Living out of Hotel Rooms

I have looked into it, and not from a theoretical exercise. My lease is up soon and while I can go month to month for a few months, my landlord wants me to either sign a retroactive year lease in June or be gone..
I wasn't looking at Las Vegas only, I looked in Arizona and New Mexico and even looked in the El Paso region.
My baseline was this- An apartment is going to run $800-1,000 a month plus cable, internet ,utilites, garbage, ect.ect. for a total of about 1200 a month.
Could I find cheaper living in weekly or monthly hotels? In Arizona, the answer was yes. There were many a $199 a week motel, a few in some almost nice neighborhoods.
I found one for $259 a week with a gym, pool, free breakfast in their dining room and a free fish fry on Fridays.
Using my secret criteria, there were three in Las Vegas that I looked into further. One was on Las Vegas Blvd down near Cancun so I thought it might be nice. Ten minutes of reading reviews and that was out. There was one just north of the Orleans that looked okay but they didn't respond to my emails and the phone would either ring or go right to voicemail.
Extended Stay America has some fantastic values, although not in Las Vegas. Some of them will give 40% off for three month stays plus they rebate you your sales and hotel taxes
I could easily stay in Laughlin but I'd have to move every few days and that would get old pretty fast.

Did that $1250 include internet and cable? Renters Insurance?
Most people pay electricity, gas, sewer, trash. When I lived in Henderson, all that was extra although the internet/cable package was offered at a great rate.

Extended Stay America is very “hit or miss”. On road trips I’ve stayed at some fairly nice new ones and also some run-down ghetto ones. I generally won’t stay there anymore since it’s not a reliable standard

It's been more than 20 years since I worked in the storage business. You would be surprised at who rents out these units.

Many small businesses rent out these for their equipment.

We had one woman who rented a 10 x 20 unit and furnished it like a small apartment for herself and two school age children. They had electricity but no running water. Every morning she would drive her children to school and return in the evening. They slept in the unit. At the time the unit cost about $200 a month.

We had a couple who arrived by train every Friday evening from NYC. They stored all of their summer clothes, bikes, beach chairs, beach umbrella in the unit. They would rent a nearby motel room for the weekend and go to the beach during the day. If it wasn't a sunny beach day, they would ride their bikes to the local bars and restaurants. Sunday evening they would take the train back to NYC.

I don't know what the storage units rent for in Vegas, but if you really wanted to try to live at the casinos with a few none casino nights, I think renting a storage unit for a "Home Base" is the way to go.

Just make sure you pay the monthly fee or you might have your unit being auctioned off.

Quote: FatGeezus

It's been more than 20 years since I worked in the storage business. You would be surprised at who rents out these units.

Many small businesses rent out these for their equipment.

We had one woman who rented a 10 x 20 unit and furnished it like a small apartment for herself and two school age children. They had electricity but no running water. Every morning she would drive her children to school and return in the evening. They slept in the unit. At the time the unit cost about $200 a month.

We had a couple who arrived by train every Friday evening from NYC. They stored all of their summer clothes, bikes, beach chairs, beach umbrella in the unit. They would rent a nearby motel room for the weekend and go to the beach during the day. If it wasn't a sunny beach day, they would ride their bikes to the local bars and restaurants. Sunday evening they would take the train back to NYC.

I don't know what the storage units rent for in Vegas, but if you really wanted to try to live at the casinos with a few none casino nights, I think renting a storage unit for a "Home Base" is the way to go.

Just make sure you pay the monthly fee or you might have your unit being auctioned off.
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No toilet? No bathing? Can't wait to see the brochure.

You can join a nationwide gym for a few bucks a month. I knew a bunch of young wrestlers who lived in their vans in Vegas. It's not for me, but I had a helper for a few weeks who lived in his van and bathed and showered every day at a gym. You'd never guess he lived in his van. He was just focused on saving money.

Quote: billryan

You can join a nationwide gym for a few bucks a month. I knew a bunch of young wrestlers who lived in their vans in Vegas. It's not for me, but I had a helper for a few weeks who lived in his van and bathed and showered every day at a gym. You'd never guess he lived in his van. He was just focused on saving money.
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Aren't you better off in a Vegas hotel than a van/gym/storage space?

Quote: AlanMendelson

Quote: billryan

You can join a nationwide gym for a few bucks a month. I knew a bunch of young wrestlers who lived in their vans in Vegas. It's not for me, but I had a helper for a few weeks who lived in his van and bathed and showered every day at a gym. You'd never guess he lived in his van. He was just focused on saving money.
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Aren't you better off in a Vegas hotel than a van/gym/storage space?
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Dumb question maybe…. A storage place will allow you to live there? AC/ heat? What if you need to take a crap in the middle of the night? Must also be problematic to bring a date ‘home’!

About ten years ago, there were people living in storage units but most places cracked down on it big time. A lot of people used them as crash pads. I know at least one card game that was held in one.

Not many people choose to live in a storage unit but it is better than living in a box. People are making tiny houses out of shipping containers. Maybe storage unit condos will be the next big thing.

Quote: SOOPOO

Dumb question maybe…. A storage place will allow you to live there? AC/ heat? What if you need to take a crap in the middle of the night? Must also be problematic to bring a date ‘home’!
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The last three storage units I rented were very explicit that sleeping on premises was strictly forbidden, in that "we'll (try to) have you arrested, cancel your lease, and auction off your belongings" tone of voice.

Fire code probably requires more egress paths for rooms people sleep in. There are probably tenancy laws that penalize the landlord for knowingly allowing residency in an unfit space, without water, sewer, and air conditioning.

Living in a van down by the river isn't glamorous, but I think I'd prefer it to camping in a storage unit.
Storage unit life seems far less desirable than how it was portrayed in Snow Crash.