If you have some tenant storage on your multi-family property, there’s a good chance that you want to make yours appear unique in comparison to other units available on other properties. This can be a challenge, especially if you live in an area where there are a lot of properties that are getting creative with their apartment storage solutions. With a bit of creativity, you can make even the drabbest storage units stick out in comparisona to other units, but sometimes it’s harder than just sitting down and thinking to get inspiration.
It’s unfortunate but true that the muses work on their own schedule, but that’s ok. Today we’re going to look at a few ideas that might be able to get your creative juices flowing so you can get the most out of your apartment complex’s storage locker area. No matter the vibe or atmosphere you’re looking to provide in your apartment complex, there’s certainly a way to make sure that your storage unit area not only fits into that image but adds to it. Whether you’re focusing on a single property or you’ve managed to build yourself an empire, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to take some ideas from this article.
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Hire an Artist to Beautify the Area
There’s one thing that most people have in common, and that’s an appreciation for the arts. Now, the level of that appreciation may vary greatly. Some people can appreciate any art form, ranging from dada to modern to realism, while other people have a much narrower scope of the kind of art that they are able to enjoy. It makes sense because everyone is different, but you can use this to your advantage when you’re designing your storage space.
This is only a good idea if it fits in with the vibe of your property already, but you could hire an artist to add some color and enrichment to the storage area on your property. It can make the area more pleasant to be in which could potentially increase the number of tenants that are willing to use your storage lockers. You could even use some color theory to promote certain emotions in your tenants when they’re in the storage area, like blues for calmness and socialness or yellows for happiness. Color theory is complicated so we don’t have time to explain it in great detail but you get the gist of it.
The more your tenants feel that your storage unit area is a pleasant place to be, the more likely they’ll be to want to rent them out from you. Artists typically know what they’re doing and if you commission one to beautify your storage is you could see great results from it. On top of that, if you ever show your property to friends you can show them the beautiful piece that you commissioned to just put the cherry on top of what is already an impressive property.
Add Some Local Flora
Another great way to make your storage area pop? Plants and flowers. Flora is a great and easy way to make sure that there’s some extra color in your storage area, and there’s a good chance that you already have plant life on your property for this very reason. The logic behind this is similar to the logic behind commissioning a mural for your storage space, to create some color and make the area more pleasing to the eye. If an area is colorful it typically comes off as more inviting to the human eye.
Using local plant life specifically has some distinct advantages to using non-native plants. The first is that if a plant is already suited to grow in your area, you won’t have to worry quite as much about upkeep because it’s already in its natural habitat. Local plant life is used to the weather conditions of the area, making it hearty enough to survive on its own. You’ll probably still want to make sure to water it, but other than that the plants will be fine to grow on their own and do their thing just with what is provided.
On top of that, local flora means that local fauna will be able to thrive a little bit more easily. That can, at times, mean that you’ll need to deal with pests, but it can also mean that some vital insects and birds in your area will have things that they need in order to thrive. That means that not only are you beautifying your storage area, but you’re providing an essential to local wildlife that needs these kinds of concessions in order to survive. That’s what we in the industry call a win-win for everyone involved.
Get Creative With the Layout
Do you know much about the art of interior design or architecture? Whether you do or not doesn’t make a huge difference, but if you do you probably know exactly where we’re going with this. The layout of your storage units can make a huge difference in how it’s perceived for a number of reasons. For example, if you lay it out in a certain way you can make the space feel bigger or smaller. You can make people feel like they have a lot more space to move around in this area just with a couple of tricks.
We aren’t specialists in this specific field by any stretch of the imagination, but we do know that planning out the layout for space and convenience can make your tenants feel more positively about your storage space, which can lead to more units being rented out on a regular basis. The key here is to make sure that the area feels easy to access while also secure enough that people aren’t worried about theft. By combining these two things you can increase the rental rate of your storage units by a great deal every single month.
Always Think About Security
Arguably the most important thing to have in mind when it comes to your storage units is security. One of the most interesting things to know about security is that most of it is an illusion. Since the beginning of the concept of security, there’s been a struggle between those that want to keep people out and those that want to get into places where they aren’t supposed to be. There’s an old adage in the security field, and it goes something like “if something locks, it can be unlocked by means other than those intended.”
That being said, most security does its job without issue. Any lock can be opened by the right person with the right tools, just like any website can be hacked by someone who knows what they’re doing. The most important thing is to make sure that everything looks secure enough to scare off the low-level thieves. That not only makes your property more secure but plants the thought into the head of your tenants that your storage units are secure. That, again, can potentially raise the number of tenants that are willing to rent a storage unit from you.
This is an area that is easy to set yourself apart from other properties for one major reason. Most properties aren’t up to snuff on the latest technology. That means that you could do something as simple as having a gate that opens with a thumbprint scan or a code and it will look a lot more advanced than what your competitors are using. Remember, your tenants probably don’t realize that security is largely an illusion so that means that you can do it up to make things look more secure without having to put in too much extra effort.
Some people will even go so far as to install dummy cameras on top of their real cameras to make sure that it looks like there are extra eyes on the storage area. That’s just one of many tricks that can be used to help give the appearance of a more secure spot, and you might even have more things that you can do. Just keep in mind that substance still matters so don’t go too overboard without actually making sure that your storage unit area is actually going to be safe from the vast majority of wannabe thieves.
Don’t Settle for Ordinary
It’s easy to forget that tenants are people that have expectations, too. No matter how well you market your storage units, if the area isn’t appealing you might suffer a hit in your rental rate. Fortunately, it just takes a bit of thought to make sure that your storage area is a place that your tenants would not only use but be happy to have the opportunity. People need a place to store their extra things, and making sure that your storage area is as beautiful as it is secure could even end up landing you some new tenants in the long run.