Irish Self Storage Association

Mini Storage

Over the past 6 months there have been many reports to indicate that we still have not reached the bottom of the housing market correction. Reports that are based on economist’s opinions and statistics from lending institutions are flawed to a point as they are based on loans that are drawn down which have an inbuilt time lag as these are based on sales which took place a number of months earlier.

The self storage industry is actually an up to date barometer of activity on the housing market. When houses are selling the level of occupancy in self storage facilities of residential clients grows. In the past 3 years we noticed that occupancy levels of residential customers was steady declining indicating that house sales were also starting to slow down.

Last summer there was a noticeable increase in the level of residential storage enquiries, to a point whereby in August, self storage facilities all over the country had their best month in years. The uncertainty as to whether property tax would replace stamp duty in September again caused the market to dry up with both September and October showing little or no activity in storage sales.

After Brian Lenihan’s budget in December there was a significant pick up in the level of enquiries and  sales into storage, which has steadily increased since, indicating that the housing market is starting to awaken after its extended hibernation. Mini Storage can now happily report that there were double digit percentage gains in the month of February for both our Cork and Dublin facilities.

This would suggest that once leadership is shown by our government, the Irish consumer is willing to commit to spending, thus promoting  growth in our economy.  The danger is the government’s tendency to prevaricate,  causing uncertainty throughout the economy and denying any recovery. The government can show us the way provided they themselves have the confidence to stay the course and keep us all on track.

Post from ISSA Member, Ministorage.ie

Downsize Office Space

With the obvious downturn in the economy many offices and businesses are looking for ways to save money and cutback on spending. Rents are a huge cost to businesses so downsizing on these are a huge saving. But obviously there still needs to be a location to store the likes of secure documents, filing, marketing products, equipment etc. This is where the use of a secure self storage unit is a perfect solution. They can provide :

• Security
• Cheaper Solutions
• Easy Access
• Declutter Office Space
• Great for Long Term/Archive Documents
• Storing bulk products

If you need any further information on this or any of our Members within the Irish Self Storage Association please feel free to contact us via www.irishselfstorageassociation.ie

Surplus Christmas Gifts

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy New Year. It certainly has got off to a very cold start this year. There is always one recurring theme in nearly every household each year. A surplus of either new gifts or of old toys, sports equipment, clothes etc that has now been taken over in storage with these extra items. This is the time that Self Storage can provide an excellent service. We can provide you with a cheap solution to putting your items that perhaps or not needed to hand but you do not want to throw out. That perhaps you would like to store for safety or sentimental reasons.

So if you are thinking of decluttering your homes after the Christmas influx of Gifts keep us in mind as an alternative to thinning out those extra items! And check out all our Irish Self Storage Association Members in a location near you.

Happy New Year!!

Strange ways to use Self Storage!

Seven in a Self Storage Unit

I came up with the idea for this blog after watching an episode of Emmerdale and seeing Cain contemplating leaving Charity locked up in his self storage unit. Which up until then he had used in place of a Bank to store his ill gotten gains! Now I am sure there are many spouses out there that were sitting there at that moment weighing up the possibility of luring their other half or maybe their mother in law to their local self storage unit. But before I get accused of being an accessory to the crime – they are not soundproof!!! And we have security cameras!!!

But there is examples like Philip Else in Reading, England who runs a gym from his Self Storage unit! From the distant end of the strip-lit corridor, unit S002 looks identical to the hundreds of other storage rooms in Reading’s giant Safestore warehouse. A heavy metal door painted pastel blue, a padlock bought from the front office, a sticker advertising the benefits of introducing a friend to self-storage. A nearby poster explaining the “Rules for Safe Lifting 1992″, though illustrated with jolly cartoons, doesn’t much enliven the sterile surroundings.

And Aideen Donoghue from Tyrone who suffers from scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, a condition that doesn’t mesh particularly well with six hours of dancing every day. She has to do a lot of stretching so she stretches in a self storage unit in London! Unit FE07, on the upper deck of a Storage King in Reading, accommodates rehearsals of a noisier nature. David Viner, a guitarist with heavy metal group Seven practice here. They find the acoustics excellent!!

So as you can see there are many different ways to use your Self Storage units!!! I would love to hear some ideas from you of how you could use yours or what you have used it for.

Reasons to use Self Storage

We are finding that private and business customers are using self storage facilities more and more. They are finding the idea of storing their valuables and important documents or larger items in an offsite facility both practical and economical.

While renovating or remodeling a house, a self storage unit helps safely store away most of the stuff and de-clutter a house so that it is easy to move around and work on your home.

An affordable self storage is a good place to securely store large or precious items like antique furniture or silverware that may not be used regularly but is too valuable to be left lying around a home.

Seasonal items such as artifical Christmas trees, bar-b-qs, bicycles and garden furniture are best stored away in a storing unit when not in use. In addition to saving lots of space in the garage or attic, the items will not gather dust or get damaged when it is time to collect them.

When it comes to storing business documents, filing cabinets, unused furniture and the like, a self storage unit can be the perfect option.

While planning to sell a property, or perhaps when renting a property while travelling it obviously makes sense to de-clutter the premises as much as possible so that prospective buyers or people renting get to see how spacious the property really is. Storing away all unnecessary stuff opens up lots of space. This will significantly increase the value of the property.

You will be surprised at what you can use Self Storage for!! So why not check out your nearest self storage units. Check out our Members who our nearest to you – http://www.irishselfstorageassociation.ie/members-links.asp