Boat and RV Storage Feasibility Study: Demand, Sites and Financing

A boat and RV storage feasibility study answers one question for a lender: can this facility, on this site, lease enough spaces at rents the market will bear to cover operating costs and debt service at the coverage the loan program demands? The evidence is a count of local boats, trailers and motor homes, the city rules that keep them off driveways and streets, a space-by-space survey of existing storage, and a site plan that a coach towing a boat can really maneuver.

Four facts shape most boat and RV storage loan files:

• The fleet is large. States registered 11,674,073 recreational vessels in 2024, 55.5% of them 16 to less than 26 feet long [1]. RV shipments were 342,220 in 2025 but ran 13.7% lower through September 2026 [2][3].
• New homes push vehicles out. 64% of new single-family homes completed in 2025 were in a homeowners' association, up from 46% in 2009 [4]. City codes add length caps, screening rules and permit limits for vehicles kept at home [5][6].
• Tenants who stop paying leave titled property behind. At least 14 states give storage operators a separate towing path for vehicles, trailers or watercraft, most after 60 days unpaid [7][8][9].
• Lenders treat storage as special. SBA's SOP 50 10 8.1 names storage units as an example of Special Purpose Property in changes of ownership [10].

Enclosed unit storage is covered on the self-storage feasibility study page, and national trends are in the RV and boat storage market study. The report reaches one of three verdicts: feasible as proposed; feasible if stated conditions are met, such as phasing or a bigger reserve; or not feasible as proposed, with the changes that would fix it.

What is a boat and RV storage feasibility study?

It is a third-party report, written for the loan file, on whether a planned or operating storage facility can carry its financing. USDA's rule describes a feasibility study as a report "evaluating the economic, market, technical, financial, and management feasibility of the proposed project" [11]. Every lender cares about those five parts, and SBA's own test is that "Loans must be so sound as to reasonably assure repayment" [12].

In federal statistics most of these facilities fall in NAICS 531130, lessors of miniwarehouses and self-storage units, which provide "secure space (i.e., rooms, compartments, lockers, containers, or outdoor space)" [13]. A fenced lot of RV spaces is self-storage in the federal sense, but the NAICS index also places vacant lot rental under 531190 and marinas under 713930 [14], and the code affects how a lender reads the business.

Work begins with a product definition: how many spaces of each type and length, whether there are wash and dump stations, the access hours and the phasing. An appraisal is a different report: it estimates value as of a date, while the feasibility study asks whether the project will work. For what lenders need from the report, see what makes a feasibility study bankable.

Vehicle storage is harder to judge than a building of small units for three reasons. The customer base is narrow: only households that own a boat, trailer or motor home and cannot keep it at home. The product is easy to copy where land is cheap, because an open lot needs little more than grading, a fence and a gate. And the collateral is a mix of land, paving and light structures whose value to another user depends on zoning. The study is built around those three weaknesses.

What must the study prove to a lender?

That demand exists in this trade area, that the site can be built as drawn, that the money works month by month, and that someone capable will run it. The five components in USDA's definition map directly onto the questions a credit officer asks about vehicle storage [11].

Exhibit 1. The five feasibility components applied to boat and RV storage

Source: 7 CFR 5001.3, definition of feasibility study [11]; questions and evidence are FSC's application of those five components.

Each row becomes a chapter of the report, and each chapter ends with a finding the lender can quote. A study that is strong on market and weak on technical, for example, can still conclude "feasible with conditions" if the condition is a zoning approval or a revised site plan.

How many boats and RVs need storage?

Millions nationally, but only the local count matters. The states registered 11,674,073 recreational vessels in 2024, up 1.1% from 2023 and 9.8% under the 2005 high of 12,942,414 [1]. Length drives the design, since every space, canopy and door must take the boat on its trailer, and more than half of all registered vessels measure 16 to less than 26 feet.

Exhibit 2. Registered recreational vessels by length and propulsion, 2024

Source: U.S. Coast Guard, Recreational Boating Statistics 2024, Table 37 (mechanically propelled vessels shown as motorized) [1]. Shares calculated by FSC.

Boats 26 feet and longer number 640,284, a much thinner market, and marinas sit in their own Census industry [14]. There is no current federal count of RVs: FHWA marks its trailer registration table, MV-11, as temporarily suspended in Highway Statistics 2024 [15]. The study instead obtains county-level boat, trailer and motor home records from the state agency. Shipment data show what is joining the fleet each year.

Exhibit 3. RV wholesale shipments by type

Source: RV Industry Association, monthly shipment reports for December 2025 and September 2026 [2][3]. Table totals; the December 2025 release text reports 342,220 units for the year. Park model RVs are excluded.

Towables were 89.5% of 2025 shipments and motorhomes 10.5% [2]. Fifth wheels and Type A motorhomes fell fastest in 2026, while van campers rose [3]. Space length and door height follow the units the facility expects to serve, so the study sizes spaces from local registrations, not national shipments. A van camper fits a standard parking stall and often a home driveway; a fifth wheel or a Type A coach does not, and those are the owners most likely to pay for a dedicated space.

Which states hold the most boats?

Florida, Minnesota and Michigan lead, but the ratio of boats to vehicles says more about storage demand than the raw count.

Exhibit 4. Ten states: boats, motor vehicles and self-storage establishments

Source: U.S. Coast Guard, Table 38 [1]; Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics 2024, Table MV-1 [16]; U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, state file [17]. Ratios calculated by FSC.

Each state decides what must be registered, so the counts do not line up across state lines: Ohio and South Carolina register all watercraft, so canoes and kayaks are in their totals [1]. Florida held 10.0% of U.S. registrations, yet its count jumped 26.9% from 922,915 in 2023 [1], a change big enough that the study starts from the state's own data. California went the other way, falling 11.2% from 672,103 in 2023 to 596,703 in 2024 [1]. For calendar 2025, Texas reported 535,995 registered vessels [18]. More state detail sits on the Florida and Texas self-storage pages.

The next ten states together hold 2,761,171 registered vessels, 23.7% of the national total, and in eight of them the 2024 count moved by less than 3%.

Exhibit 5. The next ten states by registered vessels, 2024

Source: U.S. Coast Guard, Recreational Boating Statistics 2024, Table 38 [1]; Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics 2024, Table MV-1 [16]. Changes and ratios calculated by FSC.

Louisiana and Arkansas carry more than six boats per 100 registered motor vehicles, close to South Carolina, while New York, with more boats than either, carries 2.0. The ratio is a first screen for where the boat share of storage demand is high; the trade area test comes from county registrations.

Tow vehicles: most registered vehicles are trucks

Trailered boats and travel trailers need a tow vehicle, and trucks outnumber cars nearly two to one in federal registration data. FHWA counted 189,754,931 registered trucks in 2024, 63.8% of 297,525,836 motor vehicles, against 97,413,321 automobiles [16].

Exhibit 6. Registered automobiles and trucks, 2024

Source: Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics 2024, Table MV-1, State Motor-Vehicle Registrations, totals including publicly owned vehicles [16]. Shares calculated by FSC. Buses and motorcycles are included in all motor vehicles but not shown.

FHWA's truck category is broad and does not separate pickups able to tow a boat from delivery vans, so the table is context, not a count of tow vehicles. The two states with the highest truck shares in the table, Michigan and Minnesota, also rank high in boats per vehicle in Exhibit 4; the data show the overlap, not a cause.

Why do HOAs and smaller lots push boats and RVs into storage?

Because a growing share of new homes come with association rules and small lots, and a trailer or motor home often has no legal place to sit. Census data show 64% of new single-family homes completed in 2025 were in a homeowners' association, 18 points above 2009 [4]. New homes sold in 2025 had a median lot of 8,307 square feet, 18.0% smaller than in 1976, and 45% were on lots under 7,000 square feet, compared with 18% in 1976 [19].

Exhibit 7. HOA share and lot size of new single-family homes, 2009 and 2025

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Characteristics of New Housing: homeowners' association status of new single-family homes completed, and lot size of new single-family homes sold, excluding condominiums [4][19].

Garages are sized for cars: 64% of new single-family homes completed in 2025 had a two-car garage and 9% had no garage or carport [20]. Association covenants can be stricter than the city code, so the study reads the parking and vehicle rules of the largest associations in the trade area and counts the homes they cover. Those covenants are private documents, so the study obtains them from the associations or from recorded plats rather than assuming their terms.

The 2025 American Community Survey counted 134,063,422 occupied housing units, 65.3% owner-occupied [21]. The demand model starts from trade-area households, applies local registration rates, and subtracts owners who can keep the vehicle at home.

What do city codes allow for boats and RVs kept at home?

Less than many owners expect, and the limits differ by city. Where a code bars RVs from the street overnight, caps their length on a home lot or requires screening, more owners rent space; where a code lets a 40-foot coach sit in a side yard, fewer do. The study quotes the code for each city in the trade area, because the same household count can produce very different demand.

Exhibit 8. Local rules on keeping boats, trailers and RVs at home

Source: city and county code pages and code text as cited; the Las Vegas guide states it was current as of February 28, 2011 [27].

Three patterns matter for the demand model. First, length caps: Denver's 22 feet, Las Vegas's 24 feet on small lots and Heath's 36 feet each push a different slice of the fleet off the home lot [6][27][24]. Second, location and screening rules: a rear-yard-only rule, as in Cape Coral for boats, rules out lots where a trailer cannot reach the rear yard [25]. Third, street bans: San Diego's definition of a recreational vehicle includes any boat, so boats fall under the same overnight permit system as motor homes [5].

The study turns each rule into a capture estimate. For a city with a length cap, it applies the share of local registrations above the cap; for a rear-yard rule, it uses lot widths from the assessor or plat data; for a street ban, it counts the owners in multifamily housing who have no private lot at all. Each step is labeled as an assumption or a measured input, and the conclusion shows how much of the demand estimate rests on code-driven displacement rather than on choice.

Codes change and enforcement varies: Heath posted its update in 2022 [24]. The study confirms the rule in force on the report date and asks code enforcement how often it acts, because a strict rule that is rarely enforced moves fewer vehicles than its text suggests.

How seasonal is boat and RV storage demand?

Boating is sharply seasonal, and storage demand follows climate. No federal series counts storage move-ins by month, but Coast Guard incident counts show when boats are on the water: 76.6% of 2024 reported incidents happened from May to September, and July had 13.3 times as many as January [1].

Exhibit 9. Reported recreational boating incidents by month, 2024

Source: U.S. Coast Guard, Recreational Boating Statistics 2024, incidents by month [1]. Shares calculated by FSC; months sum to the 3,887 total.

Where winters are hard, boats tend to arrive in autumn for layup, enclosed space is in demand, and some spaces empty in summer while boats sit at slips or lake houses. In warm-climate markets the season is longer and occupancy may swing less. Rent rolls and availability checks taken in different months show which pattern applies, and the model carries occupancy month by month. SBA's 504 rules call for liquidity to cover a Year 1 shortfall when projections reach repayment only in Year 2 [10]. USDA's lender analysis must include "Projected operational cash flow analysis on a quarterly basis for borrowers with seasonal cyclical cash flow" [11], so a boat-heavy facility seeking a Business and Industry guarantee needs projections at least by quarter.

RVs follow a different calendar from boats. Snowbird owners in the South may store a coach in summer and travel in winter, the reverse of a northern boat owner, so a mixed facility can smooth its occupancy if its product mix fits both groups. The study tests that claim with the competitor survey rather than assuming it.

Which storage products should the project offer?

The mix that local demand will pay a premium for, above the added cost of building it. Uncovered space needs no structure and is the easiest for a competitor to copy; canopies and enclosed units need more capital and are harder to copy.

Exhibit 10. Product types and their cost and rent logic

Source: FSC analysis; U.S. EPA and City of Raleigh as cited. No federal source publishes storage rents or construction costs by product; rents come from a dated local survey and costs from contractor quotes.

Space density is an assumption until the engineer draws it. As a model assumption, not market data: two 12-by-40-foot spaces facing a shared 50-foot aisle take 1,560 square feet. That works out to about 55.8 spaces per gross acre before setbacks, the office, ponds and landscaping, or about 7.2 gross acres for 400 spaces before those come out. Swept-path software then confirms the aisle works.

The required rent comes first, the survey second. Take an example built only from assumptions: 400 spaces, 90% occupancy once stable, operating costs of $190,000 and debt service of $430,000 a year. To reach the 1.15 coverage SOP 50 10 8.1 requires for 7(a) loans [10], cash flow must be $494,500 and revenue $684,500. Spread over 4,320 occupied space-months, that is $158.45 per occupied space-month. The figure is a model result and not evidence of market rent; the project passes only if the rent survey shows tenants pay at least that much.

Wash bays and dump stations bring EPA rules with them. A wash drain that also receives fluids from repairs or maintenance can turn into a motor vehicle waste disposal well, a category EPA describes as typically "floor drains or sinks in service bays that connect to a septic system or dry well" and bans nationwide where built after April 5, 2000 [30]. On the sanitary side, a septic system able to serve 20 or more persons per day is a large-capacity septic system, and RV parks are on EPA's list of facilities that may use one [31].

Mix by length, not by count. Two facilities with the same number of spaces can earn very different revenue if one is built for short runabouts and the other for long coaches. The study sets the length mix from the registration profile in Exhibit 2, the shipment mix in Exhibit 3 and the waitlists or vacancies the competitor survey finds, and it shows the revenue effect of a shorter or longer mix as a sensitivity.

How is the competitive supply survey done?

By counting every space offered to boat and RV owners in the trade area, because federal data stop at the business level. Census counted 18,564 employer establishments in NAICS 531130 in 2023, and 91.4% of them had fewer than five employees [32]. The 2022 Economic Census found 8,946 firms and 18,465 establishments with revenue of $20,615,435 thousand, about $1,116 thousand each [33].

Exhibit 11. Where storage sits in federal statistics

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 NAICS Descriptions and Index File [13][14] and County Business Patterns 2023, U.S. file [32]; 13 CFR 121.201, size standards in annual receipts [34].

Those counts mix enclosed self-storage with vehicle storage and cannot stand in for a space inventory. The survey works in six steps.

1. Draw the trade area from drive times to the homes, lakes and ramps the site would serve.
2. Find every operator: stand-alone vehicle lots, self-storage sites that rent outdoor or covered vehicle spaces, marinas with dry storage, and informal lots, using business licenses, permit files, websites and a driving survey.
3. Count each competitor's spaces by product and length, and record door and canopy clearances.
4. Price the market by product and length on dated visits or calls in more than one season, with availability noted.
5. Track planned supply through planning agendas, submitted site plans and building permits.
6. Compare shares: set the subject's share of trade-area spaces against the share of demand the model gives it.

How does the study test for saturation?

By comparing local spaces with local vehicles, not with population. A ratio of storage spaces per resident, common in self-storage work, says little here, because only owners of boats, trailers and motor homes rent vehicle space. The study builds a supply ratio from the space inventory and a demand base from county registrations, then compares the subject's trade area with nearby areas that have stable occupancy. SOP 50 10 8.1 lists "Market saturation by industry type and location" among the reasons SBA may request a feasibility study [10], so a lender reviewing a crowded submarket expects this test in writing.

Saturation is not only about counts. If every competitor offers uncovered space and all of them hold waitlists for canopy spaces, the market is short of one product and long on another. The study reports saturation by product and length band, so the lender sees where the new spaces would compete.

Street rates, achieved rents and pipeline response

The rate a competitor advertises is not always the rate it collects. Introductory discounts, free months and long-term tenants on older rates can put achieved rent well below the posted rate. For an existing facility, the study reconciles the rent roll to collections; for a new one, it asks competitors for rates on specific lengths and products on several dates, and it treats a posted rate without availability as a ceiling, not a market rent.

Pipeline response is the last test. A new lot can be permitted and built in less time than an enclosed building, so the study lists every vehicle storage application on recent zoning agendas, estimates when each could open, and runs a downside case in which the nearest one opens during the subject's lease-up. The conclusion states which competitor, if built, would change the answer.

Where can outdoor vehicle storage be built?

Only in the districts and on the terms the local zoning code allows, and screening often decides the site plan. Codes treat open vehicle storage as a distinct use or as outdoor storage accessory to self-storage, and they set where it can go, how tall it can be and what must hide it from the street.

Exhibit 12. Zoning and screening rules for outdoor storage

Source: City of Raleigh Unified Development Ordinance, Secs. 6.5.5 and 7.5.3; San Diego Municipal Code Secs. 142.1105 to 142.1120, as cited. Height and district rules for Raleigh are in Exhibit 14.

Screening has a cost the budget must carry: a solid fence or wall around a seven-acre lot is a large line item, and a canopy taller than the required screen may need a taller wall or a setback from the street. The study reads the use table, the use standards and the screening section together, and it lists every discretionary approval the site still needs. A site that needs a rezoning, a special use permit or a variance is reported as feasible only with that approval as a condition.

Two other questions recur: whether the code treats vehicle storage as self-storage, outdoor storage or parking, which changes the districts open to it, and whether it allows a caretaker's residence, which affects security and staffing. The study quotes the code on both.

What site and technical issues decide feasibility?

Zoning, stormwater, access geometry and fire access decide how many spaces a parcel can hold. Each varies by jurisdiction, so the study quotes the code that applies to the subject; Exhibit 14 shows the kind of thresholds to look for.

Access and turning. The longest combination stored sets the geometry:

Exhibit 13. Minimum turning radii of design vehicles

Source: Texas Department of Transportation, Roadway Design Manual, Table 4-1, Minimum Turning Radii of Design Vehicles [36].

A motor home towing a boat needs about twice the turn radius of a car with a boat trailer. TxDOT directs designers to use AutoTurn, AutoTrack or similar software to check design vehicle encroachment [37]; the study asks the civil engineer for that check at the gate, the aisles and the deepest spaces.

Fire and security. The fire marshal applies the adopted fire code to aisles, gates and buildings; Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's access road standard is one example.

Exhibit 14. Site thresholds that change the plan

Source: City of Raleigh Unified Development Ordinance, Secs. 6.5.5 and 7.5.3; U.S. EPA; Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, Access Road Requirements, as cited.

Security is part of the product: a controlled gate, lighting, cameras and access logs. The gate also enforces lien law, because denying access is often the first step when rent goes unpaid.

Which stormwater and flood rules apply to a storage lot?

Construction rules apply on nearly every site, post-construction rules apply where the site drains to a regulated municipal storm sewer system, and industrial stormwater rules depend on what happens on the lot. A storage lot is mostly impervious or compacted surface, so runoff, not building area, often decides how much land the ponds take.

Construction. Disturbed areas must be stabilized when work stops for more than 14 days, and EPA's 2022 Construction General Permit, for areas where EPA is the permitting authority, expires on February 16, 2027 [38]. Federal rules define small construction activity as disturbance "equal to or greater than one acre and less than five acres," and larger sites fall in the construction category of industrial activity [40].

After construction. A regulated small municipal separate storm sewer system must run a program for runoff from new development and redevelopment that disturbs one acre or more, and the permit must "Ensure adequate long-term operation and maintenance of BMPs" [41]. In practice that means a recorded maintenance agreement for the pond or filter, an annual inspection and an operating budget line the study carries for the life of the loan.

Industrial activity. The federal list of industrial categories names transportation facilities in SIC groups 40 to 45 and 5171 "which have vehicle maintenance shops," but excludes codes 4221 to 4225 from that category, and it lists 4221 to 4225 in a separate category [40]. A facility in a listed category can avoid permit coverage under the conditional "no exposure" exclusion only when all industrial materials and activities are sheltered from rain and runoff [40]. Whether an open lot of customer boats and RVs is industrial activity at all is a question for the state permitting authority; the study records which SIC code the authority assigns and whether any repair, fueling or washing on site changes the answer.

Flood zones. Storage near lakes and coasts often sits in a mapped flood zone. Where FEMA has issued final flood elevations, a participating community must require that recreational vehicles placed on sites in Zones A1-30, AH and AE "Be on the site for fewer than 180 consecutive days," be fully licensed and ready for highway use, or meet the elevation and anchoring rules for manufactured homes, and the same choice applies in coastal V zones [42]. A vehicle is ready for highway use "if it is on its wheels or jacking system, is attached to the site only by quick disconnect type utilities" and has no permanent additions [42].

Exhibit 15. Stormwater and flood thresholds for vehicle storage sites

Source: 40 CFR 122.26 and 122.34 (revised as of July 1, 2025) and 44 CFR 60.3 (revised as of October 1, 2025), via GovInfo; U.S. EPA, as cited.

The flood rule reaches the lease, not only the site plan. A facility that rents spaces by the year to RVs that never move may need lease terms that keep vehicles licensed and highway ready, and it may need to show the community's floodplain administrator how it tracks them. The study reads the local floodplain ordinance, which can be stricter than the federal minimum.

Which fire code rules apply to enclosed boat and RV storage?

The building's occupancy group and fire area decide whether it needs sprinklers, and the local official makes the classification. Washington's State Building Code Council answered that "Occupancy classification is at the discretion of the local official," and that classifying mini storage as Group S-1 is appropriate based on the history of these buildings [43]. Its interpretation quotes the sprinkler triggers for Group S-1 in the 2012 edition of the International Fire Code.

Exhibit 16. Group S-1 sprinkler triggers as quoted in a state interpretation

Source: Washington State Building Code Council, State Building Code Interpretation No. 15-03, quoting IFC 903.2.9 (2012 edition) [43]. Thresholds in the code edition adopted where the project sits may differ.

The last row has been read two ways. Washington's council said the 2,500-square-foot trigger does not apply "if the building does not allow storage of upholstered furniture or mattresses" [43]. Indiana's State Building Commissioner ruled in 2019 that the same condition "does not apply to S-1 retail self-storage facilities unless their predominantly intended use is for the storage of upholstered furniture or mattresses" [44]. For a building of tall-door units leased for boats and RVs, the study asks the code official for a written classification early, because a sprinkler requirement changes the budget and sometimes the water service.

Fire access applies to open lots too. Aisles that double as fire lanes must meet the access road width, clear height and turnaround rules the local fire department enforces, and a canopy over an aisle must clear the required height [39]. The study puts those dimensions on the site plan and checks the space count after they are applied, not before.

What happens when a tenant stops paying?

State lien law sets the timeline, and vehicles and vessels follow extra steps. When the stored property is a titled boat or RV, Texas and Arizona require notice to the owner or lienholders of record as well as the tenant [45][46], and the study carries those weeks in its bad-debt and turnover assumptions.

Exhibit 17. Storage lien rules for vehicles and vessels in three states

Source: Florida Statutes ss. 83.801 to 83.809 [47]; Texas Property Code Chapter 59 [45]; Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1704 [46].

Florida also bars residential use of any storage space [47].

What do other states allow for vehicles, trailers and watercraft?

Most give the operator a towing option after 60 days, in place of a sale. That matters because selling a titled vehicle means title searches, lienholder notices and motor vehicle agency forms, while towing hands the vehicle to a licensed tower under that state's towing law. The study reads the statute for the subject's state and builds the timeline into collections.

Exhibit 18. Vehicle, trailer and watercraft provisions in state storage lien laws

Source: the statute cited in each row, as published on each legislature's website; Georgia's change took effect July 1, 2025 [49].

Two features of these laws change the cash flow. In most of these states the towing option opens only after 60 days, longer than the default period before a general sale in Alabama or Arkansas, so a delinquent boat or RV can hold a space for two months or more unless the operator runs a full sale with its title searches and lienholder notices [7][48]. And where the law releases the operator from liability once the tower takes the vehicle, the operator recovers the space but not the rent, so the study treats towed accounts as bad debt, not as collected revenue.

How does a buyer get title after a lien sale?

Through the state's motor vehicle agency, with forms that prove the lien was enforced correctly. In Texas and California the buyer cannot title the vehicle without the operator's lien paperwork, so a facility that sells vehicles needs a documented procedure, and the study checks that the management plan includes one.

Exhibit 19. Title steps after a storage lien sale in Texas and California

Source: Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, Self-Service Storage Facility Lien Chart, revision September 2021 [57]; California Department of Motor Vehicles, lien sale procedure for vehicles valued $4,001 or more or stored at a self-service storage facility (Civil Code 3071) [58].

Texas also lets the facility, on or after the 15th day after the Notice of Claim, transfer the vehicle to a licensed vehicle storage facility for disposition if the rental agreement allows it [57]. California's procedure applies to self-storage vehicles whatever their value, and its definition of a self-service facility excludes "a garage or other storage area in a private residence" [58]. The rental agreement is the document that makes these paths available, so the study reviews it for the clauses the state requires.

How does tax affect the rent?

Tax follows the product. Florida repealed sales tax on commercial rentals, including self-storage units, from October 1, 2025, but tax under s. 212.03 continues on parking or storage spaces for motor vehicles in parking lots or garages and on boat storage at docks or marinas [59]. The study confirms how each product is taxed, because tax changes the gross rent a tenant pays.

Which financing paths fit boat and RV storage?

SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry and conventional bank loans all can. Two questions decide which: whether the borrower runs an operating business rather than holding rental real estate, and whether the lender treats the facility as special purpose property.

Exhibit 20. Financing paths compared

Source: 13 CFR Part 120 (revised as of January 1, 2026); SBA SOP 50 10 8.1; SBA 504 loans page; 7 CFR Part 5001 (revised as of January 1, 2026); USDA FY 2026 OneRD notice.

How SOP 50 10 8.1 treats storage as special purpose property

The SOP defines a Special Purpose Property as "a limited-market property with a unique physical design, special construction materials, or a layout that restricts its utility" to its built use, and Appendix 15 gives "storage units and hotels where the real estate fully secures the loan" as examples [10]. For a 7(a) change of ownership of such a property:

1. Coverage can rest on projections. When the appraised value fully secures the loan, projections may support repayment, provided they are met within two years from loan funding [10].
2. Term can run longer. Up to 25 years is allowed when real estate makes up 85% or more of total project costs [10].
3. The appraiser needs special experience. No Quality of Earnings report is needed, but the appraiser must have completed at least four going concern appraisals of equivalent special use property in the last 36 months [10].
4. The reasoning goes in the file. The lender records why the property qualifies and why projections are the right basis [10].

For 504 loans, the SOP's list of Limited or Special Purpose Property includes car wash businesses, marinas and cold storage with more than 50% of square footage equipped for refrigeration; boat and RV storage is not named, but the list "is not intended to be all-inclusive" [10]. The CDC answers the question in its credit memorandum [10], and a yes raises the borrower's minimum contribution to 15%, or 20% for a new business [12]. An open gravel lot could serve many other users; rows of canopies or a building of tall-door units could serve few. The study describes the improvements, the realistic alternative uses and what conversion would cost, so the CDC has a basis for its answer.

Is a boat and RV storage facility a passive business?

No, as long as the borrower operates it, and the loan file proves it. SBA excludes "Passive businesses owned by developers and landlords" other than Eligible Passive Companies [12], and the SOP says businesses "primarily engaged in owning or purchasing real estate and leasing it for any purpose are not eligible" [10]. On the other side, businesses leasing "equipment, household goods or other items are eligible," and Appendix 15 uses storage units as an example in a 7(a) change of ownership [10].

What decides it is who does the work: staffing the office, controlling the gate, serving customers, billing, enforcing liens and maintaining the lot. If a management agreement hands a third party sole discretion, SBA treats the business as an ineligible passive business [10]. An owner who simply leases a fenced lot to an unrelated operator is a landlord, but an Eligible Passive Company can own the real estate and lease it to an Operating Company that runs the facility [10]. USDA draws the same line: it will not guarantee loans for properties used for "primarily commercial rental when the borrower has no control over tenants and services offered" [11]. The study sets out who does what, so the lender can make the call on the record.

Where an Eligible Passive Company owns the land, the SOP's occupancy rules apply. The company "must lease 100% of the Rentable Property" to the Operating Company, which must occupy 51% of an existing building or 60% of new construction [10]. For a storage lot, the measure of Rentable Property matters: the SOP says it "may also include exterior space (except parking areas) that is actively used in Borrower's business operations," with examples that include "outdoor storage yards" for moving and storage companies and "boat slips and docks for marinas" [10]. Whether a field of customer RV spaces is actively used exterior space or a parking area is a reading the lender makes, and the study describes the spaces in the terms the SOP uses so the lender can make it. If occupancy is not met at closing, the SOP allows no more than 1 year to comply [10].

What environmental review does SBA require?

It depends on the property's current and past uses and on the loan size. The lender must determine "the NAICS code(s) for the Property's current and known prior uses" and compare them with the SOP's list of environmentally sensitive industries [10]. A match means the investigation "must begin with a Phase I, regardless of the amount of the loan" [10].

Exhibit 21. SBA environmental review steps that reach vehicle storage sites

Source: SBA SOP 50 10 8.1, environmental investigation steps and Appendix 6, NAICS codes of environmentally sensitive industries [10].

NAICS 531130 is not among the Appendix 6 codes, so a clean greenfield site usually starts with the questionnaire path. Reports must be dated within one year of the date the SBA loan number is issued [10]. Wash bays and dump stations do not change the NAICS code, but they are the activities an environmental professional looks at first, and the study's description of them should match the environmental report.

What does USDA check for a Business and Industry guarantee?

Location, control of the business, equity and the strength of the projections. The rural test comes first: the site must be outside any city or town of more than 50,000 inhabitants and its contiguous urbanized area [11], and "Applications cannot be approved subject to meeting rural area requirements" [11], so a project waiting on an annexation or a census revision cannot use the program until the question is settled.

Exhibit 22. USDA Business and Industry questions for a storage project

Source: 7 CFR Part 5001 (revised as of January 1, 2026), via GovInfo [11].

USDA lends for land, buildings and infrastructure for commercial enterprises [11], and its rule also says "Financial projections deviating from historical financial performance must be substantiated and documented" [11]. For an existing facility, the study reconciles projections with the rent roll and explains each change; for a new one, it ties each assumption to the survey. Many of the same site and demand questions arise in an RV park feasibility study.

Conventional loans

Without a federal guarantee, terms follow each bank's credit policy, and the study is built to the strictest likely test: monthly coverage, a downside case and a reserve. A bank lending on a storage lot may look hard at the land value, because paving and canopies can add less to collateral than a building does, so the study's alternative-use discussion serves this lender as well.

How does a new facility lease up? A worked model

Gradually, and the gap between the first month and stabilization is what the lender's reserve has to fund. The table below is an illustration with assumed inputs, not market data, built on the required-rent example above: 400 spaces, rent of $158.45 per occupied space-month, operating expenses of $95,000 per half-year and debt service of $215,000 per half-year. Average occupancy in each half-year is an assumption.

Exhibit 23. Illustrative lease-up model (assumed inputs; model outputs)

Source: FSC model. Every input is an assumption chosen to show the method; rent is the model output from the required-rent example, and coverage is net operating income divided by debt service.

In this illustration the shortfall is $296,762 in Year 1 and $346,342 through Year 2, so the reserve, interest-only period or sponsor liquidity must cover that amount before coverage reaches the 1.15 that the example targets. The 504 program's requirement to show liquidity for a Year 1 shortfall [10] is met only if the borrower can prove funds of that size. In a real study, occupancy comes from the competitor survey and absorption at comparable openings, rent from the survey, and the model runs monthly with seasonal move-ins and move-outs.

The model also runs two downside cases: rent 10% below the survey and lease-up six months slower. If either case breaks the reserve, the conclusion says so and names the condition, such as a larger reserve or a phased build, that would make the project feasible.

What documents does the study need?

The documents that prove the site, the market, the costs and the operator, gathered at the start so the analysis rests on facts rather than estimates.

Exhibit 24. Document checklist for a boat and RV storage feasibility study

Source: FSC checklist; rule citations as shown.

Missing documents are listed in the report as limits, not ignored. A study written before the site plan is final, for example, states the space count it assumed and the effect if the engineer's plan holds fewer spaces.

What happens after the loan closes?

Reporting continues, and a good study sets the benchmarks the reports are checked against. USDA requires the lender to submit the borrower's financial statements "within 120 days of the end of the borrower's fiscal year" [11]. The study's monthly occupancy and revenue path gives the lender a yardstick: if actual lease-up trails the model by a set margin, the lender knows early.

For a construction loan, the study's budget and schedule become the basis for draw reviews: grading, paving, fencing, canopies and buildings in the order they were planned, with the contingency tracked as it is used. For a stabilized facility, the same benchmarks serve as a watch list: occupancy by product and length, rent against the survey, delinquency and the number of vehicles in the lien process. A rise in towed or sold vehicles can be an early sign that the tenant base or the rent is out of line with the market.

What must a boat and RV storage feasibility study contain?

1. The verdict on the first page: feasible, feasible on named conditions, or not feasible, and why.
2. A product schedule: space counts by type and length band, door widths and clear heights, wash and dump facilities, and any phases.
3. The program tests answered: for SBA, who operates the business, how occupancy is measured and whether the property is special purpose; for USDA, the rural and rental questions.
4. A drive-time trade area built around the neighborhoods, lakes and boat ramps that supply tenants.
5. A demand base from the state's boat, trailer and motor home records, with each state's registration scope stated.
6. The displacement drivers: HOA share, lot sizes and every trade-area city's home parking code.
7. A competitor inventory with spaces, rents, vacancy and planned projects, plus a saturation test by product.
8. Dated rent evidence by product and length, set beside the rent the debt requires.
9. A monthly lease-up path with seasonal swings and the reserve that covers the gap.
10. Construction and operating budgets built from quotes, with contingency, construction interest and reserves.
11. Site findings on zoning, screening, runoff, flood zone, vehicle turning paths, fire lanes, sprinkler status and wash water.
12. The state's lien, towing, title and tax rules, carried into bad debt and the rent the tenant actually pays.
13. Monthly and annual coverage measured against the program's minimum, with downside runs.
14. A full list of sources and assumptions, with every model result marked as a model result.

How the study runs

1. Scope: agree on the lender, program, loan amount and the tests the report must answer.
2. Collect documents: the items listed in Exhibit 24, plus rent rolls and statements if the facility already operates.
3. Research the site and market: a site visit, competitor and rent surveys, registration counts, city parking codes and association rules.
4. Build the model: monthly, by product, with a base case, downside runs, coverage and the reserve.
5. Check the draft: test it against the lender's questions; change it only when new facts arrive.
6. Deliver: a final report signed by Sarrah Allen, MAI, with written replies to the lender's follow-up questions. More about the practice is on the about page.

Download the evidence behind this page's exhibits (CSV, 601 data points with sources)