So, my brother wants to eventually own his own business...
 

He wants to do a restaurant or a deli, etc. Anyway, it sparked a conversation between he, I and about 6 other people through-out the day on the golf course, mainly talking about which businesses were the easiest to start, easiest to run, least amount of liability.

Oddly enough, we kept coming back to storange facilities. Keep in mind we live in San Diego, and land is priced stupidly high, and obviously there are barriers to enrty based on his investment dollars available.

My question is, does anyone know of a similar business that operates with minimal if any employees, requires or allows the purchase of the dirt (land) underneath it, and has a recurring income? The catch is, storage facilities like he is talking about cost 1.5M to 4.5M, he is looking for some much much less than that.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

why not real estate outside of california

Good question, and it was discussed. Basically, he is moving out of California, but wants to come back in about 5-7 years. I mean, the weather here is just too much to not come back.

Ideally though, you are right, moving out of state would save him a ton of seed capital or investment funding.

You could start a storage facility in an area much cheaper but remember the demand will be less too because people don't need storage as much. Storage was a completely new concept to me when I moved to California, I never realized "regular" people would need in.

i have no idea, but i always wonder whenever i'm just driving around, it seems that SD has more storage facilities per capita than any place i've ever seen. before moving further with the possibility, do you know much about demand for storage facilities here - is there still demand or is the market oversaturated (as it sure seems when driving around the UTC/Sorrento Valley area)?

Laundry place.

By a small store in an area full of apartments and college students. Set up dryers/washers. Set up a coin change thingy. And one employee at a time just to look out and shit.

Yeah, and they main reason he leaned towards storage, is our Uncle has a small storage place in Detroit, MI, and he does well. Not great, but well. When my uncle visited last time for a family wedding, he was driving through San Diego and was just blown away that we have so many faciliaties here, and most are practically full, or at least 90%.

Yeah, the old office for the Company used to over there, it seems there is one on every corner. More and more of the small ones here in SD seem to be getting gobbled up by the big players.

Storage in general is one of those funny things. People will pay $75 a month to store $400 worth of stuff. Then, on top of that, they will just leave it there, and get charged every month. I mean, really, how fast does a month go by? Pretty fast if you ask me.

Seems there is a subtle similarity there with the porn industry and rebills at times.

Thats a great idea as well. That one made the top 5 list. :)

Parking lots- same problem with the land costs but just think about the lots near downtown areas in LA and SD. they make bank. Low maintenance and only 1 or 2 employees.

that's a good point - although i think the storage industry has it a lot better - rebills are just a few minutes of work to figure out how to cancel - you don't have to find a new space and rent a truck to cancel a porn membership :1orglaugh

Start a smaller storage facility or many smaller ones in other areas. Hell my area is going through a real estate boom and anyone can make a killing.

No shit. You hit the nail right on the head with that one. The new parking lots in San Diego by Petco Park in the Gaslamp Quarter, are $15-$20 a pop.

Worst part about the whole thing:

THEY ARE ALWAYS FULL.

So the parking lots are most likely the best business down there, even if they are the 6-8 story parking lots. Think about it, even if it was only making enough money to cover a monthly land payment of $200,000, it pays for it self in the end, and the land under it has appreciated in value over that time.

Man I wish I had 10-15 mil to do something like that. Good call.

I don't know there are some freaks out there that may need to rent a truck to cancel all of their memberships, or at least a super-computer to cancel all their memberships!

Validi point though. There are some significant costs to "canceling" at a storage facility.... never looked at it that way before.

Yeah. Size isn't the issue for my brother, so a smaller facility would be easier on his budget, and most likely a better starting point for him.

buy an emerging franchise, like a subway or quiznos or dunkin donuts....

or a gas station with a convenience store...


all smaller costing invetments were the labor doesnt need to be skilled

that's one thought i've had periodically since moving out here...there are franchises that haven't established themselves yet on the West Coast, like Dunkin' Donuts - virgin territory for successful franchise operations that could be very profitable....
of course, i'd never go ahead with what i'd REALLY like to do here...open supermarkets that are like the supermarkets back east, with much better selection because half the floor space wouldn't be taken up with beer, wine and liquor. i'd shop at it in a heartbeat - but i'd lose my shirt :1orglaugh