Self Storage Review

The Approaches to Establishing Property ValueSales Comparison ApproachThe sales comparison approach is used at property tax hearings for houses, land and owner-occupied buildings. It is sometimes used for income properties as a secondary method of valuation. To perform the sales comparison approach you need information on sales of property similar to your property. You can obtain this information from a variety of sources including the appraisal district, real estate appraisers, brokers and third party vendors. Inspect and photograph the comparable sales making detailed notes regarding differences between the comparable sales and your property. Then make adjustments for differences between the subject property and comparables. Adjust comparable sales to the subject property. For example, if a comparable sale has four bedrooms and your home has three bedrooms, make a downward adjustment to the sales price to the comparable sale to bring it down to the level of your house. Select sales as similar as possible to the subject property to minimize adjustments. Comparable sales data is given strong consideration in property tax hearings for houses, land and owner-occupied commercial buildings.Income ApproachThe income approach is typically used for income properties. The basic theory is that investors purchase income properties for the income stream they produce. This income stream can be converted to an indication of market value for the property. The primary steps in the income approach are to estimate the potential gross income using rent comparables and information regarding actual income at the subject property. An allowance for vacancy is estimated based on the performance of the subject property and average vacancy in the area. Operating expenses are estimated using actual expenses at the subject property and market expenses for similar properties. The net operating income is calculated by deducting vacancy and operating expenses from the potential gross income. Net operating income is converted to an indication of market value by dividing it by the capitalization rate. Cost ApproachThe cost approach is not typically used at property tax protest hearings except for new buildings. Appraisal districts often use the cost approach for properties up to two or three years old. After that, they typically use either the sales comparison approach or income approach depending on the type of property. The appraisal district will apply the cost approach for a new property by adding the market value of the land (typically the purchase price) to the construction costs for the building. In addition, they may add an allowance for soft costs and for entrepreneurial profit. If the sum of land and construction cost exceeds the appraisal district’s assessed value, it is unlikely they will reduce the assessed value in the property tax hearing. However, if the sum of land and construction cost is less than the appraisal district’s initial assessed value, providing this information at the hearing will likely generate a reduction in your assessed value and property taxes.Uniform and Equal ApproachThe Texas Property Tax Code was amended in 2003 to allow property tax for property owners to protest based on “a reasonable number of comparable properties appropriately adjusted.” This new section of the Texas Property Tax Code allows a protest based on a limited number (perhaps 3 to 10) of assessment comparables. Some appraisal districts agree and are considering protests under the section. Others have chosen to interpret this section differently.To prepare a protest using Uniform and Equal, gather data on assessed values for property similar to your property. Make adjustments for significant differences between the assessment comparables and your property. This can include items such as building size, land size, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, size of garage, site influences, age, etc. Make negative (downward adjustments) to an assessment comparable for items that are superior in the assessment comparable. For example, if the assessment comparable has four bedrooms and your house has three bedrooms, make a downward adjustment to the assessed value for the assessment comparable for this item. After applying appropriate adjustments to the assessment comparables, calculate the median level of assessment for the assessment comparables. The median is the middle data point after the adjusted assessment comparables are arrayed in order of increasing or decreasing (on a per square foot value basis). Multiply the median per square foot assessed value times the size of your property (improved area) to calculate the value your home should be assessed for based on Uniform and Equal. Section 41.43 of the Texas Property Tax Code provides you the opportunity to protest using this methodology. However, don’t be surprised if your local appraisal district is not receptive to this method of protest. The appraisal division of O’Connor & Associates is a national provider of commercial property real estate appraisal services including cost segregation studies, tax deductions, cost segregation, due diligence, insurance valuations, business personal property valuations, business purchase price allocations, and single family litigation support. All commercial property types benefit from our appraisal services including multi-family housing, retail stores, hospitals, hotels, industrial properties, manufacturing facilities, medical offices, commercial offices, restaurants, self-storage units, shopping malls, shopping plazas and warehouse/distribution centers.

Before we look at the facilities for self storage in London, let us be clear about the nature and advantages of self storage.

With more and more things to store, and ever-increasing cost of accommodation, both people and businesses are looking for independent storage solutions. They have two main options - entrusting the things to store with a storage company or hiring self-storage facility.

Both solutions make available specialist storage facilities and safe storage. They also offer the convenience of keeping clutter out of your living or business space. The storage can be for a short period or for long periods. What are the differences between these two solutions?

Storage Company Control

When you entrust our goods with a storage company, it would be the company that would decide where to store these and how to control access. They might move it around to suit their own convenience. Access to the stored goods will be restricted by requiring prior appointments, and might even be charged for.

Traditionally, storage companies also required longer-term contracts, and charged high. You also could not move things in or out of storage as you needed and had to ask the company to arrange for these.

The Self Storage Solution

Under the self-storage solution, you would have complete control over storage and access (subject to the facility opening and closing times). You can move things in and out and store them in your own way (by storing the frequently accessed articles in a more accessible manner, for example). In effect, you are hiring storage space, not just storage convenience. This storage space can be a small closet to store some valuables and papers, or large space to store the entire contents of your house, say, when the house is being remodeled.

Storage periods are also more flexible. You can hire self-storage for a very short period or for years. You might be able to get a full refund for unused periods if you terminate the storage arrangement.

Self storage, however, puts the responsibility for packing, moving, loading and unloading the goods on you. Some companies might offer these services, but at extra charges. Many self-storage businesses offer trucking services, for example.

Self storage arrangements have an additional layer of security over and above the normal security provided by facility owners for the facility as a whole. The space you hire will be an enclosed place to which only you will have access. Typically, you can use your own lock and key to this area.

Self Storage in London

There are many self-storage facilities in London. We look at one particular facility Bullman’s Self Storage to get an idea of the facilities typically available.

They offer private storage units of 10′x8′, 20′x8′ and 40′x8′ in a facility with 24 hour manned security and CCTV. The units are located at ground level and you can just roll up your trolley with your goods into the unit you hire.

You can use the facility for domestic or commercial purposes. The company offers removal, collection and distribution services, and even shipping services. They can also fit your unit with shelving or lights if required.

The location of the facility is excellent from a logistical point of view. Special rates are available for long-term storage.

This self storage facility in London is indeed a highly secure and convenient one offering you full control.

Mobile Home Park Money Trees

Mobile home park investors across the nation are raking in the dough while countless single family home real estate investors are struggling to turn a monthly profit. Okay, so it’s not exactly like investing on Madison Ave. However, if you have the knowledge you can do just as well as the Donald Trump in real estate. Just ask Jim Clayton of Clayton homes who sold his company and portfolio of mobile home parks to Warren Buffett for a cool $1.7 Billion dollars!

Why are mobile home parks the “red-headed stepchildren” of the commercial real estate investment world? Perhaps one of the reasons why most investors ignore this lucrative asset class, other than for obvious eye sore reasons and the negative connotation associated with mobile home parks (we like to call it the Jerry Springer effect), is because they believe it requires too much up front cash and a personal income statement well above their means. This might be true if you were trying to finance your property through a large bank, however many mobile home parks are purchased with much less than 20% down and with little financial reserves in the bank. In fact, many of these mobile home parks are purchased with seller financing.

Small to medium sized parks are typically owned by “mom and pop owners” that have been running or overseeing the managers of their respective parks for a long time. Many of these owners have mobile home parks that have a large vacancy due to the glut of repossessed mobile homes caused by the mobile home industry overheating in the late 1990’s. It is difficult for these owners to refinance or sell the mobile home parks conventionally due to the significant vacancies in their park.

Furthermore, some of these same owners prefer doing business the old fashioned way (without bankers / real estate brokers). In other words, a large percentage of mobile home park owners would rather take some initial financial consideration, make a nice profit each month off the interest on their note and not worry about the day-to-day issues of running the park. Additionally, many do not want to deal with a large tax problem if they sell the park outright. Sure they could 1031 exchange it into something bigger; but then they would be in the same situation all-over again.

Investing in mobile home parks is an absolutely beautiful thing! Not only is it a long term land play, but you have NUMEROUS ways to make money through multiple “profit centers” in a park. Single family homes and apartments are a “one trick pony” with only one source of revenue… the rent payment. It is much easier to achieve your financial goals with mobile home parks due to the following reasons:

1. The parks are usually in a less than favorable part of town. Therefore the land is cheap and you will be spreading that cost over numerous mobile homes.

2. Provided you purchased the right mobile home park, there will be vacancies for you to bring in extra mobile homes. (Yes, that’s right….you want at least 20% of the park vacant so that you have a huge upside!) You’re healthy, sharp and full of energy so you’ll improve the quality of the park, raise rents and maximize your rent roll. By the way, this will immediately increase the value of your mobile home park through the cap rate valuation.

Example

30 Space Park, $300 a month Rent Roll (50% Vacant) = $45,000 yearly rent

$45,000 - 15,000 (33% of rent goes towards Operating Expenses) = $30,000

$30,000 (N.O.I.) / 9.0 % (cap rate) = $333,333 (Your Purchase Price)

The Upside:

30 Space Park, 100% Occupancy, $320 a month rent roll = $115,200 yearly rent

$115,200 - $34,560 (30% park operating expenses) = $80,640

$80,640 (N.O.I.) / 9.0% (cap rate) = $896,000 (at 100% occupancy)

Over $500,000 profit!

3. If the cash flow of a park is low, you can add additional revenue by putting in a coin operated laundry mats, vending machines, lawn service, day care service, self storage, etc.

4. You can purchase mobile homes at a 40%-50% discount and resell them on terms (either with a lease option or note). Home ownership is the American dream so when you advertise “Own your own home, $2000 down, low monthly payments - Bad credit OK, call Boca Vista Mobile Home Park” your phone will ring off the hook, trust me. From there you take their down payment and have them sign your lease option paperwork that details the term of their loan with you. So why sell them one of your mobile homes….isn’t that an asset to the park you ask? Yes, but:

A. You now collect the lot rent. Pure profit with no additional expense.

B. Now you have someone in your park that has pride of ownership and will most likely take better care of the mobile home than a renter.

C. No costly maintenance. The buyer is responsible for all maintenance.

D. You can purchase the mobile home at wholesale cost and sell to your customer for retail. In many cases, you can double your money on each home. In addition, you charge an interest rate of 10-15%.

E. Some of your buyers will not finish out the loan term and will give you back the home in good condition. At that point, the property is 100% yours again, you’ve pocketed the $2000 option payment and you start the process all over.

As you can see, mobile home parks are an amazing real estate investment. Where else can you find an income property with so many profit centers (with the exception of self storage). Mobile home parks are huge cash cows and ultimately will become a land play. Take advantage of the untapped opportunity that exists today in the mobile home park industry before it is discovered by the masses!