The 5 Rules of Thumb to Successfully Navigate Self-Storage-Negotiation

The second rule of thumb is the offer. You need to know how to negotiate and structure the offer. You need to know how to talk to the owners of the facility so that they are willing to sell to you instead of the last investor or the next investor who comes along. A lot of getting an offer accepted is in how you present yourself to the current owners of the property.

When you are dealing with mom and pop owners of existing self-storage facilities, you are dealing with people who may have had this property in their family a long time. They are “marrying off their baby.” They don’t want to sell it to someone who can’t take care of it or make it even better than it was. As a result, one of the important things that you need to do is show them that you can take care of their baby. Show them that you can take it to the next level the way that they would have if they had kept it.

Self-storage is a relationship-oriented business. Anytime that you are working with sellers, they need to know that you care about the project. If they have hopes and dreams for the property that are inline with what you intend to do anyway, show them that you can make those dreams come true.

The only way that you are going to find out what the current owners want is to ask them. Find out what is important to them, what do they want to have happen in the transaction. Get them talking about as much as possible so that you can give them as many of their wants as possible because you may not be able to make price a reality. However, if you can make everything else possible, they may not mind so much if you don’t have a full price offer.

Start talking to the owners of self-storage properties you have found. Find out what is important to them. Find out what they want to see in a transaction. Find out what they would like to do with the property if they were to keep it. Help them to realize that you are the best match for their “self-storage baby.” As always, happy investing.