Boats And Other 'Toy' Storage On Premises

Friends -

Do you allow tenants to park boats in your communities? And/or tow-trailers with snowmobiles, campers, and such things?

I’ve got a fairly basic/not-fancy park with plenty of room for all my residents’ toys. The issue is not one of traffic flow or safety on the streets. The issue with which I’m wrestling is whether to allow the visual clutter. And if I allow it, do I charge extra for it?

Thoughts?

-jl-

As strange as it sounds, that visual clutter is actually a plus for many parks. If you have RVs and boats on lots, it suggests that the tenants are prosperous, and that makes appraisers, banks and buyers more comfortable with a higher value. I would love to have each tenant put a $20,000 boat or RV proudly in every yard – it’s like a neon sign that says “rich tenants who can afford to pay their rent live here”.

Do you charge $20/month extra, or anything…?

-jl-

No. But some of our parks do offer RV/Boat storage at a small price, and others offer it for free. Again, it is a source of pride that our tenants are rich, and not something we want to hide.

We have a strict policy of no trailers of any type permitted to be parked on the lot. We provide a space at the rear of the park with free parking.

We have a 2 vehicle limit for parking on each lot which usually means trailers would be a third vehicle and would ultimatly end up parked on the lawn.

You don’t get expensive toys you get worn out utility trailers and beat up boats which are never attractive.

Trailers’ create a visually cluttered unattractive appearance in the park that devalue the community.

This however may only be the case in a upscale community. For a low income community trailers on the lots probably have no visual impact. Appearance being a matter of perspective based on the standard of the park and it’s residance.

Frank -

How about really large vehicles - like school busses and big rigs? Do you allow those?

-jl-

No, nor do we allow locomotives, commercial aircraft or tugboats. Keeping up with the mobile home park Jones’s can get carried away, you know.

The really heavy stuff (beyond RV and boat) will destroy your park roads.

I have a park with 20 acres a mile from a big recreational lake. 10 acres have the homes on it, and 10 acres is just an open field. Maybe it should be fenced in and rent as storage for boats and what not. I have zero experience with something like that. What do you think? Is that worth looking into or is it a looser from the start?

I have no experience with that. But then, the price you are paying for my advice here reflects that. (:P)

I’d think a good way to reality-check your idea is to approach other boat storage people and ask if they would want to purchase your land. If there is not a lot of interest in that, then there is probably already enough storage and/or other reasons it’s not a good idea. Of course, you can also always run a test ad on CraigsList…!

But either way, I’d probably not be in that business. You’ll almost certainly make more money investing your time and money and expertise in buying another park.

My 2 cents, or less,

-jl-

Randy,

I know a couple guys that have boat/RV storage abutting their parks and do very well. You have to take security seriously but other than that the margins are supposedly very good. There’s actually a fair amount of owners who dabble in both parks and storage. Send me a PM with your email and I can put you in touch with a couple who would be happy to help as long as your park isn’t next door to their boat storage facility!

John

Randy CA Wrote:


I have a park with 20 acres a mile from a big

recreational lake. 10 acres have the homes on it,

and 10 acres is just an open field. Maybe it

should be fenced in and rent as storage for boats

and what not. I have zero experience with

something like that. What do you think? Is that

worth looking into or is it a looser from the

start?