UHaul Isn't Just For Moving

 U-Haul is known for the do-it yourself mover. Frankly they have a great product. 

I especially have a soft spot in my heart for their smaller moving trucks. Are used to rent them on a regular basis when I was in my teens and early 20s. 

One of the great things about Uhaul is that you can do a one-way rental without having a drop charge. But this also represents a problem for Uhaul. Eventually over time as people migrate around the country trucks and a bunch up in cities the people are moving to, leaving a shortage in cities where people are moving from.

Today as a real estate investor, Uhaul is a powerful source of data. They know where those excess trucks and trailers are bunching up. And I can mean only one thing. People are moving there.

The government also provides very useful information about net migration when they conduct their census every few years. But this information only gets updated every few years. Uhaul has the ability to measure statistically when and where people are moving on a real-time basis. 

One of my criteria for investing in a particular location is influx of population. I will not invest in a shrinking city. I don’t care how good the deals are.

The state of Texas ranked number one in Uhaul‘s growth state for the third consecutive year in Florida ranked second and the Carolina’s ranked third.

The three states at the bottom of the list having the largest number of people leaving work Illinois California and Michigan.

Uhaul has a pretty good statistical data set. They compile their data from more than 2 million one-way truck and trailer rentals each year. And while migration trends do not correlate directly to population wreaking on the growth, the Uhaul data is an effective gauge of how well states and cities are attracting and maintaining residents. 

In 2018, the North Dallas suburbs of Frisco and McKinney are some of the fastest growing areas. In fact the entire Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is it tracking more population than any metro area in the country.

In Florida, Orlando topped the list as the number one growth market. Orlando offers a number of great opportunities. The city became known for its theme parks and resorts. But it's one of the top transportation hubs in the country. Within a few hours drive, you have access to 20 million population. The warm weather, low taxes, affordable cost of living, makes Orlando a top destination for retirement, and a vibrant place to work. It's one of the best connected cities in the country in terms of air travel with a large number of low cost direct flights to most cities. 

It’s only one hour drive to the coast. So a day at the beach is easily accomplished.