Self Storage- Remote Management

Just got back from Belize for a week. Two months ago, was in Sicily/Italy. During these trips we still managed our 7 Self Storage locations remotely from those trips. The following is a summary of key elements to achieving that successfully.

1. Self Service rental transactions. See our YouTube instructions on our website. We have intentionally chosen not to go with Kiosks.

2. Centralized phone system for instructions.

3. Move to autopay, debit/Credit card or ECH.

4. Security camera systems and gate control. If someone is locked in, we can remotely open the gate. We have a posted lock down time at the entrance and all new renters are informed.

5. Security motion sensors- cameras are only useful after the fact. We have a combination of camera motion sensors, road sensors and linear motion sensors (cover up to a 300-foot span). We have them sending a signal to my phone or to a call center who calls me, during set hours after close. This way we can wake up and look on the camera and call Law Enforcement as needed.

6. Facility support. Still have someone go through daily while you are away for any onsite support. Review units for any changes, trash pickup, etc.

7. Facility maintenance- it is winter where we are at, thus Snow removal and Ice or salt melt. We received 6 inches of snow while we were gone. This was removed timely the next day. Then we applied Salt on the driveway. We prep ahead and put bags of salt at the corners of buildings.

The below Facility management report is for one of our locations. It is in the rent-up phase, which takes more work than our other 6 locations that are at 95% occupancy.

A. 147 units out of 229 are rented.

B. 119 of the 147 units are on Autopay. 105 credit cards DR or CR. 14 Bank ECH. The other 28 units not on Autopay are either late payment and we have turned off or they have let us know they will be moving out and we have turned off autopay. For this location we only end up with about 2 auction units every 3 months. We lock up quick and force payment and back on to Autopay, quickly; or we increase their rates and tell them they have to leave unless on Autopay. You prefer Credit cards since there is instance notification of insufficient funds, whereas Bank ECH can take up to 5 days to be notified.

C. Insurance payments. 40 units or 27% are on insurance plans. It is key that our insurance provider is supported by our Self Storage management software and not a second system.

Sidenote, line 34 below, lost income from units not rented. We are well past Cashflow breakeven. Plus, we are paying principal building equity. Tons of upside, 1 contract at a time.

Improvements needed:

D. Increase occupancy. You have less support once your location is fully rented out.

E. Keep "Culling" your tenants. Anyone that keeps having payment issues we keep raising their rents and moving them out.

F. Returning Customer vortex. As your location "Matures" say around 3 years and 95% accuracy; you start getting return customers and recommended customers. Plus, you have steadily "Culled" out your bad customers. Thus, remote control gets easier.

1Total vacant rooms822Total occupied rooms1473Customers1474Total rooms at facility2295

6Total unique customers1347

8Total customers w/ email addresses on file1139Percentage of total customers w/ email addresses on file84.33%10

11Total facility rentable square feet36,700 SqFt12Total occupied square feet23,100 SqFt13Percentage of rooms occupied64.19%14Percentage of square feet occupied62.94%15

16Number of rooms on auto payment11917Percentage of rooms on auto payment80.95%18Credit Cards10519eChecks1420

21Cash2.44 %22Check10.12 %23Credit/Debit Card87.45 %24Corporate0.00%25Money Order0.00%26

27Number of rooms covered by SafeStor4028Percentage of rooms covered by SafeStor27.21%29Number of rooms with 100% burglary coverage4030

31Potential rent per square foot$0.6632Potential monthly rent$24,165.0133Monthly income at current occupancy rate$14,625.0134Monthly income lost from unrented rooms$9,540.00