Storage During a Real Estate Transition
- Adam Garrett
- Apr 21
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 21
The question of storage often comes up in real estate, especially around the times of transition from one home to the next, like those buying and selling at the same time and living in temporary housing like a short-term rental house or even a long-term stay hotel.
Where to Find Self-Storage Options in Hampton Roads & Fredericksburg:
American Classic Self-Storage (Peninsula, SouthSide, & Fredericksburg)
An excellent example in Hampton Roads that you won't find on SelfStorage.com nor on Sparefoot is American Classic Self Storage, which has 11 Hampton Roads locations, & excellent service while providing price matching if you can find a better price elsewhere. Here are their locations with the number of options in each location:
2 Hampton
I stored some items at an American Classic location in Hampton for a bit & have had great interactions with the American Classic team elsewhere as well including in Newport News. They're consistently well-rated on Google Maps:
Where to Find Self-Storage Options Outside of Locations w/ American Classic Available:
SelfStorage.com has some great filter options, some prices I didn't find on other sites, and a number of storage possibilities, though there are definitely some that won't be included, in part because companies need to pay to get business directly from there, thus the demo-based sales-pitch with little information about fees prior to the demo:
B. SpareFoot
Spare Foot is another good option to check, but be sure to compare pricing with SelfStorage.com, where I saw some better prices even when considering the same locations. Again though, some self-storage locations won't be listed, as self-storage companies need to pay SpareFoot if someone books them directly via the platform.
C. Google Maps
One of the benefits of Google Maps is that since it's free for a company to post there, most self-storage places will be on there. For instance, American Classic Self Storage, which has 11 Hampton Roads locations, isn't listed on SpareFoot nor on SelfStorage.
On the flip side, you won't be getting the filtering options and side-by-side comparisons of options that some of the self-storage websites can provide. That said, even if you find a self-storage location on another website, I do recommend checking Google Maps for reviews of that location even if reviews where you found it look fine.
Tips:
I saw an example in one location at a company I don't recall hearing of (buyer beware) with a $8/month fee for a 5x5 unit. A fee like that is relatively unheard of. Then the insurance costs became visible, with the minimum policy available covering up to $2k in items, where the monthly insurance amount exceeded the cost of the unit. They also had the option to bring your own storage insurance policy to the table, but there weren't any options to have a unit without insurance.
Consider a Shed, Addition, or Garage
Storage fees can add up very quickly. In some cases, the cost of the storage fees can exceed the value of the items stored. Count the cost before putting items in storage.
One alternative method for homeowners with a yard is sheds. If you have room for a shed as a homeowner of a detached home, and you don't have restrictive covenants or laws (i.e. setback restrictions of cities/counties) that would prevent you from getting a shed, a shed is often a good consideration. Crime can also be an issue where those in high-crime neighborhoods may be leary of putting valuables in a shed. For those in condos without a yard, where a shed isn't an option, and for others who wouldn't be in a good position to do a shed or who would have too low of a time-span of storage needs for a shed to be worthwhile, storage units are a good option.
The cost of an addition or a new garage will typically greatly exceed the cost of storage or a shed. However, if you have a number of items that won't fit in your house, don't want to consider a shed (i.e. due to security) or can't do a shed, and really don't want to sell them or give them away, and have exhausted the room in your home, consider a garage or an addition vs a decades-long storage unit. A $100 unit (including insurance) after a year is $1,200. Not even factoring in increased storage fees over time due to inflation, 20 years would be $24k. That's slightly more than the cost of the average standard modular garage.
Additional Storage Resources
This site has some tips on costs, places to look, as well as a list of what items need temperature control:
https://www.move.org/storage-units-cost/
This site also has a number of good pieces of information on storage costs:
https://www.extraspace.com/blog/self-storage/how-much-do-storage-units-cost/
Related Articles from American Classic Self Storage:
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