Creating Your Business Plan – Focusing on Financing Properties!

When you are putting your business plan together, it is important to really focus on the how. How are you going to achieve the goals that you have set for your business? The first thing that you need to evaluate is your financial position. Are you in a position where you are going to be able to get the money that you need to be able to buy your properties? Do you have any experience with self-storage?

As you create your self-storage business plan you need to decide how you are going to start. If you are new to self-storage, you might decide that you want to start with a mentor or partner who has experience. Or this might be a good time to get some training or find someone that you can assign contracts to while you are getting your feet wet. The good thing about working with someone is that they will tell you exactly what to look for. They will tell you what pitfalls to avoid and what key areas to evaluate in the property before you purchase it. Working with a partner as you get experience is a great way to build up your own experience.

Financing your property is a critical component to success. You need to know how you are going to get the money. Who are you going to start talking to about self-storage? This is a great, stable investment. Start talking to potential partners. You might have to start out by building your business by receiving finder’s fees. You may be able to partner with more experienced self-storage investors because you have brought the deal to the table.

As you get more and more involved in the self-storage community, you will start to meet the key players in your area. Make sure that you get involved so that you get to know them. Find out what they are looking for. Talk to them about how they got started.

Finally, find out about the returns in your market. You need to know what you can offer on a property. You don’t want your offer to be so low that it will never get accepted because you have unrealistic expectations. However, you also don’t want to offer too much and then not be able to work with someone. Most importantly, keep building your business plan. As always, happy investing.