Start an RV Storage Business for Monthly Residual Income

There�??s a business down the street from me that might possibly be the perfect business. That business is an RV storage location and I have put some thought into how easy this business is to operate. The RV storage location that I am talking about is not like other “public storage” facilities – there are no actual buildings or any type of covered parking. This RV storage business is simply a parking lot and a fence. That’s it!

I will tell you that this is a pretty large space and from what I can see there are about 80 RV’s parked inside the location. The ground is simple dirt, so the owner did not even pay to have it paved. I decided to call the location and ask how much he charged for an RV space. When I talked to the owner he told me it would be between $80 and $110 a month, depending on the size of my RV. So if we take an average monthly figure of about $95 and multiply this times 80 RV’s – this guy has a gross profit of $7,600 per month. I am not sure what he is paying for the land, but I am guessing that he is making a pretty healthy profit every month.The best part about RV storage is the fact that you have zero employees; you don’t need to be on site unless you are showing an open parking spot to a potential customer. RV owners can let themselves in and out of the facility by entering a code into the electric gate at the front of the storage entrance. So other than the land, the fence and the gate – the only thing else you’d need to purchase is liability insurance. This leads me to believe that RV storage is possibly the perfect business.

As an RV storage business owner, you would simply run all of your customer’s credit cards on a monthly basis, so there would be no billing and no check collecting. Overall, this seems like an amazing source of residual income. Usually, I try to focus on ways to make money online here at the Residuals and Royalties blog – but occasionally I like to investigate other ways to create supplemental income or start a small businesses. The RV storage business seemed like a great business model for those who have access to available land. If you or anyone you know has owned an RV storage business, let us know if there are any downsides that I might be missing. Feel free to comment below!

Best regards,

Michael-John Wolfe

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11 Comments to “Start an RV Storage Business for Monthly Residual Income”

Moon Hussain 26 May 2010 at 5:50 am #

Michael, I really like this idea. I wonder how much the land cost him initially, the property that is. After that, only security and insurance concerns.

Can you imagine if someone decided to lift 10 RVs at the same time? Whew.

But very, very nice consistent profit. I’d be into this!
MJ Wolfe 26 May 2010 at 5:57 am #

Hi Moon, the one near me is in an older, industrial part of town, so I can’t imagine the land was crazy expensive. If it was in a place that was attractive to developers or to retail locations – it might be millions of dollars for such a plot. So finding an affordable location is key. I can’t imagine someone lifting 10 RV’s without getting noticed, unless it was 3 am. I guess you could offer “video monitoring” and set a motion detector at the entrance to let you know when vehicles were entering and exiting.

MJ
George185 26 May 2010 at 7:39 am #

There is actually pretty big lot open near my house… note to self.
Jon 26 May 2010 at 9:08 am #

My brother used to own a property with a few barns on it. He stored peoples campers and boats in the winter.
Keoki 26 May 2010 at 10:52 am #

This sounds like a *great* idea.

Unfortunately there are not many RVs in my area (Hawaii) but there are a LOT of boats and many owners have to park them and their trailers in their driveways because slips are few and expensive.

So maybe a boat/trailer park would be better suited for my local.

Food for thought. Thanks for the initial idea, MJ. =D
MJ Wolfe 26 May 2010 at 11:24 am #

Nice! “Keoki’s Boat Storage” – Since I gave you the initial idea, I want 10% of all the earnings. A monthly check is fine.

MJ
Murlu 26 May 2010 at 1:59 pm #

Wow MJ, this is effin brilliant. I once thought about how much storage facilities make but you have all the overhead of setting up everything.

My area would be perfect! I live in Florida and during the summer, all the snow birds leave their RVs behind.

A boat yard would be a great idea too but there may be loading equipment and the buildings.

Thanks for sharing MJ
MJ Wolfe 29 May 2010 at 4:12 am #

Thanks Murray! Let us know if you wind up pursing this!

MJ
Deneil Merritt 31 May 2010 at 9:01 am #

lol this made me think about one on the other side of town. It’s a small lot but it holds 25 RV’s at least. I never counted though. Didn’t realize how easy this business.

Now I am going to keep my eye open for big lots. Not very many RV’s in my area until winter I like to call it big bucks winter because all prices go up for the winter.

That reminds me, I have to get in contact with the real estate investors I know. See if they know of any land for sale.

Thanks MJ
MJ Wolfe 31 May 2010 at 9:02 am #

You’re welcome Deneil! Let us know if you decide to pursue this! The question is — how would you advertise? A local business listing in Google, Bing and Yahoo would be my first step after I was all set up.

MJ
Reed Taylor 25 December 2011 at 4:19 pm #

Thanks for the information on you RV storage..
I have been debating for 6 years about developing outdoor storage but didn’t want the expense of inproving the surface.
What size fencing do you use?
What type of gate and locking system workes best?
What is the ideal land size?
What are the space sizes?
Do you have security on site 24 hours a day?
What advertising workes best?

Thanks again/
Reed Taylor