However if you have enough reserves, 6mo or greater then I'd say chance it but a couple of missed payments from the tenants and you have to foot the payments out of your own pocket.I'm all for taking risks but I think you really need to evaluate the age of the major systems so you don't get hit with a bunch of cap ex all at once as well as your reserves. 

Lastly, the price point is still very cheap here in the sense that you can still find investment deals that hit the 1% rule for 120-180k!

Another reason is I would like to hit the ground running.

@Luke Spencer I am not on the management side but I can tell you it took 2+ years to fill 300 units at one of our facilities and the other just hit 300 units in 12/13 months so it really depends on the demographics, and local housing market trend, the more people moving in and out the higher the demand for storage.I think if you're looking at a saturated market then the upfront cash to turn the warehouse into self storage is not a good idea but then again, maybe those operators are on back roads ( low visibility ) and don't push google ads well.

I work with agents who know my buying criteria, and they bring deals to me before they hit the public market.

I would make sure that in that scenario you're hitting your ROI expectations.

Quote from @Patrick Albright: You could look at doing a 1031 Exchange to avoid any tax hits this year. there is no tax. 

@John Underwood hit the nail on the head.

I'm still figuring out how this site works, but I'll be in touch if I hit a wall!

Just because a property does not hit "1%" doesn't mean that it's not a good deal.