SelfStorAll – Moving Organizing & Storing

We have huge respect for the Better Business Bureau and the work they do. The BBB offers these tips for selecting a self storage facility. These apply whether you are using residential storage, business storage or parking for RV or boat.

• Check it out with the BBB. Some have good records; some don’t. [Our SelfStorAll facilities currently have no complaints on file with local BBB.]

• If possible, obtain written cost estimates from at least three facilities. Costs may include the monthly rental fee; storage preparation, padding, packing or transportation fees; and fees for extra options such as electricity and insurance. [ Our YouTube video says this and gives other tips on How to Get the Best Price From any Self Storage facility for your residential storage.]

• Be sure you get the right size unit and ask if there’s a maximum weight limit for unit contents.

• Check that the facility is clean, well-maintained and has a pest extermination contract.

• Consider the general climate and whether your belongings might be subject to mold or water damage.[ In Edmonton a heated storage unit will be common but in Kamloops self storage most people don’t bother with heated units.]

• Make sure your items are insured for theft, fire or other damage. The facility may provide insurance, or you can purchase it from another source. Be sure you know what’s covered and whether there’s a deductible. See our video on tips about insuring your unit .

• Ask about the hours and related charges for accessing your unit. Is there adequate room for parking. Does the facility offer dollies or hand trucks to help you move your belongings in and out?

• You’ll need a heavy-duty, secure lock protecting your storage unit. Ask if the facility has surveillance cameras on the property and if access is restricted to authorized persons.

• Get everything in writing — the size and location of the unit, options that you’ve selected, any minimum rental period, termination policies, insurance coverage and payment terms.

• Finally, pay attention to your monthly bill or credit card statement to make sure you’re up-to-date on your payments. You don’t want your storage unit to be labeled abandoned and your belongings put up for auction. [Also update your phone number, email or address so that warning notices reach you fast.]

Interesting Stats brought to you by SelfStorAll

 There are approximately 58,000 self storage facilities worldwide as of Q4 – 2010; and about 3,000 in Canada. The industry started in Odessa Texas in 1964 and came to Canada in 1980.
 In the US there is about 7 sq feet of storage per person. In Canada there is about 3.2 sq ft.
 Nearly 1 in 10 US households rent a storage unit. That is an increase of 65% since 1995. Clearly storage demand is growing just as consumerism grows.
 It took the self storage industry more than 25 years to build its first billion square feet of space; it added the second billion square feet in just 8 years (1998-2005).
 In USA More than 700,000 self storage units are rented to military personnel (4% of all units); however, in communities near bases military occupancy can be from 20%-95% of all rented units. Canada has half that rate.
 Small operators (like us) dominate with an average of 1.5 sites per owner. There are 30,000 (non-Top-5) companies that own and operate the remaining 44,850 self storage facilities.

You may have heard that home staging can result in a faster sale and higher price. This is not just a hunch or subjective observation. Two separate studies have demonstrated these to be true.  We blogged about those studies here.

Staging has direct costs. You probably will need to rent self storage to put the clutter and non-essentials away while the house is being marketed. You may use a home stager and they have fees. However most people find that staging and self storage costs are a small fraction of the money they will save by speeding up the sale. These numbers are all relative to individual mortgage and expenses. Use this simple formula to determine how much you will save by staging your home or listing before putting it on the market: Mortgage + expenses (utilities etc.) = Monthly expenses.  Then decide if staging is right for you.

If we use the study results we can determine approximately how much money you will continue to spend while your home is on the market un-staged. Let’s say your monthly mortgage is $1800 and your taxes and utilities add about $450 per month. So your total carrying cost per month:  $2,100.*

If you do not stage it will take and an average 9 months to sell X $2,100 = $18,900 in carrying costs.  However, if as owner uses home staging right from the start then it will take an average of only 60 days or $2,100 x 2 months = $4,200.

Your realtor in Kamloops, Spruce Grove or Edmonton areas will be familiar with home staging. They can introduce an experienced stager in your local area.

[ * If you have a price reduction you can also add that into the loss you are taking by listing a property un-staged.]

Let’s face it: The last thing you want to think about when you’re flooded with end-of-the-year finals, essays and tutorials is what you’re going to do with your stuff over the summer. Your school or university doesn’t offer extra room on campus for student summer storage. Shipping all of your possessions back home is time-consuming, expensive, and worst of all, a total hassle.
You might be studying abroad, signing a new lease or even going back home to live with your parents, but the question still remains: Where can you store your stuff? Don’t stress out – Be Happy.
All bias aside, self-storage is a great option for the college crowd. Rather than filling up your childhood bedroom-turned-gym at your parents’ house with all of your college furniture, take advantage of the deals and promotions that storage facilities offer for short-term stays. Use SpareFoot to research storage unit prices and discounts–many facilities also offer trucks and equipment as part of the package. If you’ve never used storage before, check out this useful guide to self-storage for college students.
As an out of town student, you face the same hassle every summer and fall. Join other students at SelfStorAll and use our storage during semester breaks to avoid the hassle.

[Heavily based on a recent blog from the talented people at SpareFoot.com in Austin Texas]

Look at this photo showing toys many Canadians had in 1993 and how that has all shrunk to a very smart phone. It is amazing.

Yet we all need more storage — that need drives the self storage business which is only 30 years old in Canada. It grows 3-4% each year because we each are accumulating more and more stuff. I am not saying it is wrong. I just note that it is ironic that as things shrink other things balloon. Maybe people are keeping the old video cam; PV, Walkman; watch; camera; radio; etc inside self storage in case they “come back

My daughters aged 10 and 11 don’t even know what some of these items are (The Palm on left and the phone pager front centre). Even after I explained them they looked puzzled.

I never post ads without photos. Why? Real estate studies have proven that photos dramatically increase your chances of selling your home online. This is because listings without photos are often ignored by home buyers. The reverse is also true. The more photos you add and more details you provide the longer buyers will linger looking at your ad.

The goal is to maintain interest and get them to shortlist your home as one they want to visit. HomePhotoGuy says “Well lit, color filled images engage emotion and emotion sells. And, good photos don’t have to be expensive.” It will make Mr. and Mrs. Seller very happy and will help to generate lots of leads. Want proof? Run a search on a home listing site and consider which ads you actually look at, linger on, and keep.

It is often said that the only thing worse than bad photos of your home is no photos. However, in this case less may be better. The photos are hilarious but the commentary is brilliant. This guy should write for Jay Leno or the Toronto Comedy Fest. http://bit.ly/9094Q0. Before you go to YouTube I should tell you that the photographers are now in the witness protection program.

In preparing your house for sale you need to consider upgrades which will make it more marketable. This is not the same as repairs which owners fix in order to avoid a price mark down. Improvements are done to increase the sales prices or speed up sale. You will read a lot about kitchen and bath renovations. They are certainly key to most sales but you won’t necessarily increase the price by as much as you spend. So a $25,000 bathroom upgrade may make the house sell faster but might increase the sales price by $10,000 or $15,000.
Landscaping however is different. If well done you can easily recover your investment in full or even double it as well as add to curb appeal. One friend commented last year.
I just did a refinance on our house and an appraiser comes and goes over your house to see what the value of your home is for the lender. The only work we have done to our house is the landscaping and the value on our house has gone up $36,000 in the past two years. He told us that the landscaping gave the house such wonderful curb appeal that this house didn’t have before. It doesn’t take much to make the front of a home to look well maintained and appealing to the eye.
A professionally landscaped property is a sure ticket to quick resale. It gives a home curb appeal, a sense of place and value. “It’s the first thing you see,” says landscape architect Joan Honeyman.
Bang for the Buck. Landscaping has the best ROI (return on investment) of any home improvement you can make.
• In one study, 99 per cent of real estate appraisers concurred that landscaping enhances the sales appeal of real estate. Trendnomics , National Gardening Association
• A Quebec survey found that hedges raise property values by 3.6 per cent and a landscaped patio raises the property value by 12.4 per cent.
• According to a Clemson University study of home sales in Greenville, South Carolina good landscaping will return about 200% of its cost.
• Homes with “excellent” landscaping can expect a sale price about 6 percent to 7 percent higher than equivalent houses with “”good”" landscaping, while improving landscaping from “average” to “good” can result in a 4 percent to 5 percent increase. Clemson University study.

So good landscaping pays for itself, but what parts are best? Unfortunately, there are few guidelines as what types of landscaping generate more return. However there is a consensus that it has the most to do with planning and design. So running out to Home Depot to buy dozens of boxes of flowers is not likely to improve curb appeal enough to boost your home selling price. It needs some thoughtful consideration of your existing home features, shrubs and trees and issues such as if shrubs are blocking windows.

Planning Advice. The best impact comes from careful planning. You would be well advised to hire a landscaper. If you want to do the work yourself then consider using a landscaper to make your design, consisting of a layout plan and suggested plant materials. If you are keen to do it all yourself this video and tip guide will be immensely helpful. It is filled with planning tools and inspiring before and after photos. http://curbappealtips.com/index.html

How did a massive collection of Beach boy original notes and music sheets end up in an abandoned storage locker? God Only Know.   Or we could ask Barbara Anne.  Now if the boys could get it back — Wouldn’t It Be Nice .  We are talking about what seems to be the band’s first royalty check, for $990, dozens of signed contracts, and handwritten and copied scores to “Good Vibrations”, “California Girls” and many other hits from their heyday in the 1960s.

The massive amount of rock history was apparently put in storage in the mid-1970s by a relative of a band member who felt it needed to be in a safe place. When the storage payment bills went unpaid for a long stretch, the material was sold unopened to a buyer who apparently didn’t know what was inside. Only later did he discover what is being dubbed “the lost archive” of the Beach Boys, one of America’s greatest bands.

That person eventually approached an English music agent.  The material was then sold to a group of investors that who are running a sealed-bid auction in London, UK, which ends on May 15^th.

Being in the self storage biz is like being a doctor. Moves, renovations, inheritance, divorce, overseas jobs – every locker has a story but our lips are sealed. Folks from Spruce Grove, Edmonton and Kamloops come in and we do our best to help. Most renters have a tale to tell.

Our managers are picked for being good listeners as well as good managers. Folks use self storage when their lives are in flux and their possessions are unable to keep up with them. Certainly we seem to get people “in transition”.   For example in Kamloops  in 2011 we had at least five estates rent lockers in order to give the family more time to sort out the deceased’s possessions.

We have people store before they enter prison to serve time. Of course we have people storing urgently due to a breakup in a relationship.

This Independent Newspaper in the UK  has some other interesting perspectives from there and in US on why people use mini storage.  We have some lockers rented for over 6 years with items you and I might consider junk. However, they are kept long term because of an emotional attachment – things that my late mother treasured or keepsakes from the children’s growing up. It isn’t junk it is treasured memories.

The UK newspaper commented that “Firstly, British houses are shrinking. According to statistics, new-builds have been steadily getting smaller over the past 30 years and many are unable to provide the storage space needed to accommodate owners’ needs. The property crash and recession have meant that fewer people are moving and instead are converting spaces in their homes formerly used for storage. Spare rooms have become offices and attics have become bedrooms. And because we are ostensibly a nation of hoarders, the junk accumulated in them increasingly ends up in a unit on a nearby site.”

Bend at Knees When Lifting

Moving is stressful – even more so if you injure yourself. We gave some tips on our blog.  A move can become even more stressful if you injure yourself in the process. Therefore, SelfStorAll shares precautions to reduce your back injuries while moving.

Lifting boxes or furniture is like any other exercise– you must stretch first to prevent any damage to your body. You should definitely stretch your arms, legs, and back since those will be the parts of the body that will be used the most while lifting. Check out this site for ways to stretch these parts of your body for a move.

First avoid lifting if you can. Hand carts or dollies should become your best friend when moving because they not only make moving easier but also alleviates the stress on your body since you are not carrying boxes, just pushing them. At each SelfStorAll locations in Spruce Grove, Kamloops or Edmonton we have dollies.

Second, there are many ways to lift, however many people tend to do it wrong. Follow these steps:

• Bend at the knees, not the waist.
• Keep the object you’re lifting close to your      body.
• Do not twist your body.
• Avoid lifting things over your head.
• Position legs apart.
• Get a good grip and lift with the legs, not      the back.
• When moving something, push rather than pull.
• Keep your footing secure.
• Lift smoothly and slowly; do not jerk.

Safe Lifting Technique

The main key to lifting a box is to put more pressure on your legs over your back so as not to strain your back.

Third wear gloves when lifting heavier objects, especially furniture, so you have a better grip and the object does not fall out of your hands. Fourth do not forget to bring plenty of water to keep from becoming dehydrated and if it is possible to move during the morning or early in the day that is also a wise move too because that will prevent you from overheating or tiring out quickly. Fifth have a First-Aid kit handy just in case someone does get a cut or a minor bruise.

Moving should involve as little stress as possible. Injury and sprains can be prevented by taking caution when lifting boxes and remembering these tips.  There are more tips on our blog.