Itty Bitty Mini-Storage Facility - Posted by Jimmy

Posted by ray@lcorn on February 28, 2008 at 14:11:29:

Jimmy,

Might be a play, but it depends on how much time and effort you’d want to put into it.

Taking your numbers and exit plan… say the houses need zero work and sell for $35T each, $30T after closing expenses (taxes, commissions, etc.), $60T net.

You’ve got $80T in the storage units, $3600 ea. You don’t mention size, so I can’t give an opinion on whether they are worth that on a replacement cost basis (land + building value). Assume they also need no work to put on market.

At lease-up, say 90% occupancy, at $75 mo. x 20 x 12 = $18T per year. Figure 20% OpEx(?, may be high), for an NOI of $14,400, or a return of 18% pre-tax, pre-carrying cost.

By carrying cost I mean the costs involved in renting the units (ads, concessions, interest (or lost return on cash), etc.) and the time it will take to do it, because during that time you will not be getting the full income.

Probably take a year to do it all… sell the houses, rent the units, then maybe resell.

That property might sell for a 11% cap or so. On a $14T NOI, that’s a sales price of about $127T, net after sales expenses of $120T or so, for profit of about $40T pre-tax (and less any unplanned costs).

If you used typical financing (75% LTC, 15 yr.) from owner or bank, that puts you in the deal for $35T, plus any fix-up costs, which could pencil to a 100% return, but in cases like this I look at the dollars rather than percentages.

The questions is whether you’re willing to sell the time required for $40T! If you can do it on the side and not let it turn into a time sucker, then it may be worthwhile. Only you can decide that.

ray

Itty Bitty Mini-Storage Facility - Posted by Jimmy

Posted by Jimmy on February 27, 2008 at 09:09:30:

got call from realtor with opportunity. I’m inclined to pass, as it takes me into an unfamiliar biz. but just for kicks and grins, I’ll ask a couple questions:

1.25 acre parcel with frontage on major highway just outside Tyler, TX. two 2/1 rent houses on lot. decent condition. will rent for $500 each. need small amount of work.

22 storage units. built a few years ago. owner never got them operating. then died. guy bought them 6 months ago, and wants to flip them. they are not in service, but appear to be in good shape.

they want $140,000. the 2 houses are worth $35-40,000 each. they are not in the city, so separating the lots should be pretty easy (if I wanted to peel them off and sell them).

I have no idea how to evaluate the storage units. I’m told (but have not verified) that storage units of this size and in this location will fetch $75-80 per month. seems like a lot of management for a little bit of rent money.

Deal does not excite me. am I missing something?