The Self Storage University Podcast

There’s no better form of financing for a self-storage facility than “seller carry” – the concept of the seller creating their own mortgage to finance the purchase. But how do you get it? And what should you watch out for?

We all learn useful lessons in life from a number of teachers. And over the past 40 years – as long as I’ve been in business – I’ve been obtaining real estate loans. While the procedure has remained pretty much the same for all that time, there have been four fundamental concepts that seem to be shared by all bankers – and with good reason. All four of these will have a huge impact on your success in buying self-storage facilities.

Many of today’s self-storage investors think that any product they put out there will be winner. They think that no matter how they treat the customer, they’ll come back or keep paying. But this is bad thinking and is already proven to be wrong in many markets with declining occupancy and rents. So what do customers really want?

Even though we’re in a new age, there are still some basic theories about investing that hold true for self-storage today as well as they did decades ago. But what are these old-fashioned words of wisdom? In this episode of the Self-Storage University podcast we’re going to look at some of the best classic thoughts and sayings and see how they are as relevant today if you want to be a smart storage investor.

There’s no great success in simply buying a self-storage facility. Any idiot that can write the check for the down payment can accomplish that. Instead, the real trick to buying a storage property is to make money with it.

Financing is the lever that allows you to greatly multiply your financial returns. So what are the options in obtaining debt for a self-storage facility? In this episode we’re going to discuss the basic types of financing available today for storage properties as well as the positives and negatives for each variety as well as how to negotiate a better deal with your lender.

Like any form of real estate, self-storage has its own unique boundaries on performance. So what are those? And where did those calculations come from? In this episode we’re going to review the basic metrics for storage investing and define those basic terms. If you want to know what your return on investment can be from buying a storage facility, then here it is.

Millions of Americans have storage units. But most of them never think about this type of real estate as investments. Nevertheless, there is a very successful niche in investing in the American desire for materialism and storing their possessions. In this episode we’re going to review the key factors that make self-storage investing an attractive sector for your investment dollars.