Sometimes money-making ideas come easy on a farm, and other times they come with a little bit of a learning curve first.
Take, for example, buying a horse farm WITH boarding clients, only to find out that you’re not really cut out for it. What should you do? Should you continue to manage the care for some of these animals, tolerate what you’re realizing is the inconvenience of people on our property multiple times per day, and fight through because the money is decent?
That’s exactly what happened to Allison Sue of Compass My Life. They found a beautiful horse farm to purchase and start homesteading, complete with existing boarding clients.
But there were two problems: first, they didn’t feel experienced enough to truly take good enough care of the boarded horses, and, second, they hated feeling like their privacy was compromised with too much for their liking with so much daily foot traffic.
Allison and her husband came across the idea of starting to rent the barn for storage as a way to shift the income that their farm was already making into a more sustainable method for their lifestyle choices and preferences. Shifting their income did mean reducing the horse boarding clients, but they gained much more. In this article, you’ll learn more about what it takes to rent a barn for storage so that you can turn your extra space into extra cash.
You can listen to Allison’s episode about (ex) horse boarding and how to rent a barn for storage here:
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Table of Contents
How To Rent A Barn For Storage — Getting Ready
Before you dive into just grabbing the first renter that comes your way, it’s important to get the space and yourself ready first.
But what kinds of things does that entail? Here are the things that should be done BEFORE you ever get your first client.
1. Check Legal Requirements
No matter how excited about this idea you are or how lucrative it could be, you HAVE to check the legal aspect of this for your particular farm and area.
Your town or county zoning may not allow for paid storage on your property depending on your zoning district, or a special use permit may be required (and likely will have a fee to go with it).
Perhaps more importantly, you’ll need to read the fine print on your homeowner’s insurance policy. Some policies may not allow for ANY home business that generates traffic on your property, in which case barn rental would invalidate your policy. The last thing you need is to compromise your insurance for the sake of making money!
While it’s not at all a legal requirement, it’s definitely a strong recommendation to make sure you’re well protected in terms of liability coverage!
2. Measure Out How Much Space You Have
Assuming you’re not going to take any major risks (above) with renting your extra barn space, measure what space you have available. The amount of space you have available will surely dictate what you can store.
If you only have enough room to store one boat versus 6 boats, this will help you run the numbers to decide if you’ll be better off with that one boat storage client versus renting in smaller units to more people for other belongings.
3. Clean Your Barn & Reconfigure If Needed
No one wants to store their prized classic car right next to what used to be the manure pile storage space in a farm barn. Or next to a precarious pile of rusty old farm implements.
If people are looking to pay for storage, they’re looking for a place that’s clean, safe, and at least somewhat organized. Getting your own things cleaned up and out of the way is definitely a high priority.
Another consideration is whether your space would be improved with partitions if they don’t already exist. Storing boats, cars, RVs, or other similarly large single items might be just fine without distinct divisions within your barn. But if you’re renting out the equivalent of self-storage units, people would probably much prefer that their stack of plastic tote bins were distinctly separate from the next person’s things.
4. Do Some Property Upgrades
Is your driveway to the barn full of potholes? How’s the outdoor (and indoor) lighting around the barn? What sort of protected access can you offer your clients?
Make sure the space you’re renting and the area around it is not going to ruin anyone’s vehicles as they drive up, and also consider adding things like security cameras, improved lighting in and out, and perhaps keyed or keypad access.
Sales & Marketing A Barn For Storage
Now that your space is tidy and more welcoming to potential clients, it’s time to iron out your pricing and get to marketing for clients.
1. Set Your Rental Fees
Figuring out the going rate for your area is going to take a bit of research on your part.
Some factors you’ll want to take into consideration as you determine the value of your space are:
- How close (or far) from “downtown” is your barn?
- What is the population density in your town? (smaller town = less demand for storage)
- How many storage facilities are in your area? Are they common and full, or always half vacant?
- For boats, where is the nearest marina? How far are you from a boat launch?
A private, locked barn to store a boat may be worth renting over an open marina/boatyard storage, so you may be able to get a higher price. Smaller self-storage units in a barn will not be as valuable to most people for smaller belongings and valuables compared to modern climate-controlled self-storage lockers.
The Purdue University extension office website has a great article discussing rent pricing to help you get a starting point if you’re totally lost.
2. Decide A Marketing Strategy
As heard in the podcast episode, one of Allison’s best marketing avenues is to post availability in their local “mom groups” on Facebook, which is definitely not the first place most people would think of!
Others may find their best success simply posting printed flyers on the bulletin boards at various businesses.
Depending on what sort of storage you’re offering and your area (rural vs more urban), you may have more success with one marketing tactic than another.
Decide in advance if you’ll offer package deals, sales, and other promotions.
3. Create A Formal Rental Contract
It’s one thing to store grandpa’s boat for him; it’s another thing entirely to store things for a complete stranger.
Make sure you have a signed contract that is exceptionally clear in terms of what’s expected of both parties, what the rental fees and payment schedule is, the duration of the rental, and any clauses that allow for a protocol in the situation of payment failures and evictions needed.
This is the first step in legal protections and is a good opportunity to make sure your clients know what your liability coverage is and what things will and will not be covered in the event of damages, theft, or similar.
4. Advertise Your Space
Using the marketing strategy decided on above, start to put the word out that you’ve got barn storage to rent!
If after trying to advertise for a while you’re not finding enough or the right clients, it may be worthwhile to look into various existing rental platforms online.
Some potential options include:
How To Rent A Barn For Storage – Frequently Asked Questions
How Big Should My Barn Be To Rent?
Honestly, you can rent out just about any size space.
If you figure that the average car will fit in a 200-300 sq ft space, you could perhaps even rent part of a large shed or simply an extra garage bay. If you’ve got extra barn space large enough, measure the space to see how many square feet you have available, so you can then calculate WHAT you can store in the space.
What Would People Rent My Barn For?
People may want to rent for just about anything you’re willing to store. Some of the most common things that people search for barn storage for are:
- Vehicles (especially collector’s cars)
- Boats
- RVs/campers
- Recreational vehicles (snowmobile, ATV, etc)
- Furniture (home stagers for real estate, seasonal living situations like college, etc)
The space for these items varies considerably, obviously, so it’s important to carefully consider these items and the potential customer base so you can decide if you’ll store a variety of items or only offer one type of storage.
For example, offering an “anything goes” storage space may command a different price point (likely lower) than a “boat storage only” situation. People don’t want someone to try to sneak an ATV out past their expensive antique car, so they may not be willing to pay as much for what may be perceived as potentially “dangerous” storage.
If you’re in an area that’s really incredibly rural and remote, you might consider some creative barn storage options. Could a smaller farm up the road benefit from extra hay or feed storage space? Could you rent the space as traditional barn space, i.e. animal housing, instead of purely storage space? This is something to consider before you decide concretely on turning your space into essentially a self-storage unit.
What Rate Should I Charge?
You’ll have to do some research on the going rate for storage units in your area to determine what the right rate is. The area alone will make a huge difference, given the drive time it will take for someone to actually get to their storage. Storing a boat an hour from the lake in the summer won’t get the same rate as storage 2 miles from the same lake.
You’ll also have to carefully look at what you’re offering. If you’re offering basically a roof only (open “barn” storage) for someone to park a tarped RV under, you’ll get a far different (lower) rate than someone down the road offering locked, in-barn storage.
What extra features might you offer? Keypad entry for convenience? Security cameras and good security lighting at night? Open access for renters or scheduled access only, for more security? All of this and more will affect the competitive rate that you can charge.
What Changes Should I Make Before I Rent?
Here’s another thing that’s up to you. If your barn has a dirt floor and you expect a lot of tire traffic in and out in all weather, perhaps laying a floating wood floor will upgrade the space and the experience for your clients.
More specific steps are below, but things like cleaning routines, security features, etc are well worth the time to make sure you’re running a professional, valuable service.
What Legal Issues Should I Be Aware Of?
There are a few legalities you’ll want to look at before you start.
Is it even LEGAL for you to rent the space? Some towns or counties may actually require you to be approved for a special use permit to offer rented storage on your property.
Does your homeowner’s insurance allow for it? Some policies may actually be rendered invalid and could be at risk of being canceled if you offer any sort of business that generates foot traffic on your property.
Liability insurance to cover theft, fire, damages, etc should also be on your radar.
Depending on how much money you make from this — meaning how formal your rental is and your records/bookkeeping — you will likely make enough money per year if you do this right that you’ll need to claim the income on your taxes. Talk to an accountant that you can trust to make sure that you’re not leaving any problem spots in your records and in your business.
Farmer Profile — Allison Sue
Allison and her husband live just outside of Annapolis, MD on a 12-acre horse farm turned hobby farm in progress. At the time of their interview, they were just 6 months into their farm journey!
While they basically bought an existing horse boarding business with their home, they’ve done a pivot to find a way to make money off their farm in a way that’s better suited to their lifestyle preferences and their skill sets. So for now, renting extra space in their big barns as storage space is providing them with some passive income as they work on getting new revenue stream dreams up and running — involving mini ponies, farm retreats, kids events, and more.
They’re not shy about admitting when something isn’t right for them, backtracking and shifting, and diving into trial and error boldly. With a big passion for designing a life lived with intention (enough so that her business revolves around it), Allison especially knows that vision, planning, and giving yourself the grace to admit you need a change are a big part of building a life you love living.
You can learn more about intentional living on Allison’s website, Compass My Life, or you can follow her on Instagram @compassmylife to see both her life design motivation and a glimpse of farm life here and there.
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