Guide / RV and boat storage

How to sell an RV and boat storage facility

Every other asset class here is governed by the strength of the local industrial market. This one is not. RV and boat storage travels, the buyer list is national, and a facility a long way from a major metro can still run a competitive process.

Phil Maisano · 30 August 2026 · 10 minute read

By Phil Maisano Industrial Storage Brokers

The short version
  1. The buyer pool for this asset is national, so the qualifying test is the buyer list rather than the metro ranking.
  2. Industrial Storage Brokers has closed this product in five states and the length of Florida, from Pensacola to Fort Myers to St Augustine.
  3. Covered against open stall mix drives the rate, and the mix is usually the first thing a buyer models changing.
  4. A waiting list is worth more than a high occupancy figure, because it evidences demand above the current rate.
  5. Expansion room under the current zoning is priced. Expansion room that needs an approval is priced differently and disclosed.

The asset class that travels

Phil's screen for industrial outdoor storage, small bay, warehouse, truck parking and land includes a market test: a real industrial submarket, real infrastructure, and a buyer pool that exists without anybody having to invent it. Sites far from that fail the screen regardless of how the numbers look.

RV and boat storage is the documented exception, and it is a deliberate one. The firm has closed this product in Gulfport Mississippi, Ponchatoula Louisiana and Caballo New Mexico, none of which are near a major metro, alongside closings running the length of Florida from Pensacola through Fort Myers to St Augustine.

The reason is the buyer. Capital for this asset class shops nationally and has done for years, so the question is not whether there is a local buyer. It is whether the facility fits what the national buyers are acquiring.

On this asset the location question changes shape. Instead of asking whether there is a buyer in your market, the question is whether your facility fits what the national buyers are already acquiring.

What sets the number

  1. Covered against open stall mix

    Covered stalls command a different rate from open ground, and enclosed different again. The mix you have determines current income, and the mix the site could support determines what a buyer models.

  2. Occupancy and the waiting list

    A full facility with a waiting list is evidence that the rate is below what the market will bear. A full facility without one may simply be correctly priced. Buyers pay for the first.

  3. Rate history

    What rates have done over several years, how customers responded to increases, and how much churn each increase produced. This is the evidence behind any growth assumption in a buyer's model.

  4. Security and access

    Gate system, individual access credentials, camera coverage, lighting and fencing. Owners of expensive recreational vehicles buy security, and a facility with a serious system rents faster and holds rate better.

  5. Room to expand

    Whether the site can take additional covered structures under the current zoning without a discretionary approval. That distinction is worth real money and it gets disclosed rather than implied.

The operating detail buyers examine

This is a business as much as it is real estate, and buyers underwrite it accordingly.

  • The management platform. What software runs the facility, whether customers can reserve and pay online, and whether the site is staffed or run remotely. A remotely managed facility with a working access system is attractive to buyers assembling a portfolio.
  • Delinquency and turnover. How often stalls turn, how long they sit, and what proportion of customers pay late.
  • The customer contract. Month to month is standard and is not a weakness on this product, because rate can be moved. What matters is that the contract is enforceable and that lien procedures have been followed.
  • Ancillary income. Dump stations, wash bays, electrical hookups and any service offering, kept separate from stall rent so a buyer can see each stream.
  • Seasonality. Florida and Gulf coast facilities frequently show a seasonal pattern. Show it rather than average it away, because a buyer will find it.

Who is bidding

  • National storage operators and aggregators. Buying to add to a platform, and the reason this asset class travels.
  • Private capital and exchange buyers. Attracted to month to month income with pricing power and modest operating complexity.
  • Regional operators. Buying within a drive of what they already run, so operations can be shared.
  • Developers. Where the site has genuine expansion capacity, the value sits in what the property becomes rather than what it earns today.

What to have ready

Have these in a folder

  1. 01
    Stall inventory by typeCovered, enclosed and open, with sizes and the current rate for each category.
  2. 02
    Occupancy and rate historySeveral years if you have it, with any waiting list documented rather than described.
  3. 03
    Operating statementsWith ancillary income separated from stall rent.
  4. 04
    The site plan and the zoning readIncluding whether additional covered structures are permitted by right.
  5. 05
    Access and security specificationGate system, credentials, cameras, lighting and fencing, with ages.
  6. 06
    The customer contractThe form in use, and confirmation that lien procedures have been followed.

When Phil is the wrong call

If the property is a marina or a dry stack with in-water operations, that is a different specialty with its own regulatory environment and its own buyers. Phil sells land based RV and boat storage.

If the facility is a handful of stalls behind another business, there is not enough there to run a process against, and the honest answer is that it sells with the primary asset rather than on its own.

The process, in order

Seven steps, in the sequence they actually happen. Most of the value is created in the first three, before the property is ever shown.

How the sale runs

  1. 01
    Inventory the stalls by typeSeparate covered, enclosed and open stalls with sizes and current rates for each category.
  2. 02
    Document occupancy, rates and the waiting listPull several years of history so a buyer can see how customers responded to past increases.
  3. 03
    Separate ancillary incomeBreak dump station, wash bay, hookup and service income out of stall rent so each stream is visible.
  4. 04
    Get the expansion answer in writingEstablish whether additional covered structures are permitted by right or need a discretionary approval, and disclose which.
  5. 05
    Document the access and security systemGate, credentials, cameras, lighting and fencing, with ages and any recent capital work.
  6. 06
    Market to the national buyer listThis asset travels, so the process goes to national operators and aggregators rather than only to local capital.
  7. 07
    Run the process and close itManage inspection, title and financing dates through from letter of intent to closing.

Read next: IOS yards, Truck parking and terminals. If you are earlier than that, start with what your property is worth or how to choose a broker.

A note on numbers

Why there is no price on this page

Nothing here quotes a rent, a price per acre or a cap rate, and that is deliberate rather than an omission. Those figures move by submarket and by quarter, and an owner who anchors on a number read on a website is negotiating against himself before anyone has seen the site.

Nothing on this page is a valuation of any specific property, legal advice or tax advice. No figure here should be applied to your asset without an inspection, and no page on this site quotes a price, a rent or a cap rate. Phil Maisano concludes every valuation himself after he has seen the site.

Straight answers

Questions owners actually ask

Yes, and this is the asset class where that is genuinely true. Industrial Storage Brokers has closed RV and boat storage in Gulfport Mississippi, Ponchatoula Louisiana and Caballo New Mexico, alongside closings from Pensacola to Fort Myers to St Augustine. The capital for this product shops nationally.

No. On this asset class they are normal and frequently an advantage, because rate can be adjusted as the market moves. What a buyer checks is that the contract form is enforceable and that lien procedures have been followed properly.

More than a high occupancy figure on its own. A waiting list is evidence that demand exists above your current rate, which is exactly the assumption a buyer needs in order to underwrite growth. Document it rather than describing it.

Sometimes, and it depends on how much churn the increase produces. A rate rise that holds is worth capitalising. One that empties stalls and shows up as a spike in turnover right before a sale invites questions. The rate history matters as much as the current rate.

Yes, and the mix is usually the first thing a buyer models changing. Covered commands a different rate from open ground and enclosed different again, so both your current mix and what the site could support under its zoning affect the number.

Not necessarily. A remotely managed site with a working access control system and online reservations and payment is attractive to buyers building a portfolio, because it fits how they already operate. What matters is that the system works and that the records are clean.

Where this applies

All Florida markets →

Phil sells industrial across Florida. Open the page for your market to see what trades there and what sets the price.

Fort LauderdaleTri-county core MiamiTri-county core West Palm BeachTri-county core Pompano BeachTri-county core TampaTampa Bay OrlandoCentral Florida JacksonvilleNortheast Florida Fort MyersSouthwest Florida

Next step

Find out what your property is worth.

A confidential broker opinion of value, at no cost and with no obligation to list. Phil sets the number himself.

Start an advisory request (954) 466-8925