Santa Ana, CA: Top Things to Know About Storage

Festivals

Santa Ana occasionally hosts festivals, like Wild West Steam Fest and the Cinco de Mayo Festival. You might not think it, but these have an interesting impact on self-storage businesses. When yearly big events and festivals aren’t taking place, especially those with many decorations, booths, and so on, the organizers need to keep those things somewhere. Large events need a lot of space and require 20’x80’ units or larger. The next time you’re dropping something off at your self-storage locker, think about what might be stored around you. While Santa Ana has a few festivals a year, most such events take place elsewhere in Orange County, so this probably won’t affect unit availability. Big festivals can also affect traffic. It can take longer to get to your facility if a festival is happening nearby, so it’s a good idea to know what’s going on around town.

Know Your Neighborhood

Property crime in Santa Ana is much lower than the national average, so the odds of someone breaking into your storage unit are even lower than in most of the country. And the fact is that self-storage burglaries in the U.S. have decreased over the years. Even so, you’ll want to rent at a facility with the best storage security systems. Things to look for include gated access, coded access to buildings (not necessary, but good to have), a monitored video surveillance system, alarms, and good lighting.

The Environment of Your Storage Unit

It’s true, residents of Orange County complain about the heat in the spring, summer, and fall. However, the heat in Santa Ana is rarely accompanied by high humidity. In fact, the area is neither too dry nor too humid. Unless you’re storing medications, certain musical instruments, liquor, or other heat-sensitive items, you probably won’t need a unit with climate control. Unfortunately, a comfortable climate for humans means a comfortable climate for pests, like bugs and rodents. This is certainly the case in Santa Ana, where facility managers need a plan in place to keep pests out.  Ask any facility you’re considering how they handle pest control. Some facilities have an exterminator company spray the grounds once per month and set traps along the perimeter to catch rats and mice. Pest outbreaks should be rare but they can be caused be a tenant who disregards the rules and brings in an infested object. In that case, the facility should move swiftly to contain the problem.

Discounts

Orange County does not have any active military bases or a strong military presence. However, it does have recruitment centers. If you’re a member of the military who happens to live in Santa Ana, ask facilities if they have a military discount. If any do, it will likely be for active duty members only, and you’ll need to show your military ID card. Such discounts are generally around 5%.