Short answer: Mark treats storage as a retail business. Only about 10–12% of people need storage at any time, and most customers live within 3 to 5 miles, so he wants everyone in the trade area to see the facility. When they do need storage and search online, they already recognize it.^[1]

What Mark has seen #

• “Drive-by” remains one of his top two or three sources of new leases. Tenants say things like “I see your facility every day when I pick up the kids.”^[1]
• His slowest lease-up ever was a facility next to an expressway with no visibility from a main road; he couldn’t get the signage competitors had. It took well over a year longer than planned to stabilize, with the partners covering payments in the meantime.^[1]
• Visibility also affects the value of each lease signed, something supply metrics like square foot per capita don’t capture.^[2]

His coaching: choose properties with strong retail-style visibility in their trade area, and check signage rules carefully during due diligence.^[1][3]

Related answers #

• What makes a good self-storage trade area?
• Is square foot per capita a reliable measure of self-storage demand?
• What are the most common mistakes when buying a first self-storage facility?

Sources #

Each numbered note above links to the post of Mark’s it comes from.

1. Five Beginner Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Self-Storage Facility, Mark Helm, September 5, 2025
2. The Square Foot per Capita Myth, Mark Helm, April 3, 2026
3. The Five Biggest Mistakes I’ve Made Over My 31 Years In The Self-Storage Industry, Mark Helm, June 5, 2026