Self Storage Income

The self storage industry has a glaring “blind spot,” and it’s much bigger than you think . In fact, it represents over 19,000 self storage facilities spanning 98% of U.S. cities . The REITs? The larger players? They’re not doing anything about it. They can’t . But for you, the new or “smaller” self storage investor ? You are uniquely positioned to take advantage of massive opportunities , the lik...

We survived 2008 , the pandemic, high interest rates , and now a wildly volatile economy—but it’s not the same for other self storage owners. I’ve been getting calls over the last 6 months from operators losing their facilities , trying to restructure, and get out. They’ll lose money, lose their properties, and most likely lose the relationships with their banks, lenders, or investors.   This...

Your self storage business isn’t struggling because your vacancy rate has slowly crept up or because your rents are too high . What’s actually going on? It’s simple: you have a self storage demand problem . Everyone thinks demand is outside of their control—that it’s completely dependent on the market, competition, and rates . But it’s not. The truth is, you have far more control over demand for y...

Want to increase not just your self storage revenue , but also your facility’s value ? It has very little to do with luck, timing, or even the deal itself. It’s all about the levers you pull after closing. With rental properties, stocks, and other investments, you have almost no control over what the market does. But with self storage investing ? You’re in the driver’s seat. You have the ability t...

Before you buy your first self storage investment , you’ll need to figure out where to buy . But in a country with over 10,000 different cities, just picking wherever you find a deal won’t cut it.   Today, we’re showing you exactly how to find the best self storage market for you —and it may be closer than you think. This is the checklist we use when analyzing any area for self storage invest...

There are three crucial things every self storage investor must pay attention to when building their portfolio. These are the things that helped me scale a $300M+ self storage business and grow through the Great Recession, the pandemic lockdowns, and every downturn and upturn in between.    If you get these three things right , you will be successful in self storage . Even better news? T...

The biggest threat to your self storage revenue isn’t your market, customers, or the asset itself. It’s you. In the wake of the 2008 Great Financial Crisis, I developed a simple yet powerful framework for mastering operations , unlocking hidden revenue, and increasing valuation . And in today’s market cycle, it’s just as relevant as it was back then. At its core, it all comes down to how you view...

The mistake you’re about to make could sink your self storage deal . We’ve been there many times before. We’ve been too aggressive with our numbers , cut corners on due diligence , and lost money . Thankfully, you don’t have to make these same mistakes. Conner and George are shining a light on the biggest red flags and pitfalls that catch self storage investors by surprise and, in some cases, leav...

This is how to start investing in self storage , right now.  In under 25 minutes, I’m going to walk you through exactly how to go from no self storage investments to your first one . Everything from building your “buy box” to finding the deals with upside potential, financing , due diligence , increasing revenue , and repeating it to build an entire portfolio.  None of the steps I’m shar...

Ever wonder how self storage investors get their hands on enough capital to purchase not just one, or two, but several self storage facilities ? The truth is that many of them bring very little of their own cash to the table . Why? Because self storage isn’t just another high-risk investment or business venture . It’s an opportunity . An opportunity to make steady (and passive) returns, allocate m...

This is how to run a storage business successfully if you’re starting from scratch .  Closing on your first self storage investment is a big deal—but it comes with a lot of questions: What management software should I use? What types of locks are best? How do I track competitor prices? How do I handle the auction and lien process if someone doesn’t pay?  It’s easy to get overwhelmed and...

The self storage industry is often described as one of the safest asset classes in commercial real estate. Low default rates . Recession-proof demand. An industry that rarely goes out of business . Only a fraction of a percentage of owners ever get foreclosed on.   That story is a lie.   You’ve heard it before. You’ve probably said it to other investors, your friends, and family when the...

Is your self storage business bleeding money? Most facilities are. For every investor who’s actually building wealth with self storage , there’s another investor down the road who checks in once a month or neglects their property entirely. And if you’re acquiring one of these facilities, you have a unique opportunity to improve it on day one . Unlike investing in the stock market, where the busine...

An entire generation is disappearing , and it’s going to shake more than just the self storage industry . For years, we’ve been hearing about a “silver tsunami,” when baby boomers leave the workforce and start passing on their assets to the next generation of investors. But there’s another layer to this that people aren’t talking about, and it’s going to create a ripple effect throughout the U.S....

Self storage is boring . You rent out metal boxes , tenants pay you to use them , and hopefully, you make a profit . But today’s guest is turning it into one of the most exciting asset classes with technology that streamlines operations and improves the customer experience in ways that weren’t possible until now. The best part? Investors are slashing their overhead costs by up to 10%, giving them...

Self storage analysis is a guessing game . Or at least, it was.  But everything has changed . In this episode, Noah Starr, CEO of TractIQ, returns with an announcement that fundamentally changes the way we find and buy self storage deals . For years, an investor’s biggest advantage wasn’t having a ton of capital or mastering operations . It was information . And with everyone being overly pro...

There’s a strategy that smart investors use to take down multiple self storage deals in a relatively short amount of time, all while “recycling” the cash they initially put into that first deal. Tony McNickle and Dennis Pham used this exact blueprint to buy their first two deals , and it won’t be long before they’ll have built an entire portfolio of cash-flowing self storage facilities . After con...

2026 could be the biggest year for self storage investors since 2008. What happens starting in 2026, and going all the way through 2030, could change your life forever if you’re in the game.   Read any self storage industry news, and it says the same thing: “Oversupply! Low Demand! Rate Cuts!” But this surface-level story doesn’t show what’s really about to happen. The self storage market is...

2025 was a pivotal year for the self storage industry —but 2026 is about to be even bigger. We could get opportunities we haven’t seen in 15 years , but the buying window won’t last long. We’re taking full advantage, and in today’s episode, we’re outlining our exact 2026 plan .   We’re ringing in the New Year by sharing what we bought, sold, refinanced, and decided to hold in 2025 . In the mi...

Imagine walking up to a self storage facility and renting a unit from your phone . Next month, you need to upgrade , and you can do it immediately, again from your phone . When you move out , you schedule a date from your phone and walk away. This is what automated self storage looks like, and if your facility doesn’t sound like this example, you could be in for a big wake-up call.   Alec Pee...

The self storage industry has finally bottomed out, and today’s guest believes there are more deals now than ever. He’s seizing the moment and buying self storage facilities left and right because in 18 months, these deals could completely dry up —leaving many wishing they had invested in self storage .   In this episode, Conner and George sit down with Ben Gottfredson , who, just a few years...

Self storage investing isn’t always smooth sailing, but the market tends to reward those who stay the course. From wild construction-site break-ins to complex newspaper-building conversions , this self storage investor has seen it all—yet he’s still built a multimillion-dollar storage business that supported his family after a health incident took away his main source of income. In today’s episode...

After one self storage investment , Darren and Jyoti Osten knew they wanted out of residential real estate. They had bought rental properties, a fixer-upper, and an apartment building, but none were as profitable or passive as self storage investing . Now, six years later, they have four self storage facilities and a small, but stable, portfolio that they run from over 1,000 miles away.  &nbs...

Financing is a necessary hurdle to clear when buying a self storage facility , and in this market, it’s more crucial than ever to explore all your self storage loan options and get creative when structuring deals . The good news is, you likely have even more negotiating power today than in years past!   In this episode, AJ and Conner are pulling back the curtain and sharing multiple financing...

This husband and wife skipped rental properties and went straight to self storage investing . They kept hearing the regrets from other investors saying “we wish we scaled faster.” So, why wait to scale to bigger properties when you can just buy them from the start ? That’s exactly what Matthew Rojas and Jingwen Ni did, and they have zero regrets .   It took Matthew and Jingwen two years to fi...