I know what to do, I am just not sure how I can do it! 2 SELLER TALK

In our last blog we talked about just picking up the phone and calling self-storage property owners. We established that your first phone call is just to find out if they are interested in selling. In the first blog we talked about how to handle it if they do not want to sell today. Now we are going to talk about what to do if they are interested in selling their self-storage property.

If they do want to sell, then have a sheet of paper with you that already has a list of the next few questions. That way if you get excited and panic, you just have to look down and read the next question. You do want to sell, that is fantastic, do you have a price in mind that you would like to get for the property? If they do, how did they arrive at that price? If they do not, that’s o.k. Either way you are going to say, “I need to get a little more information in order to be able to make an educated offer. Tell me a little more about the property” … leave it an open ended question.

If they say, “What do you want to know?” then ask about the number of units, the average occupancy rate, would they be willing to give you copies of the rent rolls or tell you what the net operating income is so that you can make an offer on the property. This information helps you to determine what you can offer for the property. When could you tour the property? Once you have all this information, let them know that you will do more research and get back to them. You do not have to make an offer on the spot.

Once you have asked these questions and scheduled your time to see the property, hang up and do the happy dance. You can pass out at this point if you need to. The good news is that the seller never knew you were anxious. You were in control of the conversation the entire time. You might have been scared to death. You might have been tapping your foot or pacing, but they do not know that. They just hear you asking good questions about their self-storage property.

Talking to self-storage property owners is simply having a conversation. You will improve with practice, but you don’t need to be afraid of your first conversation. This is just an information gathering session. Once you have that information, then you can start processing the information into an offer. We will discuss this in our next blog. As Always, Happy Investing.