Is the Self-Storage market tapped out?

Careful


There are big players out there and they get the best spots and they’ll squeeze you with cheaper and better units.

You can go rural where there are no big guys in. Less money though.

The next 12-24 Months are predicted to be strong in storage though. With rates rising, Lots of homeowners becoming renters and they need to store their stuff.

Lots of people paying to store crap they should throw away

I currently rent two. The place is full.

Self Storage market is strong. On private deals you're looking at no less than 8%-9% returns.

My opinion is that a housing shortage (more renters) and the Covid "work from the home" model has created the demand.

A component of this is commercial land investment. These big players by the land throw up a relatively inexpensive per sq ft structure and are able to turn money quickly while continuing to acquire more property.

Used to be in LE. The amount of burglaries at these places is incredible, only surpassed by the absolute lack of give a F by the owners/employees.

I'm looking at you Lifelock.

If you're going to store anything valuable or sentimental, your best bet is something like PODS that doesn't have customer access at the facility. The only con is, if you want something, you'll have to pay to have the whole thing moved.

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I am a district manager for a company that does mostly self storage. We are full company wide pretty much and record profits. I do think it will weaken at some point though.

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Maybe you can help me with some info, off the record, of course .


About 10 or 15 yrs ago, i was renting a small apartment in a major metro.. in addition, i had a small Public Storage unit (3 x 5) that i rented for $49 per month.. had it for 4 or 5 yrs, price never went up.. a few years later, i rented a larger storage unit at another facility, and they had this policy of ‘reviewing’ the terms every 3 or 4 months and raising the price around $20 each time.. adds up greatly over time.. i have since found out that this is the new ‘industry standard’, and all the big players (CubeSmart, Extra Space, et al) all do it… My question for you- Since i may need another unit in the near future- is there ANY way for me to lock in a certain rate anywhere ? I dont mind paying someone to store my stuff, but not when i cant predict how high the rate will go over time … Thanks .

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lowest ive found so far is $175 a month.. any ideas are welcomed, i dont care what city it’s in as long as near an international airport .

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It's been a year or so since I checked, but in some of the southern DFW suburbs (Mansfield, Midlothian, Waxahachie) you could get covered RV storage parking for $110-$125 a month.

To answer question, you should try to check smaller mom and pop operations. Ask if you can lock in rate if you pay in advance, that sort of thing. They usually are not as aggressive as the big boys. Facilities are scared of rent raises when occupancy is low……… Not the case at the moment most places, but who knows…….worth a shot.

In this market everyone is full and the street rates (rate new tenants pay) have just gone up and up for the last 18 months or so. What this does is put facilities in a position where they either do huge rent raises once a year or a ton of smaller increases 3 or 4 times a year. If the tenant moves out, a new tenant is moving in the same day at the now even higher street rate anyway. Just is what it is.

Tons of storage around here, and it's freaking expensive. I think too many middle class people with stuffed full garages that are bad at math. I looked at getting one close to my house, the smallest one they had was $800 a year. Just to store a mower and some tools, would be cheaper for me to buy new every year, and sell on facebook at the end of summer.

If people ever do the math and figure out how much money they are wasting, the market is gonna crash hard around here.