It is only December but you are already making plans for finding a climate control storage unit for the summer. Your daughter who attends college 12 hours away is planning to come home for May, June, and July. Unlike last summer when she stayed in the dorm, you will need to find a place to store her belongings. As a result you have been comparing storage facility pricing and storage unit size. The one thing you are seriously tempted by is the option of renting a climate control storage unit. Although these climate controlled spaces are more expensive, you only need the space for a few months and the extra cost will not be that great.
Because you tend to be the one who is in the unit arranging the items, the though of working in a climate control storage unit definitely has an appeal. In addition, you think that in a college town the lower priced units are going to be full of college chaos. When it comes time to moving in and out of the dorm, it might be nice to have a storage unit that does not involve all of the traffic that occurs when school ends, and when it begins again.
Americans Have a Lot of Stuff These Days
From college students to newly married couples trying to combine two households, America is full of people who have more than they can keep in their homes. And while some families are just looking to have a place to store their holiday decorations when they are not in use, others are looking for a location to store extra furniture in anticipation of moving into a bigger space some day.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the storage space in America and the impact this industry has on the nation’s economy:
- According to a Self Storage Association study, in the year 2007 50% of self-storage users were storing items that would not fit in their homes.
- Large units typically have a convenient drive up option that allows renters to easily access the space.
- In America, 25% of households with a two-car garage do not have room to park a car inside it, and 32% of homes only have room for one car.
- There is about 21 square feet of self storage space for every household in the U.S.
- Totaling more than five times the number of Starbucks, there are more than 50,000 self storage facilities in the U.S.
- Life jackets, Christmas trees, children’s and seasonal clothing are just a few of the things that Americans find themselves putting into storage when these items are not in use.
- Estiamtes indicate that the average American home has as many as 300,000 things in them.
- Many Americans without a storage unit find themselves filling their garages with things other than cars. In fact, in the year 2014, the federal government estimated that nearly 25% of Americans with two-car garages do not use those spaces for cars.
- Of all American self-storage renters, 65% have a garage at home, 47% have an attic, and 33% have a basement. This is an indicator that we are all pretty good at filling up all of the space that we have.
- Research indicates that the occupancy rate for self storage facilities in the Fall of 2016 was 87.4%.
- Estimates also show that 8.96% of U.S. households rent a self storage unit.
- Storage unit sizes vary greatly. If you are looking at a long term rental, you might want to consider renting more space than you immediately need in case you want to add items at a later date.
- Packing carefully can help you make the best use of your rented space.
- As Americans continue to buy more and more things, it should be no real surprise that the country will continue to use storage units.
- Construction continued to grow during the early 2000s. In fact, between 2000 and 2005, more than 3,000 self-storage facilities were built every single year.
- Estimates indicate that the size of the average American home has doubled since the 1970s.
If you find yourself looking for A LITTLE MORE SPACE, you will likely spend time looking at many options, including whether or not you want a climate control storage unit.