Fred Balke & Lin Bennett

Fred & Lin: How are things going since jumping into the self storage business? I may have overlooked it, but I don’t find any posts from either of you in the last couple of years.

Mike,

Things have slowed down in SS. I can see now that I bought at the top of the market, though I still think there was equity from day one. Occupancy is down and collections are more difficult in my markets, and I haven’t heard of any markets where this isn’t true. I’m experiencing the same thing with my apartments.

I’ve been looking at new acquisitions, though, and there appear to be some great opportunities. Properties that aren’t marketed aggressively and well to new tenants and don’t offer move-in incentives have suffered far more than those that have increased their marketing budgets and exposure to counteract the decreased demand. There are lots of “mom and pop” type facilities out there that are really struggling because they haven’t come to grips with the fact that they have to change the way they’ve been doing business. So there are some great turn-around properties with excellent locations out there. And I’m assured by the brokers I talk to that financing is available for self storage.

And there’s almost no new construction going on right now, so you don’t have to worry about competition entering the market for awhile.

I hope to close on a 600+ unit, 75,000 sq. ft. facility sometime in the next few months. Anybody who is interested in the details (current financing terms, occupancy trends, whatever) should feel free to give me a call. I enjoy talking about this stuff. 828-337-7730

Lin

Post Edited (07-14-10 16:34)