All Forum Posts by: Shane W. Chapin

@Tyler Fry Congrats on deciding to start a self storage business. Full disclosure, I am also looking for my first facility so I hope you get better answers to your question from others with more (any) experience. Also, keep in mind that "it depends" seems to be an answer frequently given in response to general real estate questions. In this case, whether 450 additional units are too many or not, it depends on the supply and demand in the market you're looking at. A very general rule of thumb I have learned to use is a market should be bale to support about 7-8 square feet of storage per capita. So your 60,000 population should be able to support about 420,000 square feet of storage. How is the occupancy of the small climate controlled facility? If they have a waiting list, you have demand for climate controlled storage. If they are giving away space for nothing to fill units, you may not need climate control. Check out The Storage Rebellion for great info. Also The Self Storage Income Podcast with A.J. Osborne is fantastic. Best of luck to you in your journey. I hope this helped :)

Happy Wednesday All! My wife and I spent 2019 rehabbing our first single family rental property utilizing the BRRRR method. The property worked out well and we were able to refinance almost all of our cash out and still cash flow with great tenants. With that being said, due to local law changes and my investing goals, we have adjusted our investment strategy. We are located in Rochester, NY and are currently looking to purchase our first self storage facility. We are also open to facilities in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. At this point, we are looking for value add potential through expansion and/or operational upgrades. I have been looking at conversions as well but I think it may be best to have SOME income being generated during our turnaround. I want to give credit to The Storage Rebellion for having a fantastic and comprehensive training program that has helped me get to the point I am at now. Thanks for reading and I appreciate any feedback, suggestions or just reach out to chat. Have a great day!

Great questions here Natalie! It took us 8 1/2 months from start to finish on this property. I did try to get contractors in once I closed (3 actually) and for some reason, I never received any quotes so I am not sure how much more it would have cost but I am sure it would have been done a lot sooner. Going forward, I would like to be able to have a contractor get me an accurate rehab estimate up front so I could have planned better and maybe offered a little less for the house but in the long run, between the potential profit and the education we received, I still feel it was all worth it. I don't have the total selling cost's yet but my wife is a real estate agent and will be selling the house so I feel like I am saving a bit there. I guess there are things that we did that may not have been 100% necessary and could have saved a few bucks but in the end, I am trying to build a business and a reputation so we are proud of the product we have put in to the market.

@Kathryn Baker congrats on your deals Kathryn! I have family in Rockledge Florida so I have been looking to invest down there as well. Good luck with the multi family! Glad we connected.

@Glidden Rivera Im open to that as well. I’m going to PM if you don’t mind. Interested in hearing about what your doing here in Rochester while living down there.

@Glidden Rivera I have family in Rockledge and have been looking to invest in Florida myself. Do you invest in Orlando as well as Rochester? I’m glad we connected Glidden, sounds like we may be able to help each other out 👍🏻

@Ian C. Thank you! I had bought this with the intention of using the BRRRR but I really want to be in the larger multi family space. That combined with our current market, I felt selling was best for my goals in the long run.

@David Nacco Thank you for your service David. I am an Army Veteran myself so I know what it’s like to be away from home for a while. I’m on the hunt for the next opportunity and will keep you in mind once I find one that makes sense. Stay safe.

@Derek Carroll Thank you Derek! The house is in Gates. We did the work ourselves but did have a contractor lay the kitchen tile and another to finish the hardwoods. It was an amazing learning experience for sure.

@David Nacco What kind of properties are you looking to invest in up here? I’m willing to help if I can.