Question #
What is the annual 'Quality of Life' tax assessed on storage facilities in Prince George’s County, MD?
Answer #
Ok…for the first time in my storage career, I am in an adversarial relationship with some sellers on a project we have under contract.
This is not an episode about that deal, but fair warning, it may be coloring my mood as I write about storage funds.
I came across an article in the ISS news feed about a special tax being levied on storage owners in Prince George’s County, MD.
It is an annual $5,000 “Quality of Life” tax being assessed on storage facilities, firearms dealers, liquor stores, and tobacco stores.
So now, our industry (at least in Prince George’s County) is in the same league as firearms dealers, liquor stores, and tobacco stores, all of which cause real problems for a certain percentage of the population.
For many, our industry is in that same category.
How far we have fallen.
As soon as I read that, I thought of two things: (1) the predatory pricing that mostly REITs are responsible for, and I have written about a lot, and (2) storage funds.
To be clear, I am not categorizing all storage funds in my bad players basket.
There are some that don’t do what I am going to describe as what I have seen.
But many do, and in my opinion, it is this portion of the industry that is primarily responsible for the oversaturation in many parts of the country.
After the Great Recession and when the recovery started happening, many saw how well storage performed during that recession.
