Traditionally January is the busiest time of the year for Self Storage.  Many people tend to spend time over Christmas tidying, sorting and preparing for the year ahead – so if YOU have a spare room, garage, shed, parking spot, office, hall, backyard, or even a paddock or barn that you are not using – it may be of use to someone else – and NOW is a perfect opportunity to turn it into some extra ongoing income.

As a special Christmas/New Year offer to SpaceOut members and visitors, we are giving you the chance to try out SpaceOut for free.  So if you’ve wondered whether renting out some of your unused space might be a good way to earn some extra cash, but didn’t want to commit to an upfront listing fee, now is your opportunity to try it out for absolutely nothing.

Limited Time Only

For a limited time (until the end of February 2012) you can create your Space for Rent Listing and get the first two months for FREE.

You will need to sign up for future payments, but can cancel any time you wish, so you could advertise and rent out your space within the first two months and pay nothing at all to get an ongoing residual income.

• 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.

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.

• 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.

KMFUWCQMEBC2

• saw your ad in local paper; interested and looking; I have space to rent if I become interested
• total square meterage instead of width, height, etc would suit me better and multiple listing of suburbs ie more than one location in search
• Great idea for a website
• Great concept, just need to get more people on to it
• Very user friendly.
• GREAT idea!! Exactly what I’ve been looking for  the past few months! Thank you!
• Great idea!! Hope people in Perth will use the site
• multiple listing for one add – rural and parking storage to be a able to be ticked in the same ad
• First time I’ve seen a site like this
• This appears to be a fairly new site as there are not a lot of participants yet but the idea is great. Have you contemplated a category for temporary/intermittent parking places for cars and vans around the state
• It would be good to be able to specify what the space was good for. For example, I have a large second garage that would suit a boat, caravan, car, camper van. That would be good to able to note.
• wot a great idea for those of us who have the space and those of us who need the space
• Very easy to use and navigate
• Great site for advertising space.  I am very happy with the results for advertising office space have successfully leased 2 offices in last 6 months. Great results!!
• Spaceout is fairly new, not many people know about it.
• Great stuff
• Easy to operate and informative thanks
• Beautiful, simple, functional website.
• I have found everything I needed to know for a novice space owner.  Everything is easy to navigate and the information is very useful.  I haven’t needed to look anywhere else for answers to the many questions I had.
• it would help if the prices matched companies not just suburbs
• I live in Eltahm some locations in that region would be more accessible
• Excellent warm helpful service from Miami. Could not be more helpful or pleasant
• like the idea of getting the best deal in the region
• You continue to add improvements to your site. It’s very user-friendly. You try to think of everything both parties would want included. Congratulations. Carol – Perth

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

• Just discovered your website – what a great idea.
• Very bright, creative and out of the box !! Excellent !! Keep it up !!
• good minimalist clear effective info – space, location etc – easy to use.
• Very nice
• I heard about this on TV and then in the Sunday Mail.  It is a great idea.  Do many people know about this web site though?  How can we find someone eg who is going overseas (so they wont be continually accessing their goods – and invading our privacy?)  That’s something that should be in FAQs.  If it is I didn’t find it.
• i love the design also the helpful hints
• hey guys – brilliant idea.  Money for jam for renters and I hope this site takes off and makes you guys a truck load…  I have just placed an ad and it will be interesting to see how this pans out.  all the best  John
• Good site. Easy to browse
• Would prefer it if links opened new tabs, and didn’t change the current window. Hate having to go back or lose the page I was on. Prefer to delete extra tabs as needed. Otherwise it’s good so far.
• This site provided me with the information I was searching for.
• Map was quite comprehensive.

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

However, this was highlighted to me recently when I prepared an article for the SpaceOut December eNewsletter about how to improve your enquiry rate on your listings.  This article included links to some listings that I felt had pretty good descriptions.  However, between the time I found the listings, and published the newsletter (just a few days) 2 out of the three listings I had identified with “good” descriptions, had already been leased – so I had to quickly go and find a few more.  Now perhaps this was just a coincidence,  but I would like to think that the users good descriptions had a lot to do with them leasing out their space.

The moral of this story?

The moral of this story is clear – if you want to rent out your space quickly, spend a little bit longer thinking about how best to describe your space.  This is not only likely to increase your enquiry rate, but is also likely to prevent people (for whom the space may not really be suitable) contacting you and asking for more information (and wasting your time).

Good Description Tips

I’ve outlined below a few prompts for things that you should consider including info about in your space description :

• Make an accurate and clear description of the space  (how would you describe the space to someone over the phone ?)
• What type of use would this space be ideal for ?
• Who do you see as the “perfect” Renter?
• Describe any access issues or advantages for this space  (e.g. 24 hr drive in access)
• How secure is the space ?  (locks, security systems, dogs, bars on windows, etc…)
• What “added vale” might you be able to offer ?  (e.g. can lend a trailer, or can help with moving in)

For this exercise, there is only one page you need to look at, and that is the individual space detail page found by logging in to your member account and selecting the listing.  Ensure tjat the address details are correct and then review each other field and choose  (or enter) the most appropriate values  for each.

Is your space a garage, a room or a parking space etc? What is the access? Determine how much you are charging for your space – if you ask too much you are unlikely to get many responses. Take a look at local storage rates, you can see the results of our Australian nation wide storage price survey or even call self storage operators in your neighbourhood and ask for a quote for the size of space you have as a guide.  We typically recommend 50-70% of the ‘professional’ rate.

Next include accurate measurements for your space so SpaceSeekers can match their needs.

The Space Profile is the most important field on the page. You need to give potential SpaceRenters a mental picture of the space. Here is an example of a poor space profile which will leave more questions than answers, followed by a simple, informative one:

“Got a spare room for rent.”

versus:

“Spare rumpus room within our house for storage. Secure, dry and accessible from driveway by ramp. Area is tiled, lockable and has a big double door entrance.”

Obviously the second example gives a clearer picture of the storage area even though it is pretty short, and you’d probably more inclined to go with this right? And so would a potential SpaceRenter.

The Owner Profile field is really to give a simple picture of you – it doesn’t need to be a life story obviously, but something that gives potential renters an idea of what your situation is. For example:  “Mum, dad, two children, cat and 2 dogs. Not many visitors and home a lot.”

And that’s as simple as it needs to be. 5-10 minutes of thought on this page can make all the difference in the Private storage world. Put yourself in the shoes of a SpaceSeeker and think about what you’d like to see.

Happy renting!!

• great idea, will consider using Spaceout in future
• Great set up and idea to advertise with good results. Happy to see that my ad which I placed last week has had an enquiry already. Very impressed.
• Easy to access and get around
• Nice design. Keep up
• The site is so great an idea that you should sell advertising thats relevant to the space storage industry. Ie removalists, real estate agents, and the like.
• great concept and potential!
• great usability & design….very well thought out
• Very easy to use. Came highly recommended from Money magazine
• Fantastic concept…wish I had known about it a lot sooner
• It would be useful to include the company’s web address and an email contact also
• Brilliant very clever and very simple
• A great concept – get the message out there.  It’s a win/win for everyone.

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

The Owner

Paul, has a large shed in his yard that he barely uses.  He was told about SpaceOut by a friend and thought it could be a great opportunity to make some extra cash (and help pay off his mortgage) by renting it out.

The Seeker

Anthony, a self employed builder, (who happens to live in the very same street as Paul)  has a work truck that he had to park on the street outside his house. He was concerned about the security of his tools, so every day had to load and unload the truck to store his tools safely in his house.  Anthony  heard about  SpaceOut and was hoping to find a secure storage shed or garage within walking distance for his truck and tools.

The Match

Anthony spotted Paul’s listing and couldn’t believe his luck – finding a space so close by.  He got in touch; viewed the space; they struck a deal; and now both are much better off – thanks to SpaceOut.

But the story does not end there.  Although living so close – they had not actually met each other before SpaceOut.  As it happens, Paul was planning on doing some renovations to his house, was looking for a local builder, and realised  that Anthony might be the perfect man for the job.  So now they are discussing the possibility of a contra deal as part payment for the renovations.

Anthony gets somewhere to park his truck, as well as his next job lined up and Paul gets a bargain price for his renovation.  This is a win-win situation for both Paul (the Space Owner) and Anthony (the Space Seeker).

The Community Wins

This match shows the community working together and sharing resources in tough times…and that is what SpaceOut is all about.  Just imagine – in the future when SpaceOut is more widely known,  this scenario will happen all the time. Is there  someone in your street that you may be able to assist in some way ?

We love to hear stories of successful SpaceOut match ups – if you have a story to tell, please add a comment or let us know about your SpaceOut experience.