A Complete Guide to Neighbor Storage (Process + Benefits + Features)

Neighbor Storage, a barely 3-year-old company and already 500% annual growth!

Just as Airbnb shook the hospitality industry, the idea of P2P storage transformed the way people rent and occupy storage space forever. Got extra stuff? Got extra space? Neighbor it and manage it all. Sounds like your peer-to-peer storage start-up idea too? Then, let’s plan a money-making proposal that will help you to replicate the Neighbor success for your business concept as well. Keep reading.

What is Neighbor Storage?

Neighbor, founded in 2007 and based in Salt Lake City, is a peer-to-peer storage marketplace that links individuals searching for space with landowners or hosts. The CEO of the company once claimed that it is a better alternative to storage for renters and better use of unoccupied space than Airbnb.

Neighbor Storage Revenue and News Updates

From launching a footprint in the market to destroy the market, the Neighbor journey is impeccable!

After a frustrating experience with a self-storage facility, Joseph Woodbury (now the CEO), was searching for a new place to store his things back in 2016, and he ended up keeping his belongings in a friend’s garage. And that’s how neighbor was born in 2017.

He thought, instead of going to a storage facility in town, you should store your stuff in the house of a friend, someone who lives only a few doors down from you.

A small idea then turned into a big venture as the company has recently expanded its services into the areas of the port, vehicle, and RV storage, in many cities for individuals who wish to store items beyond boxes and clothing.

Talking about its success in numbers, first, the company had raised $2.7 million of funding just within 2 years of its launch, with the aim to expand its services in cities around the country.

Second, Neighbor recruited top tech talent to unleash a new development wave for the start-up of silicon slopes with recent investments of $10 million.

With that, the company has successfully gained $18M revenue, which is almost 5x growth.

Source: Zoominfo

What’s next? San Francisco Bay Area & North Texas! At the speed, the neighbor had disrupted the local self-storage demand in San Francisco and Texas in the 2nd half of 2020, it seems like it was a well-planned move. That being said, it also insures host up to $2 million and renters up to $25,000 for personal liability.

Pandemic effect?

Frankly, it would be insulting to say that pandemic is making neighbor successful as in only two short years, Neighbor has grown into more than 50 states including Salt Lake City, New York City, Washington, D.C, etc. But, it’s true that the pandemic proved to be the tailwind supporting for a P2P company. Because the demand for relocating is increasing as pandemics caused losing jobs, offices are forced to be closed, and people are moving at high rates.

Hence, this low-cost service based startup has become the first choice among young movers and renters. So, there’s no doubt that the company holds a bright future, but it will be interesting to see what’s their next step.

How Does Neighbor Storage Work?

Neighbor.com connects the owner and the renter in an online format, such as a smartphone application or website on the desktop, that works in the following steps.

• Landowners and renters (the people looking for spaces) connect through the Neighbor platform and sign up through the menu.
• Landowners add data and stuff like pictures, price, and location.
• The application will then navigate the more renters with a search filter.
• Neighbor lets you connect with your Facebook mutual friends as well.
• The renter will find relevant spaces, verify all the details posted by the host, and will request the service.
• The application will notify the neighbor hosts of the request by renters and they will discuss the requirements.
• Once everything is finalized, the renter will make payment through debit card, credit card, google wallets, or net banking.
• The renter is responsible for moving their stuff out once the contract ends using Neighbor startup platform.

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How Neighbor Storage is Disrupting the Airbnb For Self-Storage?

In the sharing economy, we have seen how this P2P company empowers the self-storage industry, having more than hundreds of self-storage units in the country. But is it even worth comparing with Airbnb for Self-Storage? How it can be beneficial to people? Why has traditional storage been kicked out a way more behind?

We have an answer. Read the below reasons and be sure of your idea as well.

1. Greater Flexibility

   For both owners and hosts, flexibility is more of a selling factor, as a Neighbor startup makes almost all kinds of store contracts. You will have deal terms for as little or as much as you want, rather than getting tied into a long-term lease.

   In addition, spaces much smaller or bigger than the normal storage unit can be difficult to locate. The neighbor website has directories of all sizes, such that in some places, you can find a room for only a few boxes or even a vehicle, cruise, or RV.

2. Passive Income For Hosts

   Through renting the room itself, the hosts will receive money as part of passive income, and the renter can find self-storage facilities available at a cheaper cost. However, there are guidelines that the host should follow and things should consider before setting the price. But in the end, it’s your decision how much you charge for your storage spaces.

   Also, if there are any untidy housemates, as with Airbnb, you don’t need to pick them up. All you have to do is bring someone on your premises to place their things and watch the monthly checks roll in.

3. Much Cheaper Than Self-Storage

   Go anywhere in the world, you would find that the self-storage charges for units are much higher than Neighbor. Although individual rates range from one host to another, Neighbor encourages tenants with up to 50 percent savings. And if you can choose the right host, you might pay even less for a much better private storage unit.

   Taking all of this into account, we won’t deny that neighbor is a strong brand. If you have a spare room or can clean up additional space in your building, you can pull in extra cash with little to no investment on your part.

Moving forward, we have also curated the list of core features to consider for your business application. As we have developed a custom Airbnb-like app for storage, we know the functionality to consider in the application. Check the following section.

Core Features of Neighbor Storage

1. Create and Maintain a Public Profile

   Getting a strong public image would help the renter reach his/her ultimate objective of booking a storeroom at the ideal cost. People find it easier to cope with familiar relations and profile information or data as it is a perfect way to help people get to know them and trust them. To make your profile, you just need to:

   • Choose a picture
   • Write about yourself, such as expressing activities and preferences

2. List Your Storage Space

   By inserting necessary information such as an address, Getty images, space location, space size, and price, the host can list all of his spaces available for rent under this functionality. Your storage space can be anything like a basement, garage, attic, bedroom, closet, lot, shed, warehouse, parking space, RV pad, or other, if not listed as a choice.

3. Filter Search

   Users should be able to browse more for a listing depending on a variety of criteria of their choosing. Thus, add a search option that allows users to search on the basis of rental number, room position, space size, etc.

4. Pick-Up and Drop-Off

   A customer should be able to use the pickup and drop-off facility from the neighbor software itself. The stuff that needs to enter the storeroom will be picked up and dropped off by the companies with this feature. This would enhance the company’s convenience and improve the purchases.

5. In-App Chat

   Your customers would have concerns about space several times. You should encourage the owners and the rental prospects to talk and discuss everything that they want about the room. You can help to ensure that no party has to reveal the number and will provide full security by offering an in-app chat.

6. Multiple Payment Options

   You simply can’t ignore this functionality. The application can make it easier for consumers to use the mode of their choice to pay. Companies should integrate all the possible modes to make payments. As it becomes easy for a host to close the deal and automatically collect the money.

Conclusion

A platform capable of bridging the distance between the two will definitely take the cake down. To come up with an advanced storage website or application, you just have to pay attention to the mentioned features and enhancements suggested by us. The approach we have detailed will definitely lead to a stable network for companies and startups when it comes to the peer-to-peer marketplace.

Just talk to our experienced designers and developers at Space-O Canada, a leading custom app development company, and build a global storage space marketplace for bigger profits. For any queries, fill up our contact us form and we will respond to you shortly!