I had a few aha moments at the recent Inside Self Storage Convention (ISS) a few weeks ago,
One of them was about the future of Boat & RV developments as a niche in the storage space.
I heard a statistic. I already heard it a few times, but this time it clicked.
I also realized that REITs are evolving as well. What constitutes a REIT property (see last week’s episode 417), has expanded.
I received a revelation the instant I heard that each year, the RV industry generates and sells an additional 500,000 units. I am not real good with numbers, but in my head, I saw the math unfolding — it confirmed that:
This niche has a very bright future and will most likely become something REITs will also move into.
Now I am talking about class A type boat & RV projects, not gravel parking extra parking in a self-storage facility. I am talking about a place where someone with a $100,000 boat or RV would want to park their toys.
There are currently only about 1,800 “Executive Boat & RV projects” in the country.
Now try to find a space in any one of these you can find. It is very, very difficult.
Why?
Let’s look at the 500,000 new units rolling out each year.
How many of those need a parking space?
The vast majority of them in reality due to HOA restrictions and something as simple as not being able to fit in typical home garages.
How many? Let’s guess 75%: 75% of the 500,000 new units yearly need somewhere to go.
If the average size is 12 x 40, 12 x 35 to 12 x 40’s seems like the 10 x 10’s of self-storage to me.
So let’s go with the larger size just to be safe.
If 75% of the new units yearly need parking spaces and the average size is 12 x 40, that means every year in the recent past and the recent future will generate an additional 180,000,000 square feet of demand.
If we use 12 x 35, that number is 157,500,000 square feet of demand.
Given the current Class A space Boat & RV existing projects that are in service, each year, about one-third of the current supply is created as potential demand for the foreseeable future.
You may think more or less of the yearly production may end up in a Boat and RV storage, and either way, you may be right.
But either way, there is a lot of demand being manufactured for this niche.
That was my revelation when I heard that statistic at the convention.
That is why I am putting a lot of resources and energy into this niche for my own projects.
The storage space is evolving, and this, in my opinion, is part of the evolution.
I have the experience of helping define what this niche is and look forward to seeing what happens in the future with this product.
My take is REITs will soon be in this niche as well. My game is to create what they want to buy.
Just one of my takeaways from the ISS convention a few weeks ago.
Have fun in whatever storage adventures you are involved in, and let me know your thoughts.
