Is Self-Storage a Recession Proof Investment?

[Faith Hill]

For those who have investments in self-storage or other real estate categories touted as "recession proof," how are your investments performing right now?

One of the things that attracted my husband and I to invest in self-storage was that it was claimed to be recession proof with very low default rates.  Since March, I had been nervously watching the occupancy rates and percentage of late contracts of our self-storage facility anticipating some dramatic change due to the economy and coronavirus shutdowns.  Speed up to 3 months later and we are stable and in fact have the highest occupancy we've had since owning the property.  We also are seeing a low number of late contracts, and our one mobile home tenant has been keeping up with rent payments no problem.  We are grateful that the facility is still performing well but know that we may not be out of the woods yet as you hear reports of possible future waves of shutdowns, continued high unemployment, defaults, etc.  Still cautiously optimistic though.

Faith Hill