Eric Scharaga
Founder, Damen Capital
Private lender and direct land note buyer serving land and storage investors nationwide. Featured on REtipster, Legends of Land, and Land Investing Online. LinkedIn →
Banks see gravel and a fence and say no. We see an income producing property and fund it. $50K to $1M, up to 65% LTV, interest only or fully amortized, quote in 24 hours, close in 7 to 14 days.
What is an outdoor storage loan?
An outdoor storage loan is a commercial real estate loan secured by a property that earns rent from parked or stored vehicles and equipment rather than from a building: a truck parking lot, an RV and boat storage facility, or an industrial outdoor storage (IOS) yard. Damen Capital makes these loans as short term bridge financing from $50,000 to $1,000,000 at up to 65% of value, underwritten in house from the purchase price, the zoning, and documented income, with closings in 7 to 14 days. Most banks decline the asset class because it has no building to appraise.
Operating yards get the most leverage. Start ups and empty yards with the right zoning qualify too, at a lower loan amount, with more available once the property is cash flowing. Purchases, refinances, and cash out refinances.
Monthly lots serving owner operators and small fleets, plus daily and overnight yards. Usually unstaffed, often no building at all. Chronically undersupplied, and nearly impossible to finance at a bank.
How truck parking loans work →Open, covered, or enclosed lots with rented spaces. Many small tenants, low overhead, steady deposits. We fund the lot on its income, not on a building.
RV and boat storage loans →Contractor yards, equipment and trailer storage, container yards, laydown yards. Leased to one tenant or run by the owner.
What IOS is and how it gets financed →Most of the truck parking deals we see are monthly lots: a fenced, lit, gated yard where owner operators and small fleets rent a numbered space by the month. There is usually no building and no staff. The income is a stack of $150 to $400 monthly payments from tenants who have nowhere else to leave an 80,000 pound vehicle overnight. Federal parking surveys put the national supply at roughly one space for every eleven trucks, and the gap is widest in the metros that move the most freight. Demand is not the question on these deals. The lender's questions are different.
Is the income real? Rent rolls and spreadsheets tell us what the operator hopes to collect. Bank deposits tell us what actually landed. On a purchase we want the seller's deposits or platform payout reports; on a refinance, yours. Twelve months of deposits is what moves a loan from the base leverage to the top of the range. Cash collected at the gate that never hits a bank account does not count, no matter how many trucks are on the lot when we visit. As a sanity check, monthly truck parking runs roughly $150 to $300 a space depending on the market, so if the deposits imply something far outside that, we will ask why. And we underwrite the rent the yard collects today. A deal that only works after next year's rent increase does not work yet.
Is the use allowed by right? Truck parking is the use municipalities like least, and approvals for new lots can take years. We lend where the zoning permits the use outright and the county will say so in a letter. A conditional use permit, a variance, or "it has always been used that way" is not enough. Sites that were already in truck service, a closed freight terminal, a towing yard, a contractor yard, tend to clear this quickly. A gravel pad on land that was never approved for it usually does not, so on a start up get the zoning letter before you buy. Start ups with by right zoning qualify at a lower loan amount, and we fund the property, not the fence, gravel, and lights.
Is the dirt clean and dry? Any history as a fuel stop, repair shop, junkyard, or industrial site means a Phase I environmental report before closing, at the borrower's cost. Truck yard tenants run heavy equipment, so we look hard at what happened on the site before you got there. Floodplain and wetlands are outside the program regardless of how well the lot is renting. A lot with poor soil, no water, and no road appeal for any other use is fine. Trucks do not need a perc test.
Bring us the address, what you paid or the contract price, and whatever income records exist, and we will tell you within a day where the loan lands and what it would take to move it higher.
Five minutes on how a truck yard loan actually gets underwritten. The video walks through why a bank appraisal fails on a fenced gravel lot, what we lend on and what we do not (start ups qualify, the build does not), and the three questions that decide the loan: what you paid and when, whether truck parking is permitted by right and confirmed in writing, and whether the site ever had a fuel, repair, or junkyard use that triggers a Phase I. It closes with the part most borrowers miss: bank deposits, not rent rolls, are what move the loan from the base leverage to the top of the range, and cash collected at the gate that never hits an account does not count. Send the address, the price, the loan amount, and any deposit history for a written number in about a day.
Chapters: 0:24 why banks say no · 0:52 what we lend on · 1:32 what did you pay · 2:16 is the use by right · 3:16 is the dirt clean · 3:47 how income moves the loan · 4:31 what to send us. More videos on the Damen Capital YouTube channel, including the free seller financing course.
A bank sends your storage yard to an appraiser. The appraiser cannot find comparable sales of gravel lots, so the appraisal comes back weak or not at all, five weeks and a few thousand dollars later. SBA wants a building. Neither cares that the yard has been collecting rent every month for three years.
We underwrite in house from three things: what you paid for the property, the zoning, and the income you can document. That is why a quote takes about 24 hours instead of a month, and why we can close in 7 to 14 days on the same collateral first discipline behind our land loan program and 500+ funded loans.
Two things worth knowing. A yard with a building on it, a shop, an office, a small warehouse, qualifies. Many of the best truck yards are former terminals or contractor sites with a structure, and the building's rent counts when it is documented the same way as the parking. And if you already own one yard, you can pledge it as cross collateral on the next one. Operators grow by buying the lot a mile down the road, and a paid down first yard is the down payment on the second.
Loans are not available in CA, AZ, NV, NY, NJ, ND, SD, or VT.
Rate and LTV depend on price, leverage, and documented income. Every quote is written, no fee to ask.
Typical experience reported by borrowers on outdoor storage properties. Bank and SBA columns describe common practice, not any single lender.
| Bank | SBA 7(a) / 504 | Damen Capital | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building required | Usually | Yes, owner occupied | No |
| Appraisal | Always, often fails on comps | Always | Only if needed |
| Time to close | 45 to 90 days | 60 to 120 days | 7 to 14 days |
| Decision maker | Committee | Lender plus SBA | One person |
| Loan size | Varies, often $500K+ minimum | Up to $5M | $50K to $1M |
| Max LTV | 65% to 75% if approved | Up to 90% | Up to 65% |
| Structure | Amortized | Amortized, 10 to 25 yr | Interest only or amortized |
| Rate | Lowest, if you can get it | Low | From 12% |
| Cash out refinance | Rarely on gravel | Limited | Yes |
| Start up yard, no income yet | No | No | Yes, at reduced leverage |
| Best for | Yards with buildings and years of tax returns | Owner operators buying a facility with a building | Fast closes, cash out, start ups, no building required |
If a bank will do your deal at a lower rate in the time you have, take it. We are the answer when the bank says no, when the seller will not wait, or when the property has no building to appraise.
Address, property type, purchase price or what you paid, and the loan amount you want. An email or the quote form is enough. Written quote in about 24 hours.
We order title, request the zoning letter, and review your deposits or lease if you are going for the higher LTV. Everything runs at the same time. No committee, no waiting on a bank appraisal.
Documents through a title company, funding in 7 to 14 days from a complete file. One decision maker looks at your deal, which is why the timeline holds.
An operator contracts a 4 acre gravel yard with 60 truck spaces for $800,000. The county confirms truck parking is allowed by right. The seller provides 12 months of bank deposits showing the rent landing every month. Site history is clean farmland, so no environmental report is needed.
The loan is $520,000 at 65% of the price, interest only. The buyer brings $280,000 plus $600 in closing costs, and pays 2 points when the loan is paid off. The 60 spaces at $250 a month produce $180,000 a year, and the yard is collecting it before the loan closes, so the interest is covered by rent from day one. The bank the buyer called first wanted an appraisal, an environmental report, and eleven weeks.
Same yard empty, or with a new lease and no deposit history? We still close, at a lower loan amount, and advance the rest once the rent history exists. Ask us about it.
Yes. Truck parking is a core property type for this program, including unstaffed monthly lots with no building, daily and overnight yards, converted freight terminals or contractor yards, and start up lots with by right zoning. Loans run $50K to $1M at up to 65% LTV, interest only or fully amortized, with closings in 7 to 14 days.
Yes. Open, covered, or enclosed RV and boat storage lots that are already renting spaces. We fund purchases, refinances, and cash out refinances.
IOS stands for industrial outdoor storage: yards used for equipment, trailers, containers, contractor staging, and materials. We finance IOS yards, leased to one tenant, run by the owner, or not yet leased, with leverage that rises as income is proven.
Up to 65% of the property value, from $50K to $1M. Leverage depends on the purchase price and how much of the income you can document with bank deposits. The more income you can prove, the higher the loan. If you own another property, pledging it as cross collateral can take a purchase to 100% financing.
Usually not. We underwrite in house from your purchase price, zoning, and income records, so quotes come in about 24 hours and closings in 7 to 14 days. On some deals we may ask for an appraisal or another form of valuation, and we tell you up front if so.
Owners only. The loan is secured by the real estate, so if you lease the land and sublease spaces there is nothing to lien. A yard with a building on it is fine, and the building rent counts once it is documented like the parking income.
Start ups, yes. A yard with by right zoning that is not cash flowing yet qualifies at a lower loan amount, and we advance more once the income is proven. What we do not fund is the build: fencing, gravel, lighting, and site work come from you.
We lend on truck yards in every state we serve. Market detail, closing rules, and county level coverage for the busiest freight states: Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Related programs: Vacant Land Loans · Data Center Land Loans · Farmland Bridge Loans · Solar Lease Land Loans
Send the address, the price, and the loan amount you want. Written quote in about 24 hours, close in 7 to 14 days.
Private lender and direct land note buyer serving land and storage investors nationwide. Featured on REtipster, Legends of Land, and Land Investing Online. LinkedIn →