Hello all, we are very new and have the following possible opportunity: have found almost an acre of vacant land in a regional qld town approx an hour west from Brisbane. Asking price is $100K
The local council is open to development applications and will look at almost anything (so I have been told).
We are considering building a variety of storage sheds as there are no storage sheds in the region. Does anyone have experience in this type of property. What could the pitfalls be?
I am in the process in obtaining quotes to build however what would be the best way to source customers for the sheds, if we proceed further, ie., would an expression of interest ad be something that would indicate the level of demand.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Yasna & Simon
In our area many of the storage shed businesses are managed through real estate agents.
I suggest you also contact RE agents in your region to determine whether they have been fielding enquiries from the public seeking storage sheds.
Good Luck
You’ve got two types of renters of sheds –
temporary eg between houses
longer term
You might not get any response from potential temporary renters
Longer term might, but probably notIf there aren’t any sheds in the district what you’re doing is also an educative process of advantages of sheds eg free up the spare bedroom, make room for a billiard table etc etc
Look at your demographics. From a cash flow point of view you might be better to build in stages and say build the second stage when your first stage is 75% let
I’d advertise in the local papers, maybe a local radio station. Prominent signage which simply needs to say “Storage” and give some contact details
Hi Yasna & Simon
$100K plus development costs is a lot of money. If I was you I would be making sure I do my research to make sure there is definitely a demand.
The last thing you want to find out after spending 6-12 months developing that you only get 20-30% occupancy.
A couple of other factors/costs you should probably consider as well are:-
1. What insurances do you require? Both for insuring against the loss or damage of their goods and also against the injury of persons on the property.
2. Will you be offering insurance options for goods through yourselves. If so can you be competitive.
3. What security options will you have in place and what’s the cost involved.
4. Are you offering just domestic or commercial storage as well
5. Who and how far are your closest competitors? Can you afford to be competitive against them without losing money on your investment.
6. If the real estate agent won’t manage the property for you, who else can and at what cost? Also legal costs for contracts need to be considered if not through a RE agent as well.
You need to do your research and work out exactly what your outgoings for this project will be, what price you intend to charge for the storage sheds and what occupancy rate you need to make it viable.
Good luck!
Jenny
What is the zoning of this land? If it is residential I doubt you’d be allowed to build a storage depot there, but if it is industrial this sort of development can be highly profitable. Check for competition.
keep an eye on dev costs, do you have to concrete all access areas, fire regs etc.
putting this aside and lets face it, you have to be able to pass on the cost of the above, how big is the town, demand etc etc.
in metro areas these things are impossible almost impossible to find vacant, they always seem to filled up with solicitors/accountants files and the like – (maybe the ato has a half share in Millers???)
cheers
brahms
CALL NOW…adults only (boys and girls ask mum or dad first) ~~ 1900 hot broker ~~Thanks all for your input. There is definately a lot to consider and a think for newbies it might be best to look at other options at this stage.
I shall find out if we can subdivide and then maybe look at costs, etc. of portable homes or some type housing as there is a nil vacancy rate with people screaming for accommodation.
Trying to keep thinking outside the square and find a solution to a problem.
Appreciate yourfeedback and will keep crunching numbers.
Bye for now [biggrin]
Yasna & Simon
A business associate of mine has 20 sheds on a property he does quite well out of.
One major issue he had was when someone left and neglected to advise the agent.
What he installed to overcome this was an electronic system, like a swipe card. He changes the codes each month or if someone is in arrears with their rents.
Your management system is crucial on something like this.
Byronent
Adelaide SAThanks for that Byronet
There appears to be alot to consider when looking at this possible venture. Will keep trying to solve this problem! Thanks for your response.
Yasna & Simon
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