How Do You Start Reaching Out to Self-Storage Owners?

There are a lot of ways that you can reach out to the owners of a self-storage facility. You can pick up the phone and call them and have a conversation. You can send a letter and introduce yourself. You can knock on their door and say hello. You can drop by the self-storage facility and talk to them. What you need to remember is that most of these self-storage facilities are not for sale today. Your main goal right now is to build a relationship with the owners. This way, when they decide that they are ready to sell, you are the first person that they will think of. When the circumstances are right, you want them to sell the property to you.

There are a lot of reasons why someone decides to sell their self-storage facility. However, you can’t predict when that is going to happen. They may decide that they are ready to retire. They may have health problems or be facing a divorce. They may have taken out a loan for capital expenditures or they may have a balloon payment due, and they are unable to obtain new financing. No matter what their reason, you need to make sure that they know that you are interested in buying the property whenever they are interested in selling.

There are going to be a lot of sellers who want top dollar for their property because the walls are lined with gold. They are emotionally attached to the property, and they cannot separate that attachment from the reality of the price. There are two ways to handle this. You can walk away because they are unrealistic, or you can involve a third party. Sometimes, it requires involving a Realtor to help a seller understand how price is determined. Once they understand that net operating income and the market determine the value of the property, they are more likely to negotiate.

You are looking for properties that have an upside potential. Some sellers will not allow you to buy their property at enough of a discount to get an upside potential. This means that you won’t be able to buy every property that you find. You will get calls from sellers who want to sell you their property, but you don’t actually want to buy the property at their price. Don’t overpay for a property. You can be creative, and you can look for ways to increase the value of the property by adding on or converting the parking lot into RV or Boat Storage. Don’t try to make a deal work that isn’t actually a good opportunity.

You need to make sure that you are consistent about staying in touch with self-storage owners so that you are in front of their mind when time and circumstances change enough that they want to sell. Make sure that you have a business plan in place. Make sure that you have identified the types of properties that you are willing to buy so that you don’t overpay for the property. As always, happy investing.