When Happydad and I moved to the Far North Midwest last summer, we left Happykid with the townhouse in the DC suburbs and the expectation that she’d be able to find some craigslist-type housemates to take the pain out of paying a mortgage there and rent here. Because of her work, Happykid does divide her time between the townhouse and her apartment north of Baltimore, but she hasn’t been as successful at finding housemates as we’d hoped, so we need to consider putting the whole place up for rent.
This means that we have to deal with roughly one bedroom worth of furniture, and some 30 shelf-feet of boxes. This is stuff she will want within the next five years, but doesn’t have space for in her apartment. Do we ship it to the Far North Midwest and cram it into our 2Br rental here, or do we store it somewhere between DC/Frederick/Baltimore? If we store it there, what kind of money are we looking at?
And yes, the houseshare option is still on the table if you know anyone looking.
For the house share, if your place is DC commutable, now is the perfect time to contact professional schools and hospitals who may be putting lists together for their new students/residents who often look to house share.
I would guess the cost of shipping will equal several months of storage costs, so I would be more inclined to store nearer to you DD. Storage units are rented by size and whether they are climate controlled.
The place I used most recently has a not climate controlled 5 x 10 ft unit for $160/month in Arlington; climate control is about $200/month. The rents are much less in Frederick ($60/month).
We have been renting a storage unit for a couple of years. However, it is not in the DC area. It is in the south. I do not know the details as it is my wife who handled this. But I think the price range is between $100 to $200 per month, depending on what rate we get. The storage unit is climate-controlled.
I heard that there is often a “teasing” rate when you just start to rent it. While my wife was still living at our old house, she needed to move the stuff from one storage unit to another in order to get the lower teasing rate. Most of time, we just need to move from a larger storage unit to a smaller unit, or vice versa, instead of moving to another storage company. (At one time, we did move to a storage unit at another company.) Otherwise, the rate may go higher after some time.
But now both of us do not go back to the city where our house is at any more. (It is not within the driving distance.) So we could no longer keep changing the storage unit from time to time in order to get the lower rate.
We can not wait till the day we can move back and close the storage unit.
(But we are now also considering to move to a city with a major airport after we retire…who knows what would happen next.)
We also rent a storage unit - not in DC, in the midwest. It’s climate controlled, 5x10 which I’d guess would be big enough for your needs and it’s $90/month. It has excellent access - can drive up to the door and has wheeled carts to move stuff in and out of the unit. Also feels very secure. We also have furniture stored by the moving company which runs about $200 a month + insurance. Though rates may be cheaper where you are, if your D will want the stuff, it’s probably better to leave it nearer her so she can get it as needed rather than moving it to where you are and then moving back - unless you think she won’t stay in that area.
I agree with renting the storage unit in the area where your D currently resides.
I have been renting a storage unit for exactly one year. It is in a suburb that is very close to a major city. It is a 10 by 10 unit. The original monthly rent was $125, but after six months, it went up to $136/month. It would be a little more if you needed insurance, but I have renter’s insurance and so that covers this unit too.
How about a hybrid solution…store the boxes (can she find room in baltimore apt?) and sell the bedroom furniture. Furniture is very cheap to buy used these days, so it’s hard to justify holding onto it unless it’s a priceless family heirloom.
Small units to store boxes are much cheaper than ones to store furniture.
The furniture and boxed items all have heirloom status, otherwise it would go straight to GoodWill. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the Baltimore apartment is crammed full. Three bedrooms, four room mates, two there-almost-all-the-time beaux, one cat, increasing numbers of potted plants, etc. Unless/until at least one of the other roommates clears out and takes her furniture/cat/beau/etc. with her, there’s no space for Happykid’s other stuff.
I am glad to know that storage space can be found for less than $200/month. That would be do-able for us, and would buy us time until Happykid is ready to take charge of her loot.