Self Storage Investing

Send us Fan Mail Is your self-storage business keeping up with the digital revolution? Scott breaks down the essential shift toward remote management and how technology is redefining customer experience.  From online reservations and automated payments to AI-powered chatbots and interactive virtual tours, Scott explains why a seamless digital experience is now a necessity...not just a luxury.  He...

Send us Fan Mail What if the future of self storage was hiding in the narrow streets of Italy?  Scott records from Tuscany, Italy and shares a fascinating realization about how limited space, dense urban living, and evolving consumer behavior are shaping the future of storage worldwide.  Comparing the massive self storage footprint in the U.S. to Italy’s dramatically under supplied market, Scott e...

Send us Fan Mail This is a REPLAY of an episode first published in December 2025. Is this the moment to get bold with your next self storage move, or the moment to back away? Scott Meyers sits down with broker and former principal investor David Perlleshi of Franklin Street to unpack why today’s selective market may actually be the best buying climate since the mid two thousands.  David traces his...

Send us Fan Mail Is traditional self-storage losing its edge… and is pro storage the next great wealth-building frontier?  Scott Meyers pulls back the curtain on what he calls the most significant opportunity in self-storage investing today: pro storage.  With the traditional self-storage market now a $47 billion industry facing compressed yields, saturated development pipelines, and institutional...

Send us Fan Mail What if you could cut your project cost in half on day one…before a single tenant moves in?  Scott Meyers sits down with developer and investor Chris Koenig to pull back the curtain on one of the most compelling niches within self-storage investing: solar-powered covered RV and boat storage.  Chris has built multiple facilities across California, including a 400-unit, 200,000-squa...

Send us Fan Mail Could the next frontier of commercial real estate investing be hiding right next to the self-storage facilities you already know?  Scott Meyers welcomes Cody Payne, a small bay flex space specialist, investment sales broker, and founder of FlexParks USA, for a candid conversation about one of the fastest-growing asset classes in commercial real estate.  With 20 years in the indust...

Send us Fan Mail This is a REPLAY of an episode first published in September 2024. Ready to fast-track your self-storage success?   In this episode, Scott launches a 30-day Letter of Intent (LOI) challenge with his Self Storage Mastery students, aiming to have each participant secure a property within a month.   He dives into the essential strategies for finding and evaluating deals, mastering tim...

Send us Fan Mail Is the commercial storage industry sitting on one of the most overlooked investment opportunities in real estate right now?  Scott Meyers pulls back the curtain on the full commercial storage landscape… and the picture is far bigger than most investors realize.  Drawing on 21 years of experience and 29,000 units across five million square feet, Scott delivers a data-driven breakdo...

Send us Fan Mail This is a REPLAY of an episode first published in January 2025.  Leave a positive rating for this podcast with one click How do you scale your self-storage business without risking your investors' trust? Scott dives into the art and science of raising private equity, sharing his proven strategies for crafting compelling investment offerings, building trust with equity partner...

Send us Fan Mail What if the biggest problem in real estate is not money but finding the deal? Scott Meyers sits down with Josh Stech to unpack his journey from flipping homes to building one of the largest private lending platforms in the country and now disrupting off market real estate through his company, Sundae.  Josh shares how the industry shifted from a lack of capital to a lack of invento...

Send us Fan Mail What does it actually look like to walk away from a successful career and bet everything on self-storage…and win?  Joe Downs sits down with Christin and Rod Blunk, a husband-and-wife team who completed over 450 residential real estate transactions before pivoting to self-storage in 2020.  Fueled by a health crisis that revealed the fragility of active income, they got educated thr...

Send us Fan Mail Could a few thousand dollars spent on a Property Condition Report actually save your self-storage investment…and pay for itself many times over?  Joe Downs and guest David Harkness of Fivefold Technical Consultants prove exactly why the answer is yes.  This is the inspection tool that saved Belrose and their students over $200,000 this year alone.  David brings his engineering exp...

Send us Fan Mail When a U.S.-Israel military operation launches against Iran and the Strait of Hormuz hangs in the balance, what does that mean for your self-storage portfolio?  Scott Meyers cuts through the noise of the Iran conflict to deliver the practical, market-savvy analysis self-storage investors need right now.  Scott unpacks Operation Epic Fury's immediate impact on oil prices, inte...

Send us Fan Mail Is AI quietly becoming the most powerful competitive advantage in self-storage operations and are most operators already behind?  Meyers sits down with Peter Smyth of White Label Storage, fresh off an industry panel on AI and self-storage at the Florida show.  Peter breaks down how operators at every level, from single-facility owners to large portfolio managers, should be thinkin...

Send us Fan Mail What if the most powerful financing tool in self-storage has been hiding in plain sight…dismissed, misunderstood, and underutilized by the very investors who need it most?  Joe Downs sits down with Anne Mino, Senior Loan Officer at Live Oak Bank, the #1 SBA lender in the country by dollar volume for self-storage loans, to pull back the curtain on what SBA financing can actually do...

Send us Fan Mail Is the self storage market finally catching a tailwind again?  Joe Downs sits down with broker Matthew Rosendale of Lindsey Self Storage Group to unpack what’s really happening behind the scenes from $345,000 “Crapper King” deals to $90 million institutional transactions.  Matt shares how 2025 exceeded expectations for his team, why early 2026 is flashing green flags, and how Fed...

Send us Fan Mail Your first self-storage deal doesn’t have to be perfect… it just has to get done.  In this episode, Joe Downs sits down with Dr. Jeff Richardson, a full-time veterinarian who closed his very first self-storage acquisition while still working 30–40 hours a week in his practice.   Jeff walks through his journey from feeling intimidated by his first deal to becoming informed enough t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Joe Downs flips the usual success-story script and dives into the close calls. The near-deals that, if closed, could’ve spelled financial disaster.   Joined by VP of Acquisitions and lead mentor Jack Pezzino, they walk through four real-life stories from students in the Self Storage Academy who dodged costly bullets, from overvalued properties with shaky tenant ba...

Send us Fan Mail The best investors don’t wait for the market…they build for what’s next. Scott Meyers, usually behind the mic, becomes the guest as Joe Downs flips the script.  Together, they explore the future of self-storage in 2026 and beyond, revealing why a subtle industry shift is actually a massive expansion into untapped opportunities like Boat & RV storage, industrial outdoor storage...

Send us Fan Mail What if one buried document could cost… or save…you millions? Joe Downs sits down with real estate attorney Jason Mandel to unravel the nerve-wracking tale of a nearly disastrous storage facility acquisition, dubbed “The Storage Attic.”  With only minutes left in the due diligence period, Joe discovered the property was four feet underwater in a flood zone… not the two feet the 87...

Send us Fan Mail What if you could invest in storage with 20-to-1 demand advantage, higher revenue per square foot, and almost zero REIT competition…but 95% of investors don't even know it exists?  Joe Downs reveals the explosive boat and RV storage opportunity that's hiding in plain sight, with expert Sydnie Wilda from The Storage Manager exposing exactly why this overlooked sector coul...

Send us Fan Mail How do you buy a self-storage facility when interest rates are climbing and banks are tightening up? In this episode of the Self Storage Investing Podcast , host Joe Downs welcomes Belrose Group’s VP of Acquisitions, Jack Pezzino, for a conversation into how they pulled off a real-world self-storage acquisition using seller financing.  Together, they break down their purchase of a...

Send us Fan Mail What if your “can’t-miss” real estate deal missed… hard? In this episode of the Self Storage Investing Podcast , guest host Joe Downs and Bellrose Storage Group partner Tim Kane share their first-ever expansion project; a textbook-perfect deal that was derailed by unforeseen pitfalls, a global pandemic, and shifting market dynamics.   From zoning setbacks to COVID-related delays a...

Send us Fan Mail From blue-collar grind to buying storage facilities, Kevin Stearns isn’t your typical investor, and that’s exactly the point.  Joe Downs talks with Kevin, a former oil rig worker and dumpster rental operator who in just six months, went from learning the ropes to closing his first deal No fancy degree, no investor pedigree. Just drive, curiosity, and mentorship. Hear how Kevin wen...

Send us Fan Mail What’s the real cost of a bad self-storage deal? Try six figures…and that’s if you’re lucky. Joe Downs teams up with operations and acquisitions expert Jack Pezzino to uncover the real-world mistakes that separate self-storage winners from warning signs.  With decades of experience and more than $50M in deals under their belt, the Belrose Group duo dives into the costly blunders n...