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 January 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.

“Parking in Brisbane has become more than a headache, with some motorists slugged over $20 an hour for parking in the city”

As part of a nationwide investigation it has become clear that Brisbane parking rates are amongst the worst in Australia.  Brisbane drivers wishing to park in the city pay on average $45 a day (that’s over $200 a week).  Brisbane parking station fees are on a par with Melbourne (also $45 a day), and are more expensive than other Capital cities, except for Sydney where you can expect to pay up to $72 a day for parking.  Darwin, is the cheapest capital city to park, with fees as low as $2.40 per day at some inner city carparks.

The table below provides an overview of the parking fees for some of Brisbane’s largest commercial carparks (as of Sep 2010) :

Another big “money grab”  used by some of the commercial carpark operators is the policy of applying an extra fee if a motorist loses their ticket. In Brisbane you should expect to pay up to $66 for to park your car for the day if you can’t find your parking ticket.

Jim Kershaw a spokesman from the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ)  suggested that because of the high parking costs, many people parked outside the CBD and caught public transport, and said :

“In a perfect world there would be cheap parking for everyone”

SpaceOut – offers a cheap and convenient solution to motorists looking for alternatives to the high cost parking offered by commercial operators in city CBDs.  People can often find a much cheaper parking option by renting an unused private parking space or garage.  People living or working in (or near) the CBD, who have a parking space but no car, can also make a bit of extra cash by renting out their space .

What I mean here is that there is most likely a self storage facility or another private space in your area, and potential SpaceRenters will of course do their due-diligence and find the most reasonable option to store.

Nobody wants to pay more than they need to to store their stuff just like you wouldn’t in that position, so take a little time to have a good look at the options that SpaceSeekers have in your area.  You may have a look at our national storage price survey showing prices for self storage units in most of the country.  This should give you an indication of the ‘professional rate’, and we typically recommend pricing at 50-70% of that rate.  Also, take a look at the SpaceOut search map for other private spaces in your area – this is what SpaceSeekers do – to see what price other SpaceOwners are offering their space for.

Taking some extra time to set yourself up for a successful space rental is a wise move, and will get your space rented sooner.  Think of all the work you won’t have to do once your space has been rented.  Not bad for the potential return we recon! So today’s message is Stay competitive and rent sooner.

The new nation-wide survey reveals some shocking results, with the most expensive storage facilities (in Sydney) charging more than $800 a month for a single garage sized space.

The new survey data – just released on SpaceOut.com.au – shows not only a  huge price gap between city and country areas, but also massive variations between capital cities.  Even within the same city, storage prices in adjacent suburbs (and in some cases the same suburb) can also vary significantly.

More than 700 self storage facilities throughout Australia were surveyed, and asked to provide prices for some of the most popular storage sizes – small (3×3 m), medium (3×5 m) and large (3 x 8m) storage units as well as outside storage/parking for cars and boats.

The most expensive place to rent storage space in the nation is Sydney where you can pay over $800 a month for a regular single-car garage sized space!  This is followed by Melbourne at over $600, and Brisbane at $500 plus.

Not surprisingly, the survey also revealed a significant price discrepancy between city and country storage costs – with country storage units costing around 40-70% of their capital city counterparts.  The cheapest places to store your car or boat were Tasmania, and country regions of SA, WA and Victoria.

Another interesting statistic highlighted by the study, shows that independently owned self storage facilities tend to be priced around 25% lower than self storage facility chains.  The national average for large chains for a 3×7 metre storage unit is $389 a month and the same space from independent facilities averages  just $273 per month.

This survey was commissioned by SpaceOut on behalf of its members – to assist them in setting private storage prices.   Based on these survey results, it is no wonder that people looking for storage space are turning to alternate space rental services such as SpaceOut – which provides an online service where  home and business owners can rent out their unused space to those looking for storage at more affordable rates.

You can find a summary of the Australian Self Storage Price Survey (2009) along with a breakdown (state by state) of the survey results at www.spaceout.com.au

At the moment it is rarely possible for us to provide a definitive answer, because whether the listing is for storage, parking or office space, the value of the space can vary significantly depending on local influences and demand.  We plan (over time) to accumulate a database of listing rates for different types of spaces in different areas, and should then be able to provide better recommendations on pricing, but at the moment, we can offer the following advice :

Price depends on supply and demand

Pricing is really a matter of supply and demand, and you would have a much better idea than us on how scarce (or not) parking/storage/office space is in your area.  First you should try and determine what other options there are (and the prices for them) in your own local area. Take a  look at what the local alternatives cost, and base your pricing on that

Case Study 1 – Parking - If you plan to rent out your driveway for parking  -  if parking is readily available on the street it is likely that you would have difficulty renting it out, but if local parking is a big issue, then you would expect to get good rates for your space.  If you have a bus stop/railway station across the road (with quick and easy access to the CBD say), that also might add value to your space.  If metered parking is available for $15 a day, it may be reasonable for you to charge $60 a week for a guaranteed spot in your driveway.  If a  local parking station charges $35 a day ($175 a week) then $140 a week might be OK….

Case Study 2 – Storage - say you have a spare bedroom you would like to rent for storage  – if you have a self storage facility nearby, phone them up and see what they would charge for a similar sized space (we would normally recommend charging 50-70% of the facility rate).  If your space has 24/7 access you may be able to charge a little more than you would if access was by arrangement.  You may also be able to charge more for exclusive (rather than shared) access, or for higher security features.  Also see our storage space pricing guidelines for more information.

Initial Price

You could also try setting your price a little higher initially, and then reduce it if you get few enquiries… but if you are very keen to rent it out sooner, you may wish to set a reasonably low price but set a short rental term  (say 3 months) which may allow you to re-negotiate the price.

Also, to maximise your chances of renting out your space fast, make sure that you listing includes as much relevant information as possible – the better you “sell” your space, the more queries your are likely to get and the faster you are likely to rent it out.