Hi Laura, I have done a few deals with family and friends, and the Most important piece to this deal is ensuring that whichever direction you move in is clearly explained to all parties, written down on paper (preferrably with an attorney) and signed off on by all parties. 

They have about 10-20 properties a piece (mostly in OC).

I am also interested in possibly working the STR piece at some point. 

Have you already locked in the acquisition/horizontal/vertical financing piece?

Once we start talking about bigger pieces of land that that woulud appear to developers (i.e. homebuilders or developers who do self storage, medical office, industrial, retail/commercial) then I usually can market to them without necessarily having to put on the market, because I know who the players are in SoCal, and that helps especially when seller doesn't want to do an exclusive listing, but will let you bring offers off market.But in general, for random pieces of land that aren't necessarily for the big developers/builders, you certainly need to put it on the market. 

I'd add three more pieces to the "why sell" puzzle.  1.

Joshua,I would offer two pieces of advice the first would be to consider a cash out refinance over a HELOC.

I know about Pace and Ryan Pineda, but don’t think those are the best fit for me at this time.PS- Youtube and BP has become my best friend, I have gone through the 7-day WREIN masterclass, I’m reading books, so I am knowledgeable in many areas, but trying to put all the pieces together is where I’m at.  

You can reach out to your local (state) Self Storage Association, peruse topics on You Tube, and certainly many, many forums here on Biggerpockets with quality folks & quality content.Regardless, of how you piece your learning together, everything (soup to nuts) for an Acquisition is either FINDING a lead, EVALUATING to determine if it's a deal, now you're in the PURCHASING phase, and after you close, now it's all about MANAGING.If you think that at times it makes more sense to build than to buy, then you'll want to learn about Development & Conversions.  

So I recently sent out some marketing pieces to all of the Antelope Valley.