Archive for February, 2012

Even though self storage is a very lucrative business that does not mean that everyone is able to do it. Not everyone should just invest all of their hard earned money or their borrowed money into self storage. Why you may ask? There are several reasons that we will discuss in this blog, some of which are just opinions while others are fact. You can always take your pick. When thinking about investing into self storage you really have to do your homework.

First of all, why are you investing into self storage? Do you think that it is ubercool to sell people and empty space? Do you believe that you are able to help people satisfy their needs and come to their rescue when they are evicted out of their homes? Whatever your reason to want to invest and be a part of the self storage world, make sure that is a sound one. You do not want to invest that much money into the brand only to flake out on it later. When you get in to self storage you have to put your whole effort into it and not get discouraged if you are not making the money that you sought after right away.

Self storage is not something that you can just dump a bunch of money into and hope for a happy result. Self storage planning and owning is hard work and your time is money when you are an owner in self storage. If you are just getting into the business, many will tell you that you are too late. What they mean by that is many feel that the market is saturated and there are to  many hands in the pot. So if you put a self storage facility out there, you might not hit all of your occupancy goals because the self storage facility down the street is trying to capture the same market you are. This is business is just like any other business when it comes down to trying to capture the market share.

If you do not know anything about self storage or even real estate, you better make sure you have someone on your team that does. The moment that you purchase land and begin to build and you have not chosen the right cost for the real estate in conjunction with what the projected profit will be, you will be in a hole financially quickly. Just like a house, if you do not make a payment, you house will eventually be taken away. The first couple of months might not be what you expected and could very well be slow. Make sure that you think about the area in which you want to put a self storage facility on before you break ground. Some people found it a very good idea to purchase a facility that is already established and ready to go. They feel they can restore that store to its former glory. At least they feel they can turn a profit.

Be smart. If you really believe that you can open up a shoe store in a mall that has ten other shoe stores on the same wing and make money, you are mistaken. The same goes for self storage. If you are looking to put your facility in a market that has so many other facilities, think again. You are going to put so much effort into lowering prices, shopping your competition, making upgrades to your facility that might not be needed if you were in a different area of town. You can literally drive yourself crazy if you are trying to figure out how to close the doors of your competition. Be smart, they are trying to do the same to you. If you are going to invest in a self storage facility, do your homework. Really think about it. Many believe there are too many storage facilities out there, maybe they are right.

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.