Getting Started in Self Storage Series (6) – Best Due Diligence Practices Today For Self Storage
So we now have a self storage project under contract! Way to go! In last week’s episode, we covered the first few spaces a self storage buyer goes through today to get to the finish line and either close on the project or let it go. In this episode, we are going to...
Getting Started in Self Storage Series (5) – Best Due Diligence Practices Today For Self Storage
You now have a self-storage facility under contract. Congratulations. Now what? This is where it can be exciting, scary, thrilling, and the most fearful thing you have ever done all at the same time. That’s normal, especially if it is your first self-storage facility....
Getting Started In Self Storage Series (4) – How To Get A Self Storage Deal Standing Still
This episode covers best practices for Self Storage Buyer’s getting a Self Storage facility standing still in today’s competitive environment.
Getting Started In Self Storage Series (3) – What You Need To Analyze
Once you find a self storage deal that looks good to you, my coaching is to jump into deal mode quickly. What is essential as you enter deal mode is to know the steps, or more accurately said, the spaces of a deal. As I have developed over the years as a Buyer of self...
Getting Started In Self Storage Series (2) – More Deal Flow Than You Can Handle
There is a real art and science involved in getting in the self storage business or growing your existing self storage business. The “art” I am talking about is getting in front of some real deals to analyze. The “science” is developing a...
Getting Started In Self Storage Series (1) – The Most Important Question
When I ask people why they are getting in the self storage business, I usually hear answers like: “It is a good sector.” “I hear it is doing well today.” I often hear, “I thought about it a long time ago and wished I had then. Now I am...
How We May Re-Shape Our Self Storage Company As A Result Of The Self Storage Convention
In last week’s episode, I share a few things I learned from attending the Self Storage Association’s (SSA’s) national convention in Las Vegas. This week I want to share some of the things our company is exploring doing differently and implementing as a result of what...
Current State Of the Self Storage Industry Second Half 2019
I recently returned from the Self Storage Convention in Las Vegas and have had some time to digest what I learned there and organize it in my mind. The first real take away I received was that the US economy is softening some. The trade wars are starting to have a...
Exchange Your Way Through Your Self-Storage Career
I have had a few people ask me how a 1031 tax-deferred strategy can support them as they create their self-storage business. I just assumed everyone knew about 1031 exchanges, but I realize that unless you have a real estate background, how could you? One of the...
Why To Focus On Secondary Markets For Self-Storage Today
No doubt about it, there is a lot of self-storage out there today. One thing about it, however, is that the majority of the new self-storage construction has been focused in the larger, tier one markets. We have all heard about Dallas/Ft. Worth bringing on 16% to 20%...Interviewed By Kris Bennett For His Self-Storage Show
This week’s episode will be short and sweet because I am attending the Self Storage Association ion Las Vegas. Here is an interview of me that Kris Bennett did for his Self-Storage Show a few weeks ago. I hope you find it interesting and beneficial. We discussed where...
“How Much Can I Pay For Land To Build Self-Storage On?”
I get asked that question a lot? “How much can I pay for land to build self-storage on?” Or… “How much can I pay for a building to put self-storage in?” If you have been following me at all, you most likely know I have a fairly stock answer to most questions…” It...Will CAP Rates Ever Change?
Over the past few years, I have been expecting CAP rates to start going up, making self-storage pricing more realistic. I’m still waiting. How about you? Have you seen much of a change in storage pricing compared to NOI? What would change it, and could that happen in...
Do You Know The Value of A Customer At Your Facility?
Self Storage is a retail play as much as a real estate play. I know the majority of us come from a real estate background, but believe me, if we are going to make it in this business today, we had better start thinking like a retailer. Or at least like a...How Do I Know If A Market Is Overbuilt?
Whatever city you are in, no matter where you go, you see new self-storage being built. Even people who have nothing to do with the industry, when they hear you are involved with self-storage in some way, will comment, “I see it going up everywhere.” All this leads us...
How Do I Know If A Market Is Overbuilt?
Whatever city you are in, no matter where you go, you see new self-storage being built. Even people who have nothing to do with the industry, when they hear you are involved with self-storage in some way, will comment, “I see it going up everywhere.” All this leads us...
Is Self-Storage Over Building Catastrophic?
Is Self-Storage Over Building Catastrophic? Well, I guess it depends. It depends on where you are in the country, where you are in your submarket, but mostly where you are in your lease-up or ownership cycle of the facility. Look, it is bound to happen to every...
How To Analysis A Conversion in Self-Storage
I discussed in last weeks’ episode How To Analysis An Expansion self-storage opportunity. This week, let’s look at a conversion. When we say conversion, what I mean is we take an existing vacant building and convert it to self-storage. In my opinion, in today’s...
How To Analyze A Conversion
I discussed in last weeks’ episode How To Analyze An Expansion self-storage opportunity. This week, lets look at a conversion. When we say conversion, what I mean is we take an existing vacant building and convert it to self-storage. In my opinion, in today’s market,...
How I Analyze Self Storage Opportunities Today
I’ve talked a lot about the benefits of self-storage over other types of commercial investment real estate. Usually, the benefits circle around the fact that self-storage is a steel wall and a concrete floor generating rents comparable to apartments or office...
What Business Are Your In?
Are you in the self storage business? Are you getting in the self storage business? For a long time, I related to myself as someone in the self storage business. For a couple of years in the 1990’s I was someone getting in the self storage business. But really? Lets look at what business you are REALLY in.
Four Pitfalls To Watch Out For When Doing Self-Storage Conversions
It has become very popular in the self-storage industry today, to do conversions as an entry point into the business, or as a way to expand your self-storage business. I like them very much and wrote an article about it for Inside Self-Storage a few months ago....
Some Misconceptions About Kiosks in Self-Storage
One of the big trends in self-storage today is the use of a kiosk. There are a lot of self-storage companies that just use the kiosk and no onsite managers. In the old days, it was primarily just companies with smaller facilities. Now, there are many companies that...
State of The Self-Storage Industry
I want to take a few Episodes and share some of the take away I have from attending the Inside Self Storage Convention a few weeks ago in Las Vegas. We are now in an industry that is growing and evolving at a fast rate, and it is important to keep our finger on the...
Self-Storage And Opportunity Zones-What’s The Big Deal?
Self Storage And Opportunity Zones-What’s The Big Deal? If you are in the self-storage business, I am sure you have her a lot about “Opportunity Zones” along with the new tax laws that came out as part of the person in the white house’s Tax “Reform” bill. All I have...
Retargeting In Today’s Self-Storage Marketing
I know most of us to turn over the marketing of our self-storage facilities to vendors to handle because, for many of us, it is a world we don’t want to figure out. It is really like learning a foreign language. Add the leavers and dials needed for marketing, it seems...
How To Analyze A Self Storage Expansion
In today’s reality of an overbuilt market in many parts of the country, it is important that we have a good strategy as an entry point or an expansion point into the self-storage business. I have discussed conversions in detail over the past few months. If you are...
Interesting Statistics from Self-Storage Investor Survey | Last Part of 2018
I was reading an “Investor Survey” in the last half of 2018 provided by one of the large Commercial Real Estate companies. Not that these are exact numbers, but they do tend to point to a direction the industry is going. I have seen these surveys from three different...
How to Financially Analyze a Potential Self-Storage Conversion.
Let’s discuss how to financially analyze a potential self-storage conversion. In Episode 192 {Olivia, plz link to it} we discussed the benefits of doing a conversion in today’s current self-storage market conditions. I won’t go over them here, but for this episode, I...
What Makes A Good Self-Storage Feasibility Report?
If there was a self-storage soapbox, and I was standing on it, what you would have heard me say over the past few years was “Get a self-storage Feasibility Report!” Let’s discuss the feasibility reports. The first thing we should know about them is that we are very...
You Will See It (a Self-Storage Business) When You Believe It: The Prosperity Episode
There has never been more of a need for us as business owners, self-storage owners and developers to operate from a “Prosperity Consciousness” as there is now. Actually, everyone to operate from “Prosperity Consciousness”. In reality, there are two belief systems we...
“What does it take to Be Successful in The Self-Storage Business?”
I have worked with lots of people getting in the self-storage business over the years. Hundreds of them. However, I’ve never had anyone ask this question before. It seems weird, but no one has asked me before “What does it take to be successful in the self-storage...
Snap Shot Of Self-Storage Industry January 2019
Every now and then it’s good to pull our heads up and just look at our self-storage industry. There is no doubt that the industry has grown during this recovery. Some may say too much, but this is the inevitable cycle that affects all real estate and businesses. As an...
Three Self-Storage Trends I See Driving Self-Storage In 2019
As a business owner, part of our job is to always have an eye on the future. What self-storage trends do we see coming at us from the future that will impact our self-storage business? Here are three trends I see that are reshaping the self-storage business and what...
Has Lease Up Absorption for new Facilities or Expansions Slowed Down?
There is no question about it. The self-storage industry has experienced a construction boom. As of Sept. 2018, units planned or under construction account for 9.3% of the existing inventory in the U.S. according to Yardi matrix. The most active markets amount the 31...
Steel Tariffs and The Self Storage Industry
I have mentioned numerous times that the cost of construction has increased due to the steel tariffs that the person in the White House put in place last March 2018. Now no matter what your political beliefs are, how strong you feel, pros or cons about the person in...
The Four Main Benefits of Doing A Conversion To Get In The Self Storage Business
Today, more than ever, I am convinced that conversion of an existing building into self-storage building is one of the best ways to get into the business. I am writing this at the end of 2018. Prices for existing self-storage are still very high. Anywhere from a 5.5%...
The Top Five Steps for Creating Your Best Self-Storage Year
So here we are at the end of 2018 and getting ready for 2019. There are a lot of changes going on in the self-storage industry and 2018 was a pivotal year. For many of us it was a tough year for buying, but a good year if you were a seller. However, what’s important...
Five Books That Will Change Your Life & Lead To Self-Storage Success
I have worked with a lot of people helping them get in and/or grow their self-storage business. Here is what I have learned: knowing what to do and having a good strategy is important, but it really only accounts for about 20% of your success. Your mindset, your...
Self-Storage & ADA Requirements.
ADA A thing that is often overlooked in thinking about, designing, or even trying to pull a building permit for a new self-storage facility, or an expansion, is the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements for self-storage. Yes, ADA is very applicable to...
How Will Rising Interest Rates Effect Your Self-Storage Loan?
We are all hearing about the rising interest rates, right? Well, let’s discuss it in relation to you getting in the self-storage business or growing your self-storage business. The current loan environment, in historical terms, is still in good shape. Interest rates...
Is Self-Storage Overbuilt?
Headlines: “Self-Storage Rates Fall Across US.” “New Supply Surges As Rental Rates Fall.” “Self-Storage Slows Down.” “Is it true?” “Well …that depends.” “On what?” “Where you are!” “I live in the southeast.” “Where In the southeast?” “In Georgia.” “Where in Georgia?”...
Part 8: What Skills Do You Need To Start A Self-Storage Business Today?
So, here we are at the final Episode in a series which was a deep dive into an article I wrote for Inside Self-Storage earlier this year. Today, it is a different world than it was five years or so before. Getting in the self-storage business requires some skill sets...
Part 7: What Skills Do You Need To Start A Self Storage Business Today?
The last several weeks we’ve been going into detail about the seven skills required to start and grow an self storage business. The material is the in-depth look at the skills I wrote about in an article for Inside Self Storage. The premise of the articles is...
Part 6: What Skills Do You Need To Start A Self Storage Business Today?
This week we’re continuing a series exploring the skill sets I think are necessary for the small investor today to be successful in starting or growing their self storage business. This series is a deeper dive into an article I wrote for Inside Self Storage...
Part 5: What Skills Do You Need To Start A Self Storage Business Today?
If you are in the business of getting into self storage, you are in the business of putting cash into deals. This is the fourth skill set it takes to start and grow a self storage business. All seven skill sets were covered briefly in an article I wrote for Inside...
Part 4: What Skills Do You Need To Start A Self Storage Business Today?
We have been discussing the seven skills required to start a successful self storage business today. The information is from an article I wrote for Inside Self Storage. In this series, I’m taking a deeper dive into each of the skills mentioned in the article. The two...
Part 3: What Skills Do You Need To Start A Self Storage Business Today?
If you are thinking about starting or growing your self storage business, you are in the business of analyzing self storage. In Episode 178, I reprinted an article I wrote for Inside Self Storage. In it, I discuss the skills needed in my opinion to get in the self...
Part 2: What Skills Do You Need To Start A Self Storage Business Today?
Last week we started a conversation about the skills it takes to be in the self storage business today. Let’s take a look at the first skill: the ability to find deals. I wrote about this in Episode 129. In my opinion, there is a real art to finding good deal flow....
What Skills Do You Need to Start a Self Storage Business Today?
This week I want to cover an article I wrote for Inside Self Storage magazine earlier this year. You can read the full article HERE or you can read it in its entirety below. I think it will be valuable to go through each of these skills in more detail, but this week...
Do You Know How to Collect the Right Data Before Starting a Self Storage Project?
The self storage world has never been as easy and as complicated as it is right now. There are a lot of software programs out there that make it easier. There are a lot of software programs out there that make it more complicated. In the old days if we found a site we...
Do You Know the Benefits of Both Self Storage Trade Associations?
Are you in the self storage business? If so, are you a member of the SSA (Self Storage Association)? How about Inside Self Storage (ISS)? I found it strange when I first got in the self storage business that there were two trade organizations that both had great...
How to Successfully Choose Your First Self Storage Project
I get a lot of questions like, “I’m looking at this site,” or, “I’m looking at this facility. How do I know if I should move forward?” That’s hard to answer because it depends. Depends on what? Why you want to get into the self storage business. What...
Should I Invest In A Self Storage REIT Or In A Self Storage Private Placement?
So you’ve decided to invest in self storage. You know the benefits of self storage over other types of real estate. If you need more information about those benefits, click HERE. Now the decision is how and where to invest. This is assuming that you don’t...
Five Things To Know About Investing In Self Storage Today
If you are looking for a business opportunity or a commercial real estate play to invest in, I’m sure self storage has caught your attention. It is most likely something you thought about but never investigated seriously or never made a real move on. Now you are...
Is It Time to Be Cautious About Building New Self Storage?
I don’t have a crystal ball to look into the future and see what is coming for the self storage industry. But I don’t think I need one either. We are moving into the “hyper supply” phase of the economic cycle in many markets. If you are not sure what that means, click...
How To Create A Winning Self Storage Strategy: Begin With The End In Mind
“Begin With The End In Mind.” Even my 10-year-old Grandson has learned this because his school teaches the Seven Habits of Highly Successful People by Steven Covey. “Beginning with the end in mind” is Habit #2 of Steven Covey’s book. It is also a very...
Theory Vs Reality: The Life Cycle of a Self Storage Expansion Project
“You can never lose money if you’re selling your self storage facility for a profit.” At least that is what I’m telling myself. We recently received an offer from a REIT on some of our self storage expansion projects and the value is what we...
How to Avoid Mistakes When Making Self Storage Projections
We create a Proforma for every self storage project before putting it into service. If I’ve had one consistent success in the self storage business it has been hitting or beating the Net Operating Income (NOI) projection in these Proforma. This has been a big...
Theory vs Reality: Working with Investors to Buy Self Storage
Many of us in the self storage business work with investors. We use their money to buy self storage, and give them returns on their money in exchange for the use of it. We often agree to return all their money within a certain time period plus any unpaid...
How Self Storage Performs in a Recession
When I saw how self storage worked, I fell in love with it. In the mid-1990’s I was a commercial real estate professional. I sold all kinds of investment real estate but I also had a company that focused on office building sales, leasing, and management. Our...
Are CAP Rates Going Up? How to Keep Your Self Storage Business Profitable
Interest rates have gone up and will most likely continue to go up. That has an effect on the self storage industry. As we move into the “Hyper Supply” phase of the real estate cycle (click HERE for details on the phases of the cycle) one of the historic...
How To Profitably Leverage Self Storage During Any Phase Of The Real Estate Cycle
I speak often about the oversupply of self storage in certain markets and how to position yourself to stay relevant in today’s market. My default setting is to assume that everyone has a real estate background and understands where we are in the current real...
How to Create a Marketing Plan For Your New Construction Self Storage Facility
Many of us are building new self storage facilities (instead of Additions or Conversions) as the way to start or grow our self storage business. As more square footage hits the market, marketing has never been more important. In this episode, I’ll share what...
How to Perfect Your Self Storage Customer’s Journey for Increased Occupancy
The days of simply opening your self storage facility every day and maintaining a 90% plus occupancy rate are over. For the last few years, all you needed was to have the power on and a functioning gate and you had high occupancy. Those days are over. The market is...
What Self Storage Investors Should Do in 2018 To Start Or Grow Our Business
The self storage industry in the US has never been more varied than it is today. It’s all over the place. In Las Vegas rents are up 70%. In Denver, rents are down 5%. In Dallas, about 22% more square feet of self storage has hit the market in the form of new...
Habits for Success Series: The Final Ingredient for Self Storage Success
As we conclude our series on the Habits for Success series, we’ll cover the final habit I’ve seen that people who successfully get in the self storage business possess. This last habit took me a while to flush out. I could see the difference between...
Habits For Success Series: Authentic Self Confidence
As I’ve watched or coached people who successfully start a self storage business, I’ve seen four traits or habits they have in common. These habits are what they have in common, not what they know – knowledge of rates of return or how to spot a good...
Habits for Success Series: Being Effective at the Right Task in Your Self Storage Business
As I’ve worked with successful people who start a self storage business, I notice they all are “Effective at the Right Task.” This is the second trait, habit, or way of navigating life that is required to be successful at getting into the self storage business....
Habits for Success Series: Are You Clear on Your “Why” for Succeeding in Self Storage?
Unless you were born wealthy, or have great karma, the road to self storage success is rarely a straight line. In fact, I believe the key to success is how well you execute Plan B. Plan A is that stuff in your head that rarely ever happens the way you think it will....
Can You Learn the Habits Necessary to Succeed in Self Storage?
I wish I could tell up front who has what it takes to stick with it and get in the self storage business. I know it has never been more challenging to get started in the business than it is today. Prices are still high, lenders are tough, and due diligence periods are...
Do You Know the Most important KPI For a Self Storage Owner?
As a self storage business owner, do you know what your main KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are? I wrote about them in the book Creating Wealth Through Self Storage. There are several KPIs we can track, but the most important one, in my opinion, is the “income...
Self Storage Demand Pricing – Are You For or Against?
One of the innovations the self storage industry has come up with recently is “Demand Pricing.” This is unit street pricing that adjusts daily or weekly depending on the availability and occupancy in a submarket. For example, a facility could usually rent a 10 x 10...
Value Pricing – How to Raise Your Self Storage Rental Income WITHOUT a Rent Increase
I am on a self storage mission this year. My mission is to close the gap between how the larger players in the self storage business and the smaller investors run their businesses. In last week’s episode, we discussed the data analytics program available to us today....
Do You Have The Information You Need To Compete With Reits In Your Own Backyard?
I realized we were behind the curve in running our self storage business when we had an Extra Space open up in our submarket. Our facility had been enjoying over 95% occupancy for years. We had regular rate increases. Everything was firing on all cylinders. We would...
Self Storage REITs Have the Marketing Tech and the Money to Use it – Can You Compete?
I read an article in the Wall Street Journal in January about all the new self storage space coming online. It was the typical, overbuilt sector article we are seeing today. But one thing got me thinking hard. It was the quote from an Extra Space Executive. “Our...
The Top Seven Skills You Need to Start a Self Storage Business
Self storage is the best business there is for the small investor. It has all the benefits of a real estate play and few of the drawbacks associated with traditional investment real estate. It is also an operating business with very predictable cash flow. Because of...
Part 4 – How to Get Started Marketing Your Self Storage Facility on Facebook
As we explore this new online marketing landscape for self storage, you’ll see that it takes a whole new way of looking at how to get customers. The path to connecting with our client base online is not clear. We have to provide the right information and create...Part 3 – How to Get Started Marketing Your Self Storage Facility on Facebook
Last week we started creating a Facebook Ad Campaign for your self storage facility. Let’s continue. If you remember, we set up the Campaign. We chose the campaign objective. In this scenario, we choose “Conversions.” If you run this campaign and don’t like the...
Part 2 – How to Get Started Marketing Your Self Storage Facility on Facebook
In this series of Episodes, we are exploring online marketing strategies to fill up, then keep full, our self storage facilities. The days of just showing up and having 90% plus occupancy are gone. If that’s not happening where you are, it’s coming to an end soon....
How to Get Started Marketing Your Self Storage Facility on Facebook
As the self storage industry changes, grows and evolves, nothing changes faster than how we market for new customers. In the first facility I was involved with, 86% of our customers came from the Yellow Pages. The last time I ran a Yellow Pages ad, I lost around...
Are You Creating Big Enough Goals for Your Self Storage Business This Year?
If you knew you could not fail, what would you create this year for your self storage business? I have a couple more “mindset” topics to cover before we do a deep dive into some new online marketing strategies. We are beginning to utilize these techniques in our...
Do You Believe You’re Worth True Wealth With Self Storage?
We started this year’s Episodes looking into what we need to do to create the possibility of success in 2018 with our self storage business. And it was not knowing specific self storage ninja tactics. If you didn’t read or see last week’s Episode, please click here....
Do You Really Want To Be In The Self Storage Business?
Is 2018 the year for you? Is this the year you start your self storage business or take your business to the next level? I am going to go deep into how to do this and what my self storage company is doing. I will also share what others in this community are doing. You...
Are You Measuring This Metric in Your Self Storage Facilities?
Let me share a new self storage metric that has become important to me over the past few months. I have tracked this off and on but never watched it closely and never used it to make many decisions. This looks like it will be different as the market changes with a lot...
How to Grow Your Self Storage Income Without Raising Rates
As I indicated in Episode 137 after attending the 2017 Self Storage Economic Summit, I think self storage rental increases are going to slow down dramatically. As an industry, we have been enjoying steady rental increases over the past few years. Some of our...
How to stay empowered as you build your self storage business in 2018
The self storage industry is evolving at a fast pace these days. I’ve been having to deal with issues the second half of this year that I haven’t had to face before. Extreme overbuilding in some markets Extreme price cutting by large players in certain...
What self storage business questions do you need to ask to make 2018 your best year yet?
Last week I asked the question, “Are you asking the right questions about your self storage business?” We discussed asking different questions as a method for accessing what is hidden from your view. This is helpful for your personal growth and the growth of your...
Are you a self storage artist, manager, or risk taker?
Are you asking the right questions about your self storage business? I have learned over and over, the quality of your life is a function of the questions you ask yourself. Are you asking the right questions? I learned this in the real estate business the hard way. I...
A Look Into Self Storage’s Future From The SSA Economic Summit
I would like to share some takeaways I got from the 2017 Self storage Economic Summit I attended in September of this year. It was eye-opening. Let me share the Short Term Analysis and Long Term Analysis then my summary of them. Short Term Some of the main drivers...
Your Self Storage Online Relevance Always Starts With Google
Last week we talked about a strong internet presence for your self storage facility. How do you do that? There are many facets to a strong internet presence, but they all start with Google. And that is challenging because you will be competing against some monster...
Don’t Panic…Here is What To Do When A New Self Storage Facility Opens in Your Submarket
Here are action steps to take when a new large self storage competitor opens up in your market.
Getting Started Series-How To Put A New Facility Into Service
This episode completes the Getting Started Series for Self Storage Buyers Today. Here are some best Practices for putting your first or next self storage facility into service. This episode covers what to do and not do prior to the closing, day of the closing, and the first month after the closing.
Part 2: Getting Started Series-Best Due Diligence Practices Today For Self Storage
So we now have a self storage project under contract! Way to go! In last week’s Episode, we covered the first few spaces a self storage buyer goes through today to get to the finish line and either close on the project or let it go. In this Episode, we are going to...Getting Started Series – Best Due Diligence Practices Today For Self Storage
You now have a self storage facility under contract. Congratulations. Now what? This is where it can be exciting, scary, thrilling, and the most fearful thing you have ever done all at the same time. That’s normal, especially of it is your first self storage facility....Getting Started Series-Best Practices for Getting A Self Storage Deal To Stand Still
In today’s self storage business climate, reasonably priced deals don’t stay on the market long. If it is a facility your are interested in, it is critical that you control that property as fast as you can. “Deal Mode” This is the second stage...
Getting Started Series- Self Storage Investing First Steps
Once you find a self storage deal that looks good to you as your start self storage investing, my coaching is to quickly jump into deal mode. What is important as you enter deal mode is to know the steps, or more accurately said, the spaces of a deal. As I have...
Getting Started Series – Inside Scoop On How To Created More Self Storage Deals To Look At Than You Can Imagine- 129
Let’s discuss developing your skills of getting in front of good self storage deal flow.
