What to Do If Your Self-Storage Property is Failing!

There are times when your self-storage property doesn’t perform the way that you thought it would. When this happens, you have a few choices. You can give up and sell the property for a loss or you can make some changes. You never want to stay on the path that you are on. Nothing will change for the better if you don’t find a way to implement new strategies that will change the course you’re on.

The first thing that you want to look at is your manager. How much self-storage experience do they have? Do they need additional training and guidance so that they can help your property grow? What are they doing to market your facility? Are they advertising at all? Are they actually doing what you expect them to do or are they playing on their phone all day? If you have a bad manager, you will probably end up with low occupancy rates. Look at your systems. Do you have the right systems in place to help your manager be successful. If you have done your training, provided the systems, and you are not getting the results you want, you may need to find a new manager.

The next thing that you need to look at is your advertising. Your property cannot get new renters if no one knows that you exist. There are too many self-storage facilities out there who are advertising and marketing and running new client specials. If you aren’t out there marketing to, people who need self-storage are going to go to someone who is marketing. Where are you marketing? Is your marketing going to reach your target audience? The number one place that people look for a self-storage facility is Google. If you don’t appear on the first page of Google, you are not in business as far as the consumer is concerned. You need to do everything you can to make sure that you are on the front page. If you don’t know how to do that, we do.

As part of your advertising, you need to make sure that your online presence is memorable. When you are creating your marketing, look at what your competition is doing. Where are they advertising? What are they saying? What does it look like? Now how can you improve on what they are doing? Take what they have done and make it better, this way you will stand out. You also need to make sure that your website is very user friendly. If it isn’t easy to navigate, your potential renter is going to go to the next website. They should be able to reserve a unit online and then arrive at your facility to meet with your manager to review the contract and the unit.

The next thing that you need to look at is the appearance of your facility. Does it look like it is safe and secure, or does it look like it should be moved to the scariest part of the ghetto? If you don’t care about the condition of your self-storage facility, your tenants are going to wonder if you can keep their belongings safe and secure. If you look old and run down or hard to get in and out of, your renter is probably going to find a different self-storage facility to rent from.

Finally, you need to look at your pricing. If you have unrealistic pricing expectations, no one is going to rent from you. When you buy your property, you need to evaluate what the market is currently charging for rent. If you are significantly higher than what everyone else is charging, renters are going to go elsewhere first. In some markets, there are owners who have had their properties forever and they have never raised the rent. Properties like this are hard on the self-storage market. Look at the properties that are within 3 miles of your property. What are they charging for a unit? Then look at your property. How does it compare to theirs? Are you in as great a location? Do you look as good? Are you easy to access? If you are, then you should be able to charge comparable rents.

If you are overpriced, then you are going to drive away potential renters. This will have devastating effects on your bottom line. Since the value of your property is determined by your net operating income, you need to make sure that you keep your property occupancy rates as high as possible. This way, when it is time to refinance, you won’t be fighting with the bank over the value of the property.

When your property is underperforming, don’t wait until it is to late. Look at your manager, make sure that they are performing to your expectations. Evaluate your rents to make sure that you are competitive and do everything you can to improve your marketing so that you can turn around the property. As always, happy investing.