Anatomy of a Garage Condo |Monstore Garages

Monstrous Garage Condominiums

Anatomy of a Garage Condominium

Why So Popular?

The truth is, they weren't in the beginning. I started doing this in 2005 and concluded my first garage condo project in 2009. Upon first releasing this concept, I saw nothing but wrinkled foreheads and a slew of gift cards for the nearest Psychologist at Christmas time. It wasn’t much fun. However, after launching my first website letting the world know about this new creation, it was off to the races, although the race was pretty slow at first.

The first adaptors were those with strong accounting backgrounds who really grabbed hold of the financial concept. Their take was that it would take very little financial appreciation for this concept to pay for itself. They cited 2% per year appreciation and your storage would be effectively free. I cited, “Yeah, Duh.”

The next batch of semi early adaptors were other developers and real estate professionals. Again, they were brought up on the concept of owning is better than renting, so they owned. Lots of them owned. In fact, before I broke ground, I had 53 of 107 garage condos in escrow, valued at $4,500,000. The property was half sold before we began construction.

Scratch The Itch

It seems there is a void in the real estate market place for oversized garages that we discovered. The Self Storage industry pretty much ignores the larger storage "lockers". You find very few lockers much larger that 400 square feet. Seems they cannot get the high per square foot rental rate on larger storage units. Then the industrial builders of commercial and industrial properties have long ignored buildings below 1500 square feet. It is too expensive to build smaller commercial spaces, and the profit potential is simply not there Now along come the Baby Boomers, with their RVs, Sand Rails, Jeeps, Boats, ATVs and of course, Christmas decorations. I'm not bagging on the baby Boomers because I am one. It's just that they have reached an age where they can afford all the toys they want, but one problem. Where to put them? New construction ignores garage requirements. Residential condominiums? Storage? Forget it. If you are lucky you get a large closet. If I were building single family homes today, the home would be 1500 square feet, and the garage would be 3000 square feet. I know, it's just not practical. So I guess this is the genesis of a Garage Condominium. It grew out of pure necessity.

What do Owners Want?

That was a good question. I was a recently retired dot-comer, and like so many with a recent windfall, I bought an RV. All was good so I thought. When it came time to store this 38’ 8,000-pound toy, I found my options were very limited. Most self-storage operations had space, “in the back by the fence,” or “in the field next door,” or “out yonder.” Well, I just paid the equivalent of a Ferrari, and I’ll be damned if I am going to park it in a field. Inside storage? It didn't exsit for RV's. All the door heights on industrial buildings are generally 10' tall. Not going to work.

#1 Security

The most frequent reply was security. People want their possessions to be secure, and they want to feel secure when at a facility. Garage condos do that very well just by their nature of ownership. We don’t have transient clientele. Most everyone is an owner, and their face is familiar to other owners. When a strange, unknown face is seen, they are generally scrutinized and watched.

#2 Wide Drives and Wide Doors

RV’s require an enormous area for maneuvering, and even more if you are towing. A 50’ aisle is not going to cut it. Further, while a 10’ wide door may seem wide enough, but when you take into consideration the mirrors and awnings, you have literally inches to spare. Therefore, in some of our projects, door widths of up to 40’ have been installed (Aircraft hanger, Bi=Fold doors), mainly at our Palm Springs location. But generally, a 12’ door or wider is sufficient for easy entry.

#3 Non-Restrictive Access

It is not that unusual to arrive late at night, and the worst feeling is having to hurry to beat the gate hours to put your RV away or pick it up after work. So, garage condominiums are generally open 24/7. A welcome relief to many.

#4 On-Site RV Maintenance

Getting your RV serviced or repaired is a real hassle and a time suck. You have to drop it off, wait for the mechanic to get to it, while your RV sits outside. Then you have to hurry to pick it up before the shop closes, many several weeks later. Do they wash your RV? Nope. Often, we have dreamed of having an onsite mechanic and repair facility. Well, our garage condos have exactly that. Six fully staffed service bays. Just tell the service manager what work you would like done. When it is your turn, we retrieve your RV from your garage, do the required work, and put it back inside your garage. No fuss.

#5 Power

There is nothing worse than getting all excited about your next trip, only to discover your batteries are dead. It happens all the time. Having your RV plugged into a trickle charger is a real necessity to avoid the pit falls of a failed battery at the last moment. All of our garage condo’s have 100 amps of available power, so you never have to worry about the Duracell Bunny leaving your coach.

#6 Dump Station

With the disappearance of state funded RV dump stations vanishing, it is becoming a necessity to have an onsite sanitary dump station. Yes, all of our locations have at least one. Relief is in site.

#7 Low Cost

Well, having all the above amenities at your disposal does come at a cost. Or does it? Using our Beaumont location, our first garage condo project, as of this writing, August 2020 we have competed about 35 garage resales form owners who have sold for one reason or another. Of the 35 resales I sold, not one person has paid anything to own a garage condo. NOT ONE PENNY! Due to the great appreciation of 10% per year on all of the garage condos at Beaumont, everyone has realized a profit, far and away from the cost to own. Will that trend continue? I hope so. The value is certainly there, so I see a great future in Garage Condo ownership.

#8 Convenience

Isn’t that what we all strive for? Convenience is not always a word associated with storage. In fact, storage is the definition of inconvenience. Owning your own storage / garage condo does allow for convenience in several ways. The first being anytime access as all our facilities are open 24/7. The secondly, it’s yours and no one is going to raise your rent, sell the property, or place restrictions on what you can do in your storage unit.

Conclusion

Since I competed Beaumont, and continue to hear from people who took a hard look at the first version of Garage Condos and for one reason or another, did not buy. Today, almost weekly I receive calls saying, "I shoulda, I coulda, I woulda." All openly admitting they "blew it."

Our doorway says,

"THROUGH THESE DOORS PASS TRUE PIONEERS."

It's time to be a pioneer.
Ted Deits, explorer

A collection of high end storage condominiums ranging in size from 650 to 5400 sq ft. Perfect for car collectors, RV owners, ATV's and other really fun stuff.

Turn your rental dollars into an asset class investment.

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W.H. Brown, Inc
4006 Aladdin Dr.
Huntington Beach CA 92649
714-928-0527
Cal DRE #02016837

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