Using Self Storage As An Investment

With the boom of the Self Storage industry in the last few decades, more and more investors have been looking at our industry with dollar signs in their eyes! It’s a simple premise, similar to the passive income model of renting out apartments or homes to earn a bit of money and a lot of people are jumping on board.

Now what exactly do you need to be looking at in order to make investing in Self Storage worth it for you?

Do you want to own a facility of your own or would you rather invest in a self-storage real estate investment trusts (REITs)?
While the idea of owning a business of your own sounds like a swell idea, the road to riches with Self Storage is hardly so simple. As with any business, running it is a huge task on its own. There are a lot of day-to-day operations that need to be handled in addition to backend administration that needs to be handled by a capable manager. Some self storage facilities come as a franchise – meaning that there is a winning strategy behind the brand and it could be the difference in striking out on your own and trying to break in to an already saturated market.
But if you don’t have the capital to purchase your own facility and/or hire the staff to run it, there are other options available to give you a slice of the pie. Take a look at some publicly traded self storage investment products available on the market to give you your self-storage investment fix.
Maximise the potential of your investment by starting with good base features
There are options to (again) join a big conglomerate self storage brand and own a franchise so that you hit the ground running but if you’ve decided to run a Self Storage facility on your own, there are some things that you can do right from the bat to give yourself a headstart.
Look at the location of your facility! The surroundings and the demographics of the area around where you intend to build – this could mean the difference of who’s going to store with you and also whether there are any competitors near you. You’ll also need to look at hiring well-trained professionals to handle operations in your facility – managers and day to day staff to help with move-ins and not forgetting a good security system!
Be patient
Again, getting into self storage is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It will still require your hard work and attention for the first few months and probably years before it starts turning a profit. Pay attention to your sums and the accounts of your facility and also keep an eye out to the occupancy rates at your facility. Is there anything you can do to attract more people to store at your facility? Advertising and low rental rates play a part too!

Getting started in self storage is an exciting and fulfilling journey and because the model has been proven to work, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work for you too! But set some reasonable expectations for yourself and work hard at it! And don’t forget that there are always other options than going at it alone including taking out a franchise or looking at the publicly traded self storage investment assets on the market! Good luck and happy earning!