All Forum Posts by: Lance Langenhoven

I personally own a Boat & RV Storage facility.... during the lockdown some crazy stuff happened.... March 2020 was our best revenue month EVER! We were stoked. Then April came along, literally in the middle of the lock-down, and it beat March!

So, our personal results have been very positive. Not impacted in the least. I think people are actually looking at RV's as a way to go on vacation without being in a busy airport or plan or without going on a cruise ship with 100's of others. 

Our business is doing so well I've signed contracts on the two neighboring properties to expand. 

@Robert Ortiz - congratulations Robert! Hope your deal works out. I love boat & rv storage... it's a great business. 

Hi Ronak, 

We did have to approach the credit card only strategy really carefully. 

We started warning all tenants in October that on the 1st January we would be switching all payments to credit card only. November we reminded everyone again. December we reminded everyone again. 

So, it took three months of warnings to make sure nobody could say they didn't know it was coming. 

But, it was worth it. A few people said they would move out as they didn't want to give us their cards and we said we'd be sorry to see them go but we couldn't make exceptions and in the end they never left and gave us their card details. 

B. Regards,

Lance.

I own a boat & rv storage facility which is not exactly self-storage but kind of similar in some respects. When I bought it in Jan 2016 we had problems collecting rent....people were dropping off envelopes with cash, mailing checks, dropping off checks and they paid when they wanted. Which was never when we wanted i.e. the 1st of the month. It became a nightmare of chasing people, calling people, etc. 

After 12 months of that we changed the rules. Everybody pays with a credit card and we run the credit cards on the 1st of every month. Now.... no more problems with monthly payments!

Of course a decent management system helps. We use SiteLink. 

@Kelly Beasley - yes. Cashing in my ROTH IRA was a bold move. It's not for everyone I know. But, if you do what everyone does then you get the results that everyone gets.

I've also made a few wrong moves early on but you can't let those deals stop you. You learn from them. Not every stock you've ever bought is going to make you money every single time. I haven't seen that stop people from investing in the stock market. 

So, just get better and keep looking. When the right deal comes along you'll know. In your heart you'll know. Another avenue I've done very well in is buying & selling unrestricted commercial land. I've made just over $1.8M USD doing that in the last 4.5 years. And my deals haven't been big except for the last few that were over $500k but that happened after making the money from the first bunch. My first deal was $70,000!!! I had to come up with $20k and the owner owner-financed the other $50k. From that small start deals got bigger & better. 

@Kelly Beasley I know you bowed out of the deal which is what I would have done. My main reason though would have been due to the fact that I was a minority partner with no ability to make any calls, not the projected investment return. So... you would essentially be stuck in a deal that might not turn out so great but you can't do anything about it and it would be difficult to sell a minority share if you wanted to get out of the deal for some reason. For me control is primary. Without the ability to control the direction an investment needs to be managed I would feel powerless. 

I don't mind going all-in with everything I had into a deal if it was the right deal. I did that on my boat & rv storage facility that I bought.... the cost was $650,000 and I had to come up with about $130,000 cash deposit. All I had in my ROTH IRA was $70,000. I had to scramble hard to scratch together the rest of the down payment required! I managed it without having to take on partners. Just me & the bank.

But, it was the best investment decision I think I've ever made. That property is now worth $1.2M USD and I've just lucked out that two of my neighbors are selling me a total of about 4.7 Acres into which I can expand. This expansion will add at least another $3M USD in value to the property over the next 24 months. 

I also don't care too much about the initial returns. If the operation seems badly managed and not making too much currently that is just the kind of deal I crave because I know I can make it better. And making it better brings more business and brings higher rents which eventually results in a higher valuation. 

So... just wanted to give you some different perspectives. 

Good luck on your investment journey! Commercial real estate is a great way to go!

I own a boat & rv storage facility which is not exactly self-storage but kind of similar in some respects. When I bought it in Jan 2016 we had problems collecting rent....people were dropping off envelopes with cash, mailing checks, dropping off checks and they paid when they wanted. Which was never when we wanted i.e. the 1st of the month. It became a nightmare of chasing people, calling people, etc. 

After 12 months of that we changed the rules. Everybody pays with a credit card and we run the credit cards on the 1st of every month. Now.... no more problems with monthly payments!

Of course a decent management system helps. We use SiteLink. 

Hi Ronald,

I'm doing it myself. Simply hiring the relevant sub-contractors directly. 

Not everyone can do this but in my current situation I have the time to go to the property every day to take care of things. 

Self-storage definitely brings in more $ per square foot but in my mind it's a lot more hassle to manage vs boat & rv storage. A bunch of our smaller 30' to 32' boat storage building were built with wood-frame. I think they're about 20 years old now and still seem to be holding up quite well. 

Our larger 45' covered RV storage spaces were built with steel pipe and R-Panel wall & roof cover. 

We're just doing a 4.75 Acre expansion (in a few months) and I think we're going to go with the steel pipe. But, I'm buying 2nd-hand steel as, honestly, the clients don't care and the steel is the same steel, just a little more rusty!

Hi Matt,

I'm also in Texas (The Woodlands) and I own a boat & rv storage facility in Montgomery (close to Conroe). The property is a total of 4.7 Acres but the boat & rv portion is only on 3.1 Acres of it, the rest is used by a residential home that we're leasing out. 

I also just put the tract next door under contract so we're expanding into an additional 4.75 acres. I'm detailing every step of the expansion project in the course.