Storage Moguls

What's the one clause in your storage deal that could cost you six figures…and would your attorney even catch it?  Joe Downs pulls back the curtain on the legal side of storage investing with Jason Mandel, the commercial real estate transaction attorney at Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld who quarterbacks every deal for Downs' 20-plus facility, $70M+ storage portfolio.  Mandel reveals the $9...

What's really standing between a smart, employed, motivated person and their first storage facility… and why isn't it money?  Joe Downs makes the listener the guest and pulls back the curtain on the three quiet fears that keep would-be buyers stuck: no one will lend me money, no seller will take me seriously, no broker will take me seriously.  Drawing on a portfolio of 20+ storage facili...

Is self-storage investing quietly within reach for buyers everyone assumes are "too young" or "too inexperienced”? Joe Downs sits down with brothers Aidan and Liam Brennan, the youngest buyers he's ever mentored, who just closed on Highway 119 North, a 136-unit, 12,800-square-foot self-storage facility in Pembroke, Georgia.  With no prior real estate experience, they negotiated...

Is a first-time storage buyer actually in a stronger position with lenders than an investor who already owns fifty properties?  Joe Downs sits down with David Merkin, senior managing director at Eastern Union Funding, one of the country's largest commercial mortgage brokerages, who has placed debt on hundreds of storage deals across a network of 200-plus lenders.  Merkin pulls back the curtai...

What's the one cost that quietly kills first-time self-storage deals... before the new owner ever collects a dollar?  This episode pulls back the curtain on the management question that's holding too many qualified investors back from their first acquisition.  Host Joe Downs sits down with Alex Erbs, Director at EquiCap Commercial and co-founder of Gateway Storage, who built a full inter...

Are you still piecing together self-storage market data from six browser tabs, census pages, Google Maps, and a legal pad full of math while a motivated seller waits?  The institutional buyers cracked the code long ago, and in this episode, Joe Downs pulls back the curtain on the exact platform they use to do it.   Guest James Breunig, Head of Sales at StorTrack, the platform tracking over 74,000...

What does a self-storage broker actually think when your offer lands in his inbox and why does the broker's decision happen long before you ever submit an LOI?  Joe Downs sits down with Matt Rosendale, a broker with the Lindsey Self-Storage Group and a first-time storage facility owner himself, to pull back the curtain on how listed deals actually work.  With over a decade representing seller...

What actually separates the investors who close their first self-storage deal from everyone else watching from the sidelines and why does it have almost nothing to do with money, intelligence, or market timing?  Joe Downs sits down with Jack Pezzino, Vice President of Education at Belrose Storage Group, the man who runs the mentorship program, leads weekly live calls, and personally guides first-t...

Is the gap between what your storage facility is and what it should be worth more than the facility itself?  Joe Downs sits down with Sydnie Wilda, operations and property management expert at Anytime Storage, a hands-on operator who has managed both boat and RV facilities and self-storage, including facilities within Joe's own portfolio.  The conversation delivers a field-level breakdown of...

What do you do when the seller of your first self-storage facility simply stops showing up? Phones go dark, the website dies, and occupancy craters to 40%...while you're still under contract and $25,000 deep in non-recoverable costs?  That's the crisis at the center of this episode.  Joe Downs sits down with Adam and Kirby Leiby, a sales professional and homeschooling mom with zero prior...

What would happen to your household income if you couldn't work tomorrow?  That single question is at the heart of this episode and for guest Christin Blunk, it wasn't hypothetical. When her husband Rod was diagnosed with stage four cancer three days before Christmas, their income stopped cold.   What followed transformed their life with 20 years of residential real estate experience int...

Storage Moguls, hosted by entrepreneur and storage investing expert Joe Downs, is the go-to podcast for real estate investors, entrepreneurs, and self storage operators serious about building wealth through self storage and Boat & RV storage. Each week, Joe sits down with industry experts, seasoned storage operators, and students who've done the deals, delivering deep-dive conversations o...