Please give your opinion on this self storage facility

[Ben Lee]

Anyone investing or has invested in self storage units? Please give your opinion on this one:

Project Description

Self Storage Facility

Location: small city with population around 170,000 in US

Total S.F. =81,000

Total Acres=4.3

Year Build: 2005

Net Occupied Space - Today: 32,000 SF

Gross Income: $384,000

Operating Expenses: $250,000

Net Operating Income - Pre Debt: $134,000

Asking price: $2,500,000

Thanks in advance.

[Rich Weese]

Ben- All areas are NOT created equal. I purchased a 557 unit storage in swfl. Many of the #'s looked like yours. From that standpoint, looks good. Couple concerns.
The % occupied is WAY below current national avg. Why? New competition? Rents too high? Bad mgmt? Somrthing else?
Price per sq ft per month seems very high. Again, I'm only familiar with my area for comparisons.
I've owned a LOT of real estate. This is first storage . It is WAY different. Much like owning restaurant/hotel and MUCH more work with govt requirements etc.
I don't agree with Dans' comment on appraisal. I don't value them much. I also don't like assessed values. I want to buy storage for Land value or below in this market.
In Ft Myers, there is a Kelly Road Storage that I offered on and didn't buy for around 2 mil. The NOTE is currently up for sale at auction with a starting bid of 650K!! I don't know what it will go for, but I have the existing mgr ready to oversee it if someone buys it. I'd be interested in buying, but doing other stuff. Rich