I can't help it. When I see people that are clearly financially desperate coming to rent a unit they don't need for junk they shouldn't have, the counselor in me comes out and I try my best to dissuade them. Not only can they not afford it, but when they default I don't want to be the one to sell what they think are treasures to the highest bidder.

A very broad rule of thumb is if you can store it somewhere other than where you are, that's the definition of not needing it. Of course, people in transition are an exception.

One problem I can see with the Neighbor model is that I'm VERY choosy as to whom I rent to. This industry attracts people with no other home base or they're in a situation where their own family and friends won't deal with them. After 32 years in the business, my radar is pretty well calibrated to determine who is going to be a problem before I even rent to them. A happy homeowner that wants to make an extra $50 has little clue as to the pitfalls that lay ahead and the entitlement people will feel in accessing their stuff because they gave you money to store it.

As for the other few companies that have tried this, their websites are 404 now.

A few stories:

I recently had a lady move out of a unit after 30 years of paying for it. I figure she gave me about $75,000 over those 30 years. It was all her mother's things left over after she passed. She told me that her mother repeatedly told her to not sell any of her stuff after she died. So instead, she had her daughter part with $75k until the daughter decided to haul it all to the dump. I've told my kids, sell anything and everything I have, I don't need it anymore.

I still have a few tenants that have been with me since I opened, so we'll see how that goes. 32 years and counting..

When a tenant goes to their unit and pulls the door down while they're inside, there's something going on. I've lifted the door and found a guy with a lady that I know not to be his wife.... Sexy beast, let's meet at my dusty storage unit.

Storage Wars type shows are all 100% staged. People leave behind old clothes, textbooks and porn. I learned early on not to have my kids help me clear out abandoned units. Paying to store porn is something I'll never understand.

2am the alarm fires, by the time I get to the cameras I see nothing. I see which unit was opened and closed, a relatively new young tenant. I rewind the cameras to see him hop the fence, open his unit, grab his snowboard and get back over the fence. I call him at 2:15am to ask him what's going on. "I forgot I was going to Tahoe later today and didn't get my snowboard before the gate hours were over, so I thought I could beat the alarm and not bother you". Yeah, rental agreement terminated. Not sure how that would go with Neighbor.