Chicagoland indoor car storage?

[JalopyBob]

Lately I have been looking at those self store places for an old Buick and an old Chevy. They want a lot of money for not much space. I could build a nice new garage for what they are asking, but my yard is too small for more than a 1 car. Would anyone know of available secure indoor old car storage at hobbiest prices in the north/northwest Chicagoland area? Thanks!

[Barry Wolk]

Consider others that are in your predicament and buy a commercial building. I was paying rent all over town. I got about 10 times the space I was renting for the same price. All you need is two other cars to pay the taxes, one car to pay the insurance and four more to pay the note, and your problem is solved.

I was paying rent on storing 4 vehicles and that really added up. It looks like a good time to buy real estate, anyway.

[JalopyBob]

Barry, that is a good idea, and one that I have been thinking about for a while now. The least expensive commercial building in Mt Prospect IL is priced at $480,000. It will hold 8 cars. There is another 1 town to the east priced at $270,000. and it should probably be torn down. If I were to drive 50 to 80 miles out in the country prices are much lower.

What price building and car rent are you thinking of?

[Starfire61]

Try looking at commercial condos. They're popping up all over the place & are considerably cheaper than buying a whole building.

I bought a 2400 square foot unit on the east side of Batavia, right near the Kane County Cougars stadium. I live in Wheaton, so it's about a 20 minute ride for me. Beats the heck out of paying rent!

If I had more money, I'd have bought two of them, or at least a bigger one. I could have filled the whole thing with other people's cars... all by word of mouth.

I found mine using Loopnet- it's an online clearinghouse for commercial real estate. http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Listing/Search/ForSale.aspx?linkcode=330

You can pay a bunch of money & subscribe to a premium membership, but I didn't bother with it. I just kept looking until I found something promising, called the realtor, & things progressed from there.

With the market being bad, there are a lot of these sitting empty. You could probably get a good deal, especially on one that has been previously occupied. There are so many brand new ones available that price is the only incentive to buy used.

Chuck

[HarryJ]

Bob...A quick way to compare building prices is, how much are they per square foot; ie. 5,000sq.ft. for $250,000 is $50/sq.ft. Car condos are becoming quite popular and are selling well in several cities. These tend to sell in the $250/sq.ft. range. My advice to you is to shop, shop, shop, and understand the market where you are looking. Condsider some depressed areas as these properties sell at much lower prices per foot than those in desirable areas. Some partners and I just bought a 70,000 sq.ft. building in a depressed area of Atlanta for $4.50/sq.ft.

[JalopyBob]

Thanks for the advice guys.

[mrpushbutton]

Paul Terhorst runs a storage place out in Mundelein, I could find his number if you are interested.

[Chacheska]

Geez, I'm really impressed at the prices of storage buildings in the Chicago area. I bought a 3,769 sq ft warehouse here in western N.Y. 4 years ago for $16,000!! I currently have 17 vehicles in there and could conceivably fit 4 more in there if I wanted to sardine them in. Costs $100 a month in taxes. Not bad when you divide that by 17.