My Self-Storage Investment Journey - Follow Along!

[amcg88]

Hello, I'm Alex, and I've decided to document my self-storage facility investing journey. I have years of experience from the land investing space and am now looking to transition into purchasing self-storage facilities. Through this progress thread, I'll be sharing my experiences, challenges, and successes as I navigate the market, scout potential locations, and work toward purchasing my first self-storage facility. My hope is that this thread will not only keep me accountable but also serve as a valuable resource for others looking to embark on a similar journey. Thanks for reading!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Hello, I'm Alex, and I've decided to document my self-storage facility investing journey. I have years of experience from the land investing space and am now looking to transition into purchasing self-storage facilities. Through this progress thread, I'll be sharing my experiences, challenges, and successes as I navigate the market, scout potential locations, and work toward purchasing my first self-storage facility. My hope is that this thread will not only keep me accountable but also serve as a valuable resource for others looking to embark on a similar journey. Thanks for reading!

@tpuffer I believe owns self-storage facilities, perhaps he can chime in.

 

[amcg88]

@tpuffer I believe owns self-storage facilities, perhaps he can chime in.

I actually know Tim haha.

 

[amcg88]

I have been trying to find all the self storage facilities by county for eastern PA. I have been going county by county. In each county I gather a sample of the self storage facilities to determine the relevant zoning codes. From there I pull all the facilities in the county with those zoning codes. I then google each address to determine if there is a self storage facility there (and not a warehouse, combo office, vacant lot, or something else). This became a huge pain in the a$$ this week due to the large volume of addresses to manually look through. So I wrote a python script to create a google maps image for each address. Now I can quickly scroll through the image files to find the self storage facilities and then mark them if they are of interest to me.

 

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[amcg88]

I direct mailed 90 facilities this week, 13/38 target counties. Also, listed out what I want to cover in the initial seller calls.

 

[amcg88]

I've been very sick and can't do anything else so I have been working through my list of counties, I will likely finish this week. After that, I will likely move onto the 2nd strategy (calling the facilities directly) and figuring out the rest of the steps to purchase.

 

[amcg88]

I finished my 38 county list. There were some counties where I couldn't find facilities or some of the codes were too broad so I just skipped them for now. Meaning, I missed some facilities but I think I got >80% of the actual total. I am going to direct mail those facilities like tomorrow.

 

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[amcg88]

I ordered the mailer for the remaining 62 facilities yday. Moving onto calling those facilities I mailed a month ago.

 

[amcg88]

I am transcribing the course I bought's videos and summarizing them with chatgpt today. I am too lazy to watch them all again as I work on the next steps of the process

 

[amcg88]

Despite not enjoying talking on the phone, I made my first two follow up calls today. I left one voicemail and then another's voicemail box was full so I sent them an email.

 

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[amcg88]

I follow up called three facilities today (I mailed them last month). I talked to two people (both not interested) and left one voicemail.

 

[amcg88]

I follow up called five facilities today. Talked to 2 folks (not interested), left 2 voicemails, and 1 voicemail box was not setup yet.

 

[amcg88]

I shifted tactics from calling the facilities' phone numbers to looking up the owner information on Spokeo and calling them directly. I called 6 owners today and left 5 voicemails. I could not reach 1 person via the phone or emails that Spokeo provided.

 

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[amcg88]

I follow up called 9 owners today. I left 6 voicemails, sent 2 emails where phone # wasn't working, and talked to 1 owner. The owner was not interested and stated she received 15 buyer letters in the past two weeks which is crazy to me (too many prospective investors?). Hopefully I can differentiate myself from others through my python based facility search and owner calls.

 

[amcg88]

I contacted 11 facility owners today. I left several voicemails and sent some emails when the phone #'s I had didn't work. I talked to one owner who said his property is currently under contract to be sold (aka too late). I said to reach out if anything changed with that.

I am almost done calling my initial list of facilities I mailed in April. My first batch of May letters should be arriving in folks' mailboxes now. So I will call them next.

 

[amcg88]

I have been building my about me website for potential sellers over the long weekend. I plan on resuming the owner calls tomorrow.

 

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[amcg88]

I follow up called 7 facilities from the mailer sent ~2 weeks ago. I talked to two owners. One owner hung up on me after I gave my intro spiel after repeating "do not call list, do not call list" and another owner was not interested. I did a mix of voicemails and emails to the others.

 

[WJK]

I read your thread. I'm a RE investor. I have some questions for you.

1. Why are making the move from land to storage units? What attracted you to that type of investment?

2. Do the storage unit owners have an association in that area? If they do, it might be a jumping-off platform to make contacts.

3. Do you have anyone in the area that performs services that are specific to storage units? Can you make nice with the people who perform those services? Can you also start a business that performs a service for them to get your foot in the door?

4. Can you build your own set of units or convert a building into storage units? (Our Lowe's store closed here. The Uhaul company bought it and converted it to climate-controlled self-storage units. They got a bunch of ready-made parking areas and warehouse space in the purchase.)

5. Can you start a hard money company that finances storage unit facilities? That would be another way to get your nose under the tent.

6. Is there a broker in your area that specializes in this type of investment property? Most brokers specialize, and you need to get to know who are movers and shakers in that segment of the market.

 

[amcg88]

I read your thread. I'm a RE investor. I have some questions for you.

1. Why are making the move from land to storage units? What attracted you to that type of investment?

2. Do the storage unit owners have an association in that area? If they do, it might be a jumping-off platform to make contacts.

3. Do you have anyone in the area that performs services that are specific to storage units? Can you make nice with the people who perform those services? Can you also start a business that performs a service for them to get your foot in the door?

4. Can you build your own set of units or convert a building into storage units? (Our Lowe's store closed here. The Uhaul company bought it and converted it to climate-controlled self-storage units. They got a bunch of ready-made parking areas and warehouse space in the purchase.)

5. Can you start a hard money company that finances storage unit facilities? That would be another way to get your nose under the tent.

6. Is there a broker in your area that specializes in this type of investment property? Most brokers specialize, and you need to get to know who are movers and shakers in that segment of the market.

1. I wasn't able to make land flipping work in a really scalable way with different strategies over several years. I like that storage is conceptually simple, deals with larger amounts of money, and is still within the real estate industry with which I have a little familiarity.
2. I believe they do, I will look into that.
3. I am sure there are different companies that provide management services, design and build units, etc. I could contact them but I am primarily looking to buy and run a facility, so I guess it would be queuing them up if I need their services way down the line. As far as starting such a company, I don't have enough knowledge yet to see the service opportunities.
4. I could do that, but I have no experience so I didn't want to take on something riskier at this point in time.
5. I could do that also, but I don't have enough money lol
6. Yes, I am planning to reach out to more to get access to their deal flow. I have looked at some broker deals and they are all poop so far.

 

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[WJK]

1. I wasn't able to make land flipping work in a really scalable way with different strategies over several years. I like that storage is conceptually simple, deals with larger amounts of money, and is still within the real estate industry with which I have a little familiarity.
2. I believe they do, I will look into that.
3. I am sure there are different companies that provide management services, design and build units, etc. I could contact them but I am primarily looking to buy and run a facility, so I guess it would be queuing them up if I need their services way down the line. As far as starting such a company, I don't have enough knowledge yet to see the service opportunities.
4. I could do that, but I have no experience so I didn't want to take on something riskier at this point in time.
5. I could do that also, but I don't have enough money lol
6. Yes, I am planning to reach out to more to get access to their deal flow. I have looked at some broker deals and they are all poop so far.

I was just trying to get you to look outside the box. There are a lot of ways to skin this cat. In order to be successful, you must immerse yourself in that segment of the business. I would for sure make friends with all the brokers. I'd want to be the first person they call when they get a deal. Some properties sell without being officially listed. And hot deals never make it to the MLS.

Another place to look is a local 1031 trading group. Those guys trade properties for the fun of it sometimes. And they come up with some pretty wild deals on a whole range of properties. You might end up being the third leg in a deal where you don't have something in the actual trade. I love to listen to them as they talk through their deals.

I think the biggest change I've seen concerning storage units is that the auctions for abandoned units are now done online rather than in person like on the TV shows. It's amazing what people leave behind! You know, you can bid too or set up a deal with the renter. I've traded rent for some really cool stuff, services, or labor.

We have a guy up the road from us who deals in used equipment and used stuff. He goes to all of the auctions around town. And another guy, who had the second-hand store for years, got a lot of his items from estate sales and abandoned items. In order to be successful in the storage business, you may need to learn a lot about the market for second-hand goods. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Or, here's another idea since you're an old land guy. My business partner, when I was young and wet behind the ears, had this idea that marries land and storage. He wanted to put a complex of Conexs on commercial corners to rent as storage. It was a way to hold the land and get an income from it during the holding period. Then when the land value went up and he sold, he could move his Conex complex to the next commercial corner to do it again. It was a plan for portable storage units.

 

[amcg88]

I was just trying to get you to look outside the box. There are a lot of ways to skin this cat. In order to be successful, you must immerse yourself in that segment of the business. I would for sure make friends with all the brokers. I'd want to be the first person they call when they get a deal. Some properties sell without being officially listed. And hot deals never make it to the MLS.

Another place to look is a local 1031 trading group. Those guys trade properties for the fun of it sometimes. And they come up with some pretty wild deals on a whole range of properties. You might end up being the third leg in a deal where you don't have something in the actual trade. I love to listen to them as they talk through their deals.

I think the biggest change I've seen concerning storage units is that the auctions for abandoned units are now done online rather than in person like on the TV shows. It's amazing what people leave behind! You know, you can bid too or set up a deal with the renter. I've traded rent for some really cool stuff, services, or labor.

We have a guy up the road from us who deals in used equipment and used stuff. He goes to all of the auctions around town. And another guy, who had the second-hand store for years, got a lot of his items from estate sales and abandoned items. In order to be successful in the storage business, you may need to learn a lot about the market for second-hand goods. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Or, here's another idea since you're an old land guy. My business partner, when I was young and wet behind the ears, had this idea that marries land and storage. He wanted to put a complex of Conexs on commercial corners to rent as storage. It was a way to hold the land and get an income from it during the holding period. Then when the land value went up and he sold, he could move his Conex complex to the next commercial corner to do it again. It was a plan for portable storage units.

Thank you, it's all good advice, I appreciate it.

Today I follow up called 8 owners. No one picked up, so I just left voicemails.

 

[WJK]

Thank you, it's all good advice, I appreciate it.

Today I follow up called 8 owners. No one picked up, so I just left voicemails.

Here's another idea. A guy down the road from me is renting Conex units to people. He delivers them to the renter's property on his roll-off truck. He charges monthly rent. That creates a rent-to-buy opportunity or a chance for him to sell his Conex units as a side business. Which means he can finance his units and gain an interest income stream. If I were going to do something like him, I'd know that I must have a unique ID mark on each Conex to establish my ownership. And REALLY good paperwork. You would at times become a repo man since they are personal property. As I said, there are a lot of ways to skin this cat...

 

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[ZackerySprague]

Hello, I'm Alex, and I've decided to document my self-storage facility investing journey. I have years of experience from the land investing space and am now looking to transition into purchasing self-storage facilities. Through this progress thread, I'll be sharing my experiences, challenges, and successes as I navigate the market, scout potential locations, and work toward purchasing my first self-storage facility. My hope is that this thread will not only keep me accountable but also serve as a valuable resource for others looking to embark on a similar journey. Thanks for reading!

Good luck partner, ^^. You can do it!

 

[amcg88]

Here's another idea. A guy down the road from me is renting Conex units to people. He delivers them to the renter's property on his roll-off truck. He charges monthly rent. That creates a rent-to-buy opportunity or a chance for him to sell his Conex units as a side business. Which means he can finance his units and gain an interest income stream. If I were going to do something like him, I'd know that I must have a unique ID mark on each Conex to establish my ownership. And REALLY good paperwork. You would at times become a repo man since they are personal property. As I said, there are a lot of ways to skin this cat...

Yeah definitely many ways to creatively approach this.

Today I follow up called 10 facilities. I left a message for a facility owner with an actual, real life human. Another owner told me via text he's not interested in selling. I left voicemails/sent emails for the rest.

I also signed up for a couple mailing lists after contacting some brokers with Crexi listings.

 

[WJK]

Yeah definitely many ways to creatively approach this.

Today I follow up called 10 facilities. I left a message for a facility owner with an actual, real life human. Another owner told me via text he's not interested in selling. I left voicemails/sent emails for the rest.

I also signed up for a couple mailing lists after contacting some brokers with Crexi listings.

Is anyone writing a newsletter or has a blog about this subject? Can you contribute to get your name out there? Or run some ads with them?

 

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[amcg88]

Is anyone writing a newsletter or has a blog about this subject? Can you contribute to get your name out there? Or run some ads with them?

Also good ideas, thank you.

Today I follow up called 11 facilities. I spoke with one owner who was not interested and told me to add him to my "do not call" list . I left voicemails and sent emails for the rest of the folks.

I also contacted a couple other brokers to get on their mailing lists.

 

[WJK]

When I was working as RE broker, I knew it took 5 to 8 contacts before my prospects knew my name and why I was contacting them. I could call them, write them, see them, send them a personal thank you note, and do it all again before they remembered me. The person you talked to could get a personal, handwritten thank you note for simply talking to you.

When they say no, then ask if they of anyone else with storage units who want to sell. Then give them a card "in case they think of anyone." It will take the pressure off of them selling.

Have you started collecting contracts and paperwork that the storage people are using at their facilities? Have you made a checklist of the paperwork you will need? You could make one and copyright it. (Send a copy to yourself certified in a sealed envelope and put it into your file to show your work and the date of that work.) then you could give it out to people. Of course, you would put your name and phone number on it. You can even give them permission to copy it for their personal use. It would be an inexpensive hand-out.

I always try to have something around to give out. At my self-service Laundromat, I have small, cheap lollipops. I hand them out liberally to customers while saying, "Here's your prize for showing up today." Everyone smiles and laughs at my little gift and silly joke.

 

[amcg88]

When I was working as RE broker, I knew it took 5 to 8 contacts before my prospects knew my name and why I was contacting them. I could call them, write them, see them, send them a personal thank you note, and do it all again before they remembered me. The person you talked to could get a personal, handwritten thank you note for simply talking to you.

When they say no, then ask if they of anyone else with storage units who want to sell. Then give them a card "in case they think of anyone." It will take the pressure off of them selling.

Have you started collecting contracts and paperwork that the storage people are using at their facilities? Have you made a checklist of the paperwork you will need? You could make one and copyright it. (Send a copy to yourself certified in a sealed envelope and put it into your file to show your work and the date of that work.) then you could give it out to people. Of course, you would put your name and phone number on it. You can even give them permission to copy it for their personal use. It would be an inexpensive hand-out.

I always try to have something around to give out. At my self-service Laundromat, I have small, cheap lollipops. I hand them out liberally to customers while saying, "Here's your prize for showing up today." Everyone smiles and laughs at my little gift and silly joke.

Yeah it's going to take some time and a number of touchpoints with these owners. I realize I am just a random, forgettable blip in their day to day life. I have a bunch of paperwork from the course I took.

 

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[WJK]

Yeah it's going to take some time and a number of touchpoints with these owners. I realize I am just a random, forgettable blip in their day to day life. I have a bunch of paperwork from the course I took.

Organize the paperwork. Think about what an owner/manager would need. How can you help?

Yesterday I went to the PO to pick up my mail. I had a real prize in my mail drawer.

I'm changing insurance agents. The last one bought the agency from my long-time agent. The new guys treated me like a potted plant that they didn't want to water. Every phone call or visit I made to them ended with me feeling disrespected. It took me a couple of years to find a new agency that I liked. Then I've been working on this actual move for a year as the different policies came due. I only have one liability policy left to change over this coming November.

In my mail, I found a package from my new agent. It contained a notebook with my trust's name in big letters on the front. Inside were copies of all of my policies, neatly filed with individual, labeled tabs. I instantly knew I had hired the right agent and the right company to take care of me. And I texted Annie, my agent, a thank you the minute I opened her package.

 

[amcg88]

Organize the paperwork. Think about what an owner/manager would need. How can you help?

Yesterday I went to the PO to pick up my mail. I had a real prize in my mail drawer.

I'm changing insurance agents. The last one bought the agency from my long-time agent. The new guys treated me like a potted plant that they didn't want to water. Every phone call or visit I made to them ended with me feeling disrespected. It took me a couple of years to find a new agency that I liked. Then I've been working on this actual move for a year as the different policies came due. I only have one liability policy left to change over this coming November.

In my mail, I found a package from my new agent. It contained a notebook with my trust's name in big letters on the front. Inside were copies of all of my policies, neatly filed with individual, labeled tabs. I instantly knew I had hired the right agent and the right company to take care of me. And I texted Annie, my agent, a thank you the minute I opened her package.

That's good service.

I have to think more about how I can best help them, aside from offering to buy their facility.

Today I follow up called seven owners (3 short of my daily goal, my excuse being that I have to catch a flight for work soon), two told me they were not interested in selling. I left voicemails for the rest. I also emailed more brokers to get me on their mailing lists.