I rented an old tire store in Huntsville, AL for about 10 years on and off. It was abandoned when I first moved in, so it took some of work to be livable, and it was a shit hole in a bad part of town, but it was worth the trouble, IMO. I had 3400 sq ft of secure storage, room to work, work benches, a lift and a big air compressor for about $200/ month on average depending on how many subs I had at a time. I was also able to help a bunch of buddies out over the years. I even let a guy live there for a few weeks once when he lost his apartment suddenly. If I had to go back and make the choice to do it again, I would.
Having said that, I rented space to a bunch of guys over the years, and I don't know if I would do that again. I made a couple life time friends, but I also dealt with a whole lot of BS and found out that a few guys I thought were friends were actually flaky losers. I was constantly dealing with chasing people around for rent, people borrowing each others' tools/ stuff and losing them/ breaking them/ forgetting they weren't theirs to begin with, people making messes and leaving them for weeks because they were in the middle of a project, and got stuck waiting on a part or something... mostly people doing things they would do in their own garages at home without thinking about it, but the space they're using isn't only theirs.
If I had to sublet to people again to make my rent reasonable, I would give everyone their own marked area, and lock absolutely all of my tools up. There would be zero community tools, even big stuff that would would be difficult to lock up. I would also try to be a hard ass about who can rent there, and about people paying rent on time, or your stuff gets pushed out in the street and I keep your deposit. Chasing rent around was the most stressful part of the whole situation, I think.
Almost every area has old industrial buildings sitting empty like this that can be rented for a reasonable amount of money if it's split among a few guys. Maybe this helps somebody make the decision to do this sort of thing (or not to). Overall it was a positive experience with short bursts of major irritation. I had a lift and good work space for a long time, with a fairly small amount of money actually spent on it.
Having said that, I rented space to a bunch of guys over the years, and I don't know if I would do that again. I made a couple life time friends, but I also dealt with a whole lot of BS and found out that a few guys I thought were friends were actually flaky losers. I was constantly dealing with chasing people around for rent, people borrowing each others' tools/ stuff and losing them/ breaking them/ forgetting they weren't theirs to begin with, people making messes and leaving them for weeks because they were in the middle of a project, and got stuck waiting on a part or something... mostly people doing things they would do in their own garages at home without thinking about it, but the space they're using isn't only theirs.
If I had to sublet to people again to make my rent reasonable, I would give everyone their own marked area, and lock absolutely all of my tools up. There would be zero community tools, even big stuff that would would be difficult to lock up. I would also try to be a hard ass about who can rent there, and about people paying rent on time, or your stuff gets pushed out in the street and I keep your deposit. Chasing rent around was the most stressful part of the whole situation, I think.
Almost every area has old industrial buildings sitting empty like this that can be rented for a reasonable amount of money if it's split among a few guys. Maybe this helps somebody make the decision to do this sort of thing (or not to). Overall it was a positive experience with short bursts of major irritation. I had a lift and good work space for a long time, with a fairly small amount of money actually spent on it.
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