hi alllooking for a reliable finished carpenter in Shenandoah Valley, VA area (Harrisonburg, Front Royal, Luray) area. we're almost done rehabbing a house for STR and are working with vintage heartwood pine barnwood for window trim and flooring. thanks for any references.

BUT the other factors more than cancel this out.foreclosures, downsizing homes, more divorce etc during recessions actually creates NET more demand.. you will have some saying i cant afford my storage unit and leaving, but you have MORE move ins from dislocation etc.DENSITYthis plays on the trend of smaller units. in order to get more affordable rents, developers are producing smaller unit sizes.. thus where the hell you gonna put your mountain bike or kayak, or all the millenial faux outdoorsy crap.. all the millenials 25 green sweaters during the summer.the trend is smaller units, less cluttered, and these urban storage units fit the bill well. so more density and smaller homes, will create more demand to store stuff from regular renters, than there used to be.Another factor is in general, storage is more acceptable. the newer urban developments are safer, well lit, hell sometimes they have coffee shops below them and restaurants.. so they have become a bigger part of peoples lives.they are more accepted. hell, when my wife suggest a few years back we should get a unit, i knew the tipping point had been reached. its become more "normal" for people to have storage unit.If you look at the data, self storage weathered the great recession better than most any assets, MHP included which was #2. that is why financing has become much better on SS, and to the point BETTER than MHP for sure. 90% LTV!!!

The numbers they present to you tend to be cash faux.

If you think you need to be pet friendly to keep tenants I'd say go for a laminate/faux wood floor that has pieces that click together.

Overvalued right now in my opinion is multifamily.There are some CMBS loans coming due but that is a small part of the market from the vintage loans.  

Our manager at the job I used to work when I "traded my time for money" had a household income of probably $350,000-$400,000 per year --- she couldn't afford to go out and buy lunch two days before payday because she didn't have ANY money - she was flat broke - they spent every penny they made on cars, jewelry, clothes, purses, suits, watches, eating at expensive restaurants, etcAs you see, every persons situation is different - as @Ryan Cameron said, the first step is to work on getting your expenses under control- that makes your goal much more obtainable in a shorter time.I had a good job with great benefits, but I had other interests that I wanted to pursue - and I hated going to work every day - so I started working on leaving my 9-5 job - between adding income with rental property and reducing my monthly expenses, within a few years, I was able to leave a job I hated and spend my time doing whatever I wanted- As Thomas S. mentioned, a job is nothing more than trading our time for money - well, Time is the most valuable asset I have - and I wasn't willing to give it away so cheaply - my Time is more valuable than money - You see, it doesn't work in reverse, I can't buy more Time, I can't inherit more Time --- money is easy to acquire, our time is limited. 

It amazes me that people are so afraid of the PTB that they won't call a cell phone, or talk to people about (100%) 'rigged' politics, or (mind controlling) religion, or why ALL 'media' is 'faux news' now, for e.g. 

So basically a professional seller of coins/baseball cards/cars/trinkets/gold/jewelry is demanding that you do not have your own professional to evaluate the deal?

I would echo the advice to buy a quality used car in the 5-10k range and invest the rest of the money.As a side note, anytime you see lower than 5% interest on consumer products like cars, jewelry, solar panels, whatever... it is always done by the retailer increasing the price and using that money to buy down the interest rate.

However, you can find neighborhood similar vintage(+/- 5 years), GLA (probably +/- 150 to 200 sf), Urban( .25-5 mile direct distance) with similar permitted (recorded) sold comp.