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.

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.

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.

You may have the seen the articles declaring that the riches person in Kentucky is Tamara Gustavson. Who is she? The daughter of B. Wayne Hughes, the founder of Public Storage, the largest owner of self-storage facilities in the world. Her 11% stake is now worth around $5.7 billion and growing. That also makes here the 144th richest person in the U.S.

If I was on a game show and I had to choose just six words that I could use to build a successful self-storage facility portfolio, here’s what I would select: “What Do I Have To Do …” So why are these six words so powerful in buying and operating storage properties? How can they give you the edge in being successful? There are many reasons.

The last time we had a major recession in the U.S. was the same year that the Toyota Corolla was the top-selling car and “Umbrella” was the top song: 2007. That was 13 years ago. Since that time, many investors became complacent and spoiled by an economy that was always going up. Then came the Covid-19 pandemic and everything changed.