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.

KMFUWCQMEBC2

Many Australian Seniors and Retirees have recently stumbled onto a little gold mine in their own back yards.

Seniors who own their home, have discovered that they can now make use of new online services to help them rent out unused space to people searching for storage space. They can earn a steady passive income to help supplement their superannuation or pensions whilst they enjoy their retirement.

Managing Director of space sharing website Spaceout.com.au,  Damon Russell says –

We have been inundated with enquiries from Aussie Seniors nationwide looking to rent out their spare space. “Grey Nomads” (seniors that travel in Caravans or Motorhomes) have been particularly active on the site. They are either offering their spare or vacant space for people to store their possessions or are looking for short to medium term storage space to store their vans. It seems to work both ways for our seniors….Those with space can easily earn a couple of hundred dollars a month and those looking for space can often find a cheaper and more convenient storage solution”.

The Census of Population and Housing (2009) highlighted that approx 80% of Australians over 65 own their home outright. Therefore, a spare room, a shed, an unused garage, or parking space, wasted space under their house, or even an empty wardrobe can all be easily harnessed to earn seniors an extra regular passive income – literally turning thin air into income!

SpaceOut offers an entirely new type of service which provides Australian home and business owners with an opportunity to turn their spare space into a regular passive income.  Homeowners simply list their unused space for rent at www.spaceout.com.au and people looking for space (SpaceSeekers) within a specific area can search to find which spaces are currently available. The easy to use search feature shows spaces that are currently available for rent on a map, making it easy to identify spaces in a local area.

Feedback from seniors has been overwhelmingly positive with most declaring “what a great idea” it is. With thousands of members Australia wide already, and growing fast, www.spaceout.com.au presents a great opportunity for ordinary Australians to make some extra cash with very little effort.

We encourage our members and website visitors to 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 :

• 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.

Last Sundays Perth Newspaper – The Sunday Times ran an article by Hayley Bolton about how Perth Home and Business owners are making up to $500 a month renting out their spare space.

Shed a nice little earner

Empty driveways, garages and sheds around Perth are being turned into cash cows.

Scores of people are pocketing up to $500 a month by renting out empty space they think could be useful to someone else.

SpaceOut.com.au is a website the matches “SpaceOwners” with “SpaceSeekers”.

Founder Damon Russell said. “When home and business owners realise that their unused space could be earning them a regular rental income with little or no effort, it is a real no-brainer”

Bayswater resident Carol Marshall is hoping to make some extra cash out of her back shed. She is asking #90 a week to rent it.

Mr Russell said the idea cam to him when he needed somewhere to store his belongings while he went overseas.