Self Storage Income

In this episode I answer your burning question: how are MY assets doing? The WSJ posted that we’ve experienced a HISTORICAL drop on national self storage rates. Does this mean the market is crashing?  Let’s touch on how the Self Storage game has changed. This concerns me. And I think it leads to a tremendous amount of regulation. Will it actually happen? Why or why not?  Want to take adv...

How are storage facilities trading at absorbent prices in some places, but are great deals in other markets? There are different forces that affect how a storage facility is valued. Well, that's backed by research and numbers.  Every since industry goes through 3 main phases of development. Youth, adolescent, and mature. Self Storage was primarily in its Youth phase prior to 2008, then everyt...

So many people out there say that they automate or have a "touchless" storage facility. But there's so many misconceptions to doing this. Yeah, it sounds great: outsourcing facility management to a virtual assistant (VA) or 3rd party management company.  What are some of the caveats to automating your facility? Especially when starting out? Today we bring on Jonah Hall, the co-found...

The economy is slowing down, and it's impacting Self Storage directly. We're seeing incomes fall, occupancy drop, and normally "busy" seasons are slow instead.  This is a result of the Self Storage bubble. It's similar to the housing bubble that popped in 2008, except now it's popped for Self Storage. The rates we can charge are dropping, along with new customers and income. We talked about t...

A competitive economy results in massive shockwaves echoing through the real estate, financial, and consumer sectors. We're always looking to acquire new properties - but this has all but stalled out. Deal volume has crashed, and the number of GOOD, viable deals has not been reliable During this downtime, can we actually make this be a good thing? How are we changing how we look for deals? What ar...

In today’s episode, AJ and Conner discuss the evolution of Self Storage through years. When we got started, the market was drastically different. Whether you’re a first-time investor, or you’re a part of one of the largest private equity firms in the world - everyone is subject to the same fundamental concepts. Operations, management, expansions - and it doesn’t stop there. That’s why AJ wrote his...

Welcome back everyone to the Self Storage Income Podcast on our 200th episode! As you know, we’re all about building business – specifically a self storage business that can own, operate, manage, develop, and syndicate self storage deals. Not everyone wants to go this route and that’s ok (which is why we syndicate right!?). But for those of you who do want to build a business, and even an empire –...

Welcome to the Self Storage Income Podcast! Today Conner and AJ talk about legitimate tools you can use on your journey to success.  You've seen the clickbait, you've been told to have a special morning routine, you've already heard "The One Thing You Need to Do to Become Wealthy." There is no one way, there is no big secret, and it won't be instant. The world is ever evolving and there are s...

Welcome back everyone to the Self Storage Income Podcast! Investing in self storage can be pretty overwhelming sometimes. There are a lot of factors to consider, decisions to be made, and risks to be aware of – that is if you actually want to be a successful self storage investor. Today, AJ provides a great metaphor on how to look at self storage investing that really breaks down the fundamentals...

What a great week at the Inside Self Storage Expo! We just got back from Las Vegas where the ISS event was held. One of the biggest topics they covered was Automation and AI integration, with both private companies and public REITs all interested - so let's talk about it!  AI has been adopted across industries almost immediately - decades faster than the Internet was adopted initially. Is thi...

The Self Storage market is undergoing an unprecedented time of change and fluctuation. Everything is being affected - buying & selling, cap rates, tenant occupancies, and more. If you are new to the market - or trying to get into the market with your first deal - what does this meant for you? We know Self Storage is connected to residential housing. Does that mean we will experience the same d...

There has been a major development in the self storage industry. One of the biggest REITs in the space, ExtraSpace, has merged with Life Storage for a record $12.7 billion, making it the largest merger in the Self Storage industry by FAR. Where will this take us and what does it mean for the self storage world? For years, we've talked about market consolidation in this space. The sheer market size...

In the midst of the recent bank collapses, economists and investors alike are shuddering at the impact of high cost of capital and the Fed's continual interest rate hikes. Banks are extremely nervous and wary of investments - all investments. INCLUDING storage. Why is this happening, and how will it affect us? When we saw storage being oversupplied with falling demand, we knew a bubble was coming....

Welcome back everybody to Self Storage Income! Today we have an exciting guest, Mike Burnam, on to talk about the current state of self storage markets - particularly smaller, tertiary, and subprime markets - as the bubble created by the pandemic is starting to pop.   Mike is the CEO of StorageMart and has been in the industry for over 42 years, with over $4 billion worth of self st...

The economy is shuttering: with the Fed raising rates trying to slow down inflation, banks are responding differently to investors than they used to. Developments aren't getting approved as much as they used to. What does this mean if you are wanting to invest in, build, or acquire a new storage facility?  Today we are joined by Anna Taylor, who is  the head of Self-Storage Lending at Li...

When buying a self storage facility, the sale price isn’t always market value - if it was, we’d live in a perfect world. Thats why having an appraiser come out and inspect the property can be tremendously valuable. They can tell you what exactly adds or subtracts from market value and determines the final sale price. In this episode, special guest Tim Garey from Cushman & Wakefield Self Storag...

In this special Q&A episode of Self Storage Income, we answer YOUR questions directly. We will be addressing - The State of Self Storage in 2023 - Developments: The Pros & Cons - Finding Investors for a Boat & RV Facility with much more to come. Thanks to all those to have supported us and sent us questions. You can send your own via our YouTube channel, Instagram, or Twitter...

There are many ways to finance a self storage deal. You can bring your own money, leverage your own assets, or enlist the help of others, like investors, banks, and even the sellers themselves.  Today we're talking about two of the most common ways to finance a storage facility: Funds and Syndications. Funds pool together capital to invest across a series of investments or properties, such as...

Once you've figured out which market to go in and what price you should pay, the next step is to secure the funding and financing for your deal. Lending is a tricky business - there are numerous types of loans and fund structures each with their unique benefits, regulations, and interest rates. Each of these factors will directly affect how your deal functions now and years into the future. ...

Valuation is a key step in buying a self storage facility. You need to know how much it costs, after all. Price is a measurement of value. But in commercial real estate, value is not determined only by the price. You also need to look at things like revenue, growth, expenditures, and operations.   It’s not just a single line item. Not anymore.   As an investor, what are those drivers tha...

Self Storage hasn’t always been the real estate class that we all know today. It’s one of the youngest and was originally developed under drastically different circumstances. Cities often approved storage to gain an income producing property that didn’t stress the infrastructure by adding more traffic or population.   Understanding the key changes from how storage started and how it got to wh...

Starting out in Self Storage can seem scary and complicated. Even if you've studied the topic and the math, nothing beats experience in the industry and knowing what metrics to achieve and what pitfalls to avoid.  Ben Kall is a real estate agent and broker out of Minnesota. He's dealt in multi-family, triple net lease (NNN), and now Self Storage. His first investment (outside his first home)...

In the last 6 months, the Self Storage market has shifted. We've discussed this before, but in today's episode, AJ and Conner discuss how this affects occupancy and revenue. Namely, how can you increase your revenue despite the market conditions driving occupancy down?  AJ and Conner are fresh off of an internal meeting where they reviewed a market he currently owns more square footage than t...

Starting out in Self Storage is no easy feat. We talk all the time about the finances and the underwriting and all the “prep work” that needs to be done before you attempt to acquire a facility. But now, you’ve done that, or maybe you aren’t in a position to wait any longer. You have to start looking for that first facility deal.   In this episode, we hear from Cameron, who went from loads of...

Raising capital today is more uncertain than ever. Funding deals for any real estate investment has more implications than it did just a year ago. Syndications have numerous pros and cons between the sponsors, the people putting the deals together, and the investor, the people bringing the capital to the deal, who are typically accredited investors. What if you aren’t accredited? Can you still inv...