Systems will Save your Self-Storage Facility Over the Long Run!!!

You want to implement replicable systems from the moment that you make the offer on your self-storage facility. This might mean that you are buying raw land, this might mean that you are buying a fixer upper, or you may be purchasing a mom and pop self-storage facility. No matter what type of self-storage facility you are buying, you need to start working on your property as soon as you know that it is yours.

For existing properties, you need to make sure that your welcome package is up to date and ready to be distributed. You want to get your advertising ready so that all you have to do is press go. You want to have your flags and now open signs already ordered and ready to go up. You want to be interviewing managers to make sure that they have time to give their 2 weeks’ notice.

For new construction, you need to start getting everything in place for your build job. We are going to spend the next few blogs talking about new construction.

Once you have your property, you also want to create systems. How do you rent a unit? It needs to be exactly the same way each time. You want to make sure that your manager does it in a way that you won’t be liable if they put their lock on the wrong unit. You don’t want to auction the wrong person’s belongings. How do you collect rents? How do you follow up with renters who are behind on their rent? If you have written systems in place, it is easy to train someone, and you are less likely to make a costly mistake.

You also need to have a system in place for raising rents. You should be raising rates at least annually if not every 9 months. You need to know what your rental increase system is going to be before you even close on the property. You are not going to be making large rate increases, but you do need to make sure that you are doing it. Find a software program that can help you with rental rate increases.

You also want to have a system in place for how you are going to raise the rents in terms of the number of units you are going to hit at one time. You don’t want to do a mass rental increase in case you have a mass exodus. You want to do a percentage of your units at a time.

Another reason to have your rental rate system in place is because it is easier to project your income. If you don’t raise rents, you aren’t going to improve your bottom line. By increasing your rents, you are increasing your profits and the therefore the value of your property.

If you don’t have systems in place, then you won’t know how to fix problems. You want to have trackable systems so that you can tweak them to make your self-storage facility run at its fullest potential. You have a beautiful asset, make sure that you are managing it so that it continues to thrive. As always, happy investing.