Reading your story was good motivation -- I'm at the point where I haven't bought anything, but am brokering self storage.

It's great to meet another person brokering deals and picking them up -- I work as an agent for a self storage broker in PA.

Self storage is an interesting beast unto itself.

We have been looking into SFR, multifamily buildings, self storage facilities, we are open to whatever will help us reach our goal. 

You also need to insure your contents in the unit, the loss use & loss of rents, and any other structures (detached garage or storage). 

What you can do is convert non livable space like carports, breezeways, storage areas, etc into livable space as long as you meet fire code (egress laws).

Currently, the basement is only about 10% occupied by main floor tenant storage.

Our financial advisors are very good and they don’t want to get close to either our farm ground or Self Storage and Subdivision business.  

You don’t ask Brad Pitt what it’s like to be ugly, you don’t ask the fat guy for weight loss advice, you don’t ask someone living pay check to pay check for financial advice and you don’t ask someone who’s lunch money is dependent on commissioning your wallet what you should invest in.

Stephen,I'm no expert on this, but I'd look up the PA laws on evictions from a storage unit.