Hello,
I have a community of fifty lots here in Kansas and I have enjoyed reading and learning from this forum. It as been extremely helpful.
How do you guys handle storage sheds? We all want to keep mowers, bikes etc. from piling up against the home. Do you Rent to Own them, rent them, or offer a deal with shed dealer close by?
Looking for suggestions
Thank You in advance.
We donât normally get involved in the sheds, but some of the companies that build them have monthly pay financing options for tenants that have decent credit. Sheds certainly make the community a nicer place when the tenants put their unsightly items inside, and I would definitely encourage tenants who have such items to get a shed. Maybe you could contact some companies that build/sell the sheds and see if they would want to do a marketing campaign to your tenants. Thatâs how many parks ended up with carports is that one carport vendor went door to door and, over time, sold almost the entire park a carport. Thatâs a great win/win for you â better looks and no investment on your part.
If you are a hands on sort of MHP owner operator, then the shed business is a great sideline. I have found that the 8x12 is the âstarter shedâ, then about 1/3 of my customers wanted to upgrade and buy the bigger sheds.
My supplier treats me as he would any of his dealers (I started out with an order of 2dozen) 20% discount off his retail list.
Find a quality built shed, the price difference is negligible.I have several 12 year old sheds and I continue to resell them. All of that having been said, It probably wouldnât work out with a park manager selling. If that is your type of operation; do as Frank suggests.
Yes with fifty lots, I am definitely on the owner/operator side.
Are you selling the sheds on a payment structure then getting them back when a tenant doesnât complete the sale or renting them out?
Do any residents purchase them outright from you?
Thanks.
Yes I do offer terms. I have yet to get a shed back due to non-payment in my park. (I did try to sell/finance them outside my park and had a couple of deals go bad).
I mostly get used sheds when people want to trade for a larger shed, or when I buy their MH back.
A lot of my MH sales prompt a shed sale.
Yes, some 20% are cash buyers.
Shawn, Thank you for sharing. What you are doing with the sheds is what I have been wanting to do. That way I can help offer a solution to keep the park clean and maybe a few outside the park.
Our community regulations do not allow residents to leave anything outside on their lots, except lawn furniture, therefor all lots have sheds. We regulate what they can have in the way of a shed, max 100 sq. ft. properly sided etc. but do not provide or sell sheds to residents.
One other idea is storage as a mechanism to have people keep yards clean and derive side income. We installed these relocatable units at one of our parks. You could would not be able to tell these are relocatable vs the traditional built in models.
The plus side is these did not require permits (check your county) and depreciate as chattel for us, not real estate.
Just something interesting.
http://www.janusintl.com/products/products-relocatable_systems.php
Those look interesting Howard. What is the price per unit on those things?
Charles
Here is a layout of what we put in. They were totally flexible in terms of creating the sizes we wanted. Our requirements were to tear down a dilapidated garage and place storage on the existing slab - thus our configuration.
We paid just under $25k incl delivery and setup. Note: Its cheaper to make fewer, larger units.
Call me if you have any questions.
Mini Storage Setup.pdf (22.9 KB)
Hi Greg, would you be willing to share the wording or verbiage used in the contract for that rule? I definitely need to implement this rule at my park. Any information would be greatly appreciated! 
Assuming you are referring to upkeep of lot, it is fairly basic:
Home sites must be kept free of all items that are not aesthetically pleasing. Building material, equipment, toys, tools, etc. must be stored in an approved shed or container. No items are to remain out side over night. Garbage pails are not permitted to be visible from the road other than on collection day. Lawn ornaments are subject to MGMT approval. Car ports and porches are not permitted to be used for open storage of items. Home owners not properly maintaining their lots shall receive notice of compliance.
(we have additional clauses for specific items, such as lawn furniture, and a clear statement that community standards are strictly enforced and non compliance may lead to eviction.)
What landlords must keep in mind is that having rules means enforcing rules. It requires that someone stay on top of the community at all times and issue notices promptly to any resident in violation. Community owners must also be cognisant of the class of their community. The lower the class of the residents the lower the expectations of the owner. The greatest offenders of community rules will be new residents. When screening you must read through the entire lease/community rules with applicants and emphasise that all rules are strictly enforced. As a example I sent a eviction notice to a new tenant that has a bird feeder in their front lawn with a metal garbage pail to store seeds beside it. I told them to remove the garbage pail and they have not complied, I issued a eviction notice with a 7 days to comply or we begin the eviction process. Do not make any rule that residents can not easily comply with or that you are not prepared to inforce.
howardhuang33,
How do the units hold up to weather (snow, rain, wind)? Are the sealed really well so water doesnât get in?
These are basically indistinguishable from the traditional storage facilities you see everywhere. We used these (note we have no affiliation). But we have had no issues at at will these. Very sturdy and solid.
Do you install them, then charge them for the shed, or just sell them the shed and they install?
Also, what do you think of the resin sheds vs wood?
THanks, Iâm a new owner struggling with lots of âblightâ left around homes.
CHarlene
Like other people have been saying, what most people do is to get a very good shed company to make one for them and they pay rent for it whether monthly or yearly. But there are some few other people who just pay for the shed to be built for them permanently. You may want to check out one of the most commonly patronised company for shed building https://www.urban-sheds.com/
We have a resident the just put in a 12x20 shed, brand new, looks alright but its huge. The rules say heâs supposed to get permission before. Iâm thinking I may allow it since its brand new. But he does want to run electricity to it, and that seems like a bad idea.
I would assume that your township must have rules regarding sheds, their permited size and location etc. I would also assume that in addition to requiring permission your rules must have some definition of what is allowed otherwise your rules are arbirary.
Assuming there are defined rules this shed is either allowed or not allowed. That is straight forward and very simple to understand and leaves no room for wavering.
If there are no defined rules then you have no say over whether this shed in perticular is allowed or not. The fact that is may be new and look nice is irrelevant.
This is why communities must have clearly defined inforceable rules.
If this shed does not comply with the community rules it must go or you must revise your rules to allow it.
