How do you negotiate with owners so they want to sell to you?

Often when you work with self-storage owners, they feel like it is them against you. They feel like you are the big bad investor who is trying to take advantage of them. Your job is to show them that you are actually there to try and help them.

There are a few different types of self-storage sellers. There are the sellers who need to sell the property because they have been unable to make the facility profitable. There are the sellers who are ready to retire and so they want to sell off their baby. There are the seller who inherited the property and don’t want it and finally, there are the investors who bought the property, fixed it up and are now trying to sell it for top dollar. You need to know which seller you are working with before you even make an offer.

If you are working with another investor, you are probably not going to be able to get the kind of discount that you want. You make your money when you buy the property. If you don’t get a discount, then you won’t be able to easily sell the property if you run into a problem. You also won’t be able to sell it for a profit after you have fixed it up if you overpaid for it. You need to find a nice balance.

When you are working with a seller who can’t make the self-storage facility profitable, then it is easier to show them that you are there to take it off of their hands. You are willing to purchase that bad deal from them in spite of the bad gross income. You are willing to purchase it even though it is in terrible condition. It is easy to show these sellers that you are there to help.

However, when someone is selling off their “baby” it can be a little trickier to do. With these types of sellers, you need to show them that you are going to take care of the property. You need to show them what plans you have for the facility so they can see what you are going to help it become. Often this gets them excited about what you are going to do. If they can catch the vision of how you are going to take it to the next level, they may not mind putting their facility into your capable hands.

When someone inherits the property but either doesn’t know how to run the facility or doesn’t want to run the business, this is another time where you can come in and show them what a great opportunity it is for them to work with you. In these situations, they typically want to close quickly because they just want to cash out of the deal. Try to make your offer as tight as possible, closing as quickly as possible.

Don’t be afraid to make offers, even if they are for less than asking price. You simply need to be able to explain your offer or present it in a way that the seller will understand why you made the offer. Self-storage is a great business to be in. Don’t wait to make offers, as always, happy investing.