Rent to own, in spite of what you may have heard is a very good way to own some things. A storage building is one of those things. Renting to own something that will save you money is much better than continuing to pay rent at the end of which you will have nothing. There is no interest involved in renting to own. When you buy in this way, you are renting something until the agreement is paid, at which time the product becomes yours. Most companies take about one half of each payment for rent, and the other half goes toward paying for the product.

Your building suppliers will be able to help guide you through your financing options. If you decide that renting to own is the best route for you, you will have a little paperwork ahead of you. It may take some time, but there are some things that you can do to speed things up.

Things you will need to process a rent to own agreement:

• A photo copy of your drivers license

• Your social security number

• Your home phone number

• Home address

• Employer information

Things that will help:

• Phone numbers for spouse

• Phone numbers for immediate relatives

• Addresses for relatives

Some of these things may not be needed, but if the application calls for them, it will be better to have them ready rather than spending extra time looking for them.

Shed with offset door and window

The self storage, or public storage industry is booming in the midst of economic crisis, and, to be honest, because of the financial crisis! Foreclosures are forcing people to move out of their homes quickly in many cases, and all those home furnishings, appliances, and other valuables have to be put somewhere for safe keeping. To add insult to injury in such difficult circumstances, the people who are doing the moving and storing, rarely have opportunity to do the kind of research that would lead them to the best long term solution while under the pressure of the short term situation. Families forced to move from their dream home, into smaller homes or apartments usually have more belongings than they can put into their new quarters, and they often suffer the double rental whammy of not only renting a place for their families to live, but also renting a place for their belongings to stay until times get better.

Other reasons for public storage growth

There is however, no single profile of the average public storage renter. Add to the above scenario a growing population of baby boomers preparing to retire and turn nomadic, and others who are down sizing for reasons other than foreclosure, and the figures go even higher.

An alternative to public storage

There is a better way to approach this problem. Buying a building of your own to store your property makes much better economic sense. Sure, you would have to pay for it, but it will be yours, and you will have something to show for your money when it is paid for. Even if you chose a rent to own building, the price is normally equal to the price of renting self storage, and the cost evaporates when the final payment is made, so that you can look forward to rent free storage, and using the building for other purposes when your situation returns to normal.

Apartment renters

It is obvious that buying a storage building is better than renting storage space, but what about people who move from a large home into a small apartment, or some other rental situation? Where would they put a storage building? The short answer is this: Everyone knows someone who has a home and land. This is usually a family member or a close friend, who understands the situation and would be more than happy to allow you to buy a building for placement on their property until the situation gets better. You will not gain all the advantages of having the building placed conveniently at your own doorstep, but at least you won't be throwing your money away on  rent.

Other renters

If you rent a home, other than an apartment, the owner of the property might be willing to allow you to have a building placed in your rented back yard. At the least, it would not hurt to talk to them about it. In such cases, a 'landlord lien waiver" may be required. Your building supplier will be able to supply one for you, along with instructions. However you work it out, renting to own, or purchasing outright, makes more sense than paying $50.00 a month for several years to store $500.00 worth of goods.

Storage sheds like this save money on storage expenses

It has been said that there are only two certainties; death and taxes. In modern times, you could add to that list, financial uncertainty. Ironic is it not? In these days, many people need a place to store a few things until the economy settles down, and the downsizing is over. The sad part is that many folks may be entering this sad new situation with less than perfect credit.

Financial uncertainty is a fact of life in today’s economy, and unlike the perfect world sometimes offered by on screen entertainment, most people do not have perfect credit. There are a lot of reasons why. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have credit rating problems, but in a perfect world, we wouldn’t need credit to begin with. the world is not perfect.

What can be done?

So, what can we do when the need arises for a fairly large purchase, and our creditors say no? We could always save our money until we have enough cash to purchase the product, but it takes a while to save a few thousand, and time can be our enemy, especially if we need the product for the purpose of making and saving money.

Financing options

There are always options like loan companies, who can eat your financial lunch when it comes to interest, and you have to be careful when it comes to the way the interest is structured. In some cases,  the interest may be as costly as the purchase, and there may be no way of paying it down ahead of time. Similar problems may exist with credit card purchases.

There is another option. Rent to own. In the rent to own system, you are paying for rent and ownership. You are not paying interest.

Storage rent to own

I had someone call me the other day about rent to own. The person on the line had heard that rent to own was, well, she couldn’t make herself put it bluntly, so I finished the statement for her: “You are wanting to know if it is a scam?” I asked politely. “Yes!” She said, in a way that showed an element of embarrassment and surprise!

Wrong information

There is apparently some bad information floating around on the subject, so I thought I would address that here. No. Rent to own is not some kind of scam. It is a perfectly viable way of renting or buying. I can’t speak for everyone, but the programs with which I am familiar are good programs.

Rent to own and interest

First of all, there is no interest on rent to own. you are paying rent for a building, and part of that rent, usually about half of it, goes toward the purchase of the building. Rent to own payments are very similar to what you would be paying for renting an equivalent amount of storage space from one of those self storage, or mini storage public storage facilities. The major difference is, that when you complete your contract on rent to own, you actually own the building, and it is setting on your property!

Early pay off

Many people choose to pay off the building early with income tax return money, or some windfall. This will save quite a bit on rental payments, since you would be paying for the building and not the rent if you pay it off. There is no penalty for early pay off. There is no credit check, and no credit damage for default. Since you are renting the building, you can call the company and have them pick it up, and your credit will not be hurt.

Bottom line

If you are paying 75.00 or 100.00 per month for storage, you can find an equivalent amount of storage space in a portable storage unit, and rent to own for about the same price. The big advantage is that you will be paying for something that will belong to you, and you won’t be throwing those dollars away! Throwing away dollars makes no sense! Neither does driving all over the country to get something that you need from storage, when you can just walk into your back yard to do the same thing.