business. Renting office space instead of buying it is a cheaper, safer, simpler, and more flexible option for most businesses.

Whether  you are looking for office space to rent, or are interested in renting out surplus space in your commercial premises, SpaceOut can help you make the choice easier.

FREE night-time parking in Melbourne’s CBD seems destined to disappear, under a revenue-raising plan that has angered motorists and traders.

The recently released Melbourne City Council budget has announced plans to extend the period of paid meter parking in the Melbourne CBD.  The council expects to raise additional revenue by extending the paid on-street parking hours in the city from the present 7.30am to 7.30pm to 7.30am to midnight.

Diners, revellers, shoppers and sports fans will will be asked to pay a flat rate of $4 from 7.30pm. The new charge, is expected to raise an extra $1.9 million, pushing the annual parking fee revenue to more than $38 million.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said that motorists should “factor in” the fee to their expenses, and also noted the $4 charge – applied to 3000 metered spots across the CBD – remained a much cheaper option than the city’s 30,000 private parking spaces.

Some CBD traders have expressed concerns that the increased parking fees will discourage people from travelling into the city.

SpaceOut provides a service for people looking for parking (or wanting to rent out their unused parking space) to find cheap and convenient Parking Spaces  for Rent in Melbourne.

We love it when our members and website visitors provide feedback about the SpaceOut website and the service that we provide.   Here is a selection of some of the feedback (along with our response in some cases) we have received from SpaceOut Members and site visitors over the  last month or so :

• It’s great, good communications system protecting privacy
• great idea
• Need a place for person who is renting out the space to put their phone number, so someone can contact them!!!
  A phone number can be included in the description if you wish, but the message system allows people to contact you – and ensures your privacy until you are ready to exchange contact details
• What a great idea! Haven’t found what I need yet, but have more clues now.
• Excellent web site and the simplicity of working it.
• Great idea,maybe more car park owners+renters would respond.
• Would be nice if I could get a permalink to a listing to share outside the site.
  Permalinks have now been added to the popup listing details page
• This is an easy site to negotiate and set-out is clear and has the necessary info in a great format
  very easy to use
• pictures of the spaces could be useful as well as a little more info about the space for rent
  We encourage owners to provide detailed space descriptions (the better and clearer the information the easier it usually is to rent out the space).  We plan to allow owners to include photos  in their listings in a future upgrade
• Requires some more properties – Presumably project is in the early growth stages, so understandably not much to see at this stage. …Still good!
  Yup… the number of listings vary from time to time, but we are working hard at raising awareness of the  service
• Fantastic site, I would recommend this site to anyone who has spare space to let, couldn’t get any better!
• A handy site for me to do a quick search of parking stations in the inner city. Very useful.
• Easy to get location and phone number
• Why isn’t this so well known … Perhaps more advertising?
• very good idea!
• Site is great if you live in the cities. I’m in rural Qld and had to type in each place I could think of locally. Maybe a list of areas that have current “”space”" could be added.
  informative
  We do provide a list of  hot listings and also show the latest space listings (by state) and the most  popular suburbs, but listings tend to come and go, so at any one time there may not be any listings in a particular area – this is why we encourage people to create a Space Wanted Listing if they are looking for a particular type of space in a particular area.
• the concept is great . a good extra income in these hard times
• Very Much needed
• great idea only thing now is to see if it works if it does we might offer some space when we get our place

If you have any suggestions, comments, concerns, criticisms or compliments about SpaceOut please make sure that you contact us.

Many spaces could be used for a variety of purposes, and owners are sometimes unsure as to the best way to list their space.  We often get asked for advice on the type of space listing that a Space Owner should create.

At the moment, each Space for Rent listing must be assigned to a particular Space Type (although this may change in the future). If for example you have an empty shed which may be suitable for storage, parking a car, or even for use as a office, studio or workshop, it can be tough deciding which type of space you should associate with your listing.

Our recommendation is that rather than creating a single listing, you should create multiple listings – i.e. a separate listing for each relevant space type. One of the main reasons for this is because the amount you may earn in rental is likely to vary depending on the use of the space.  Someone is likely to be willing to pay more for an office or commercial space for example than they would for a parking space or for storage space.

People may also be looking for a particular type of space, and may miss your space listing if it is associated with a different category.  Also, you are more likely to successfully rent out your space if you are able to target your description to a particular type of use – rather than providing a general description.

So, when creating a space for rent listing, if there is not a clear space type to associate it with:

• Consider creating Separate Space listings under each relevant category
• Set a price for each listing that is realistic for the expected use
• Customise the description of you space to target the space type you have associated with it

Spending a little time planning your listing and writing a description which is likely to appeal to the different types of people (and uses) that it is suitable for can have a huge difference on how quickly you rent out your space.

You may already be aware of the Google Advertisement entitled “Parisian Love” that was shown during the 2010 Superbowl. Parisian Love was actually created some three months before the super bowl and was never actually planned to be aired as a Super Bowl ad or even a TV commercial. The  video was part of a series called Search Stories aimed  simply to educate  users of Google products and services and how Internet users can interact with them.

Google now offers a product call Search Stories – which allows anyone to create their own Search Stories video based around keywords and searches of their own choosing.

Here is one that we’ve prepared for SpaceOut, with the aim of highlighting that SpaceOut offers a variety of space rental services (including Storage, Parking, Office and Rural space) in areas  throughout Australia. I hope you like it :

If you are a home based small business, but miss the day to day interaction and collaboration with colleagues or co-workers, then the concept of shared office space, or co-working might be just what you need.

What is Co-working Space?

Co-working space, is essentially a shared office environment where professionals and freelancers (often, but not always, in related industries) work together in the same space, swap ideas and resources, enjoy social interaction, and all at a price that is generally much more affordable that the alternatives.

The co-working concept has proved to be particularly appealing for creative based professionals, such as web and graphic designers, PR consultants, copy writers, and marketing freelancers.

Co-working is ideal for freelancers and self-employed who have found that the realities of working from home aren’t quite what they had expected. Home based workers can face issues such as isolation, lack of networking and fewer opportunities for collaboration. It can also be very difficult for solo workers to find office space for just one person at a price they can afford, while traditional serviced office facilities may be too expensive and impersonal.

One significant advantage of co-working over traditional office space lease arrangements is that a long-term commercial lease or full-serviced office rental arrangements are not normally required, so the shared office space may be available for as long (or short) as you need.

Co-working in the USA

Co-working is alive and well in the US, with a variety of different shared spaces available – including the well known co-working spaces Citizen Space and the Hat Factory in San Francisco and various other shared office services in other US cities. Co-working in the US has been described as “offering a techie twist on the age-old practice of artists or writers teaming up to rent studio space“.

Co-working catches on in Australia

Co-working is now also catching on in Australia.  As a direct result of a growing demand from self-employed creatives and freelancers to have an affordable workspace away from home, spaces are opening in many capitals, including Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane.

Some shared office spaces, like Melbourne co-working space OpenHub (www.openhub.com.au), were started by companies looking to share the cost of office space.  OpenHub offers a variety of different services – from a one off use of a meeting room (@$120) to a Full-time dedicated desk space (@$600).  OpenHub even offer a Free service for Co-workers associated with charity based projects.

Water Street Studio (www.waterstreetstudio.com.au) in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, provides desk space in an airconditioned office, with internet, electricity and access to a meeting room / boardroom included. They offer shared office space from just $150 per week  for a minimum 3 month term, with no bond or formal lease required.

Shared Office Listings

Online services such as SpaceOut (www.spaceout.com.au) also provide information about office space for rent, and regularly have listings for shared office space in many areas throughout Australia.

Whether you are searching for shared office space or would like to make a little extra income by renting out your spare office space , the co-working concept seems destined to be a trend that will continue to grow.

It would probably surprise you that a 16 sq m single car parking space at Bondi in Sydney, recently sold for $240,000 – but amazingly other sales in the same price range are expected to follow.

Over the last few years Councils across Australia have been attempting to minimise traffic congestion by reducing the number of car parking spaces available in new developments.  As the number of parking spaces is dropping, the value of these spaces is soaring.  Car parking spaces in Sydney, once worth $5000 to $10,000, are now regularly selling for between $40,000 and $140,000 each.

Brisbane City Council has also tightened rules to reduce parking in buildings over recent years, and the number of available carpark spaces had been reduced by 50 per cent.

Business owners with spare parking spaces, and owners of inner city units without a car, have been using services like SpaceOut (www.spaceout.com.au) to rent out their unused parking spaces and cash in on council policy changes.

There is currently a proposal put forward by the City of Melbourne (which is yet to be approved), limiting a single car park space per dwelling for new developments at inner-suburban Carlton and Southbank, and in parts of the northwest and east of the city.

As inner city parking becomes increasingly scarce across CBDs throughout Australia, there will be more and more opportunities for the owners of Private and Business parking spaces to make some extra cash, by renting their unused space out.  Conversely, as the price of inner city parking fees increase there are fabulous opportunities for people looking for a parking space to make great savings by searching for cheap parking on SpaceOut.

We love it when our members and website visitors provide feedback about the SpaceOut website and the service that we provide.  The good feedback helps to confirm that we are doing at least some things right – but we especially like to hear what we are doing wrong as it gives us an opportunity to improve.  Here is a selection of some of the feedback we have received from SpaceOut Members and site visitors over the  last month or so :

• Great idea, linking smaller storage spaces with people that need it
• Fantastic
• Brilliant! I have been trying to find a way to make some extra cash being a pensioner and have some spare room!
• Thank you so much for starting this excellent site. I am new to it, but it appears grand.
• Great Idea, love it!
• An excellent concept – so simple but so smart.  I will probably rent out some space very soon, but will make myself more familiar with the website & information & discuss it with my partnet first.
• it will be great when it grows a little.  : )
  Great!  I’ve never seen anything like this.
• What an innovative idea!  My mum told me to check out instead of self-storage.  I found one possibility and no doubt it’ll expand rapidly!
• a great idea for that unusual space
• Great concept – I hope lots of people are made aware of this service.
• Wow listing Wilsons car parks was so useful thanks. What a great idea!
  easy
• It would be good if you put that the prices were monthly costs as i didn’t realise this till seeing that Sydney’s average storage price was $800 per month.

If you have any suggestions, comments, concerns, criticisms or compliments about SpaceOut please make sure that you contact us.

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