Leasing a storage facility is easy. You have too much stuff, you need to put it somewhere – problem solved, right? Not exactly. Behind those metal roll-up doors is a lot more than most people know.
So we can begin with the elephant in the room: clutter does not occur to messy people. It occurs to everybody. A family is growing, you have to move suddenly, you have a set of furniture of an inherited grandmother, which you cannot find in yourself to sell, life piles up. Storage units are there because the real life is not willing to fit in the four walls.
Choosing the appropriate facility, however? It is there that people are prone to fall.
The first traps is size. Novices nearly always undergo too small. They look into their living room, approximate, rent, and arrive on the moving day with half a truckload that will not fit. The golden rule: hire a size bigger than you believe you will require. Always.
Climate control is like a luxury that you can afford to do without. You probably can’t. Silent destroyers are heat and humidity. Wooden furniture cracks. Electronics rusts inwards. Leather peels. Victimized photographs become yellow and fragile. In case there is any actual value in what you are storing (sentimental or otherwise) it is truly worth the additional cost to have temperature controlled.
Security is an issue that requires greater attention than it does among the renters. Specific questions to ask include individual unit alarms, perimeter fencing, as well as whether or not surveillance cameras are observed in real time or simply recorded to be reviewed after the fact. Certain facilities are porous in nature, and appear secure on the outside.
The fine print bites the most where pricing is concerned. The first-mover rates are a standard bait – appealing in the first month, and then subtly raised in the third month. Always enquire about the policy of rate increase before signing. Any facility that is unable to provide you with a straight answer to that question is raising a red flag.
It is only when the lack of accessibility becomes a day to day inconvenience that it is taken into consideration. Drive-up units will be a game-changer to any person who pulls out items on a regular basis. Waiting time in the elevators is important in multi story buildings. They are not luxuries, but convenient time-saving items that can be accumulated in a short period of time.
This is the true story: a storage unit is as good as you think about it. Make a personal visit, taking twenty minutes. Ask awkward questions. Give the tires a kick.
You will be grateful to your future self, the one who will be able to park in the garage once again.

















