@Chris Youssi I disagree that any of your top 3 will protect you from a major down turn.

But as I said, if you disagree with the expenses, add all expenses you think are missing.  

I disagree with most of the above.

@Lane Kawaoka and @Michael Wagner I am respectfully disagreeing with you on self storage being a passive investment at least in our experience.  

Its also within 30 minutes of Springfield, OH, which in itself is 3x larger than Troy Not disagreeing, but Ohio does not have public transit to speak of.

And that some will disagree with as well."1% rule" = monthly rent should be at least 1% of acquisition costs; for some, acquisition costs include all purchase related costs PLUS any repairs / improvements needed immediately upon purchase."2% rule" = monthly rent should be at least 2% of acquisition costs; this rule applies more so for lower rent amounts, roughly $500 (and lower), and can be difficult to meet this rule at higher rent amounts.

Lawyers notoriously disagree about asset protection, too.

I have to disagree with you on this one while I operate currently under my personal name and have an umbrella policy, the article you linked explained the benefits of not doing a LLC from the perspective of being a owner occupant.

We have a lead from a direct mail campaign where we think the seller is asking well below market price, but a realtor we have worked with seems to disagree, so we are looking for further advice.  

I disagree.