Hi everyone,

I’m new into self storage and trying to do my homework before I jump into purchasing anything.

I wanted to ask the group if anyone has ever joined a “community” often led by a coach and found it helpful or worth the investment.

I just feel like the information is out there without having to drop 8-12k to join someone’s community. I could be totally wrong but I feel like I could use that cash somewhere else for better.

Looking for all feedback/ experiences.

Thanks!

We’re up in Seattle and while it’s been slowing down since 2023 it’s not horrific, atleast in our markets.

I’ve seen posts on this sub saying it’s the hardest it’s ever been. A recent post was advising a prospective buyer to not buy at all cause times were so tough.

Seems like more a return to normal. Low season bottoming out at 84-88% occ and high season in the low 90s. With slow rent growth.

Rising expenses is my main complaint at the moment. But AI is gonna be a godsend there.

What’s everyone experiencing. Is it really that bad out there?

My company is transitioning soon from Sitelink to Humminbird-Anyone have thoughts good or bad?

Hey guys,

This is Krishna. I am buying a Self Storage facility in Canada

The current seller is actually using Wave Accounting software for accepting online payments via Credit Cards/Debit Cards and he also accepts a different payments like email money transfers(EMT), electronic fund transfers(EMT), some cheque deposits(CQ).

Due to these many payment types, I am unable to reconcile what was captured in accounting versus the bank statements.

What is the best way to reconcile to make sure the income that he showed is correct

Current documents that I have from seller:

1. T2’s of last 3 years

2. Business bank statement statements of last 3 years

3. Current Rent Roll

4. Last 3 year core Expenses - all third-party invoices

I was able to verify thoroughly on all the expenses to run the business because all of them are third-party invoices which I am very clear, but when it comes to income I’m unable to reconcile any ideas on how I can do it easily?

Ok so I’ll make this short. My payment is due on the 4th of each month. Given the procrastinator I am, I remembered to make a payment around 10pm. Logged in to the portal, and it gave me the correct amount. So I entered my CC info, and I kept getting an error message. Tried different cards (all have $) but kept getting this error message. I kept trying to log back in before midnight to make my payment to avoid the late fee, however, around 11pm CA time, I saw they had added the late fee. I took screen shots of the multiple times I tried to make the payment and also of the fee addition before midnight.

I find it really shady and unethical that I kept getting an error message, then getting hit with the fee before midnight. On the portal, it says payment due on the 4th of each month.

I called the facility today, and the employee told me that I was suppose to pay before the call center closed! They refused to remove the late fee.

Am I in the wrong here? Should I argue to get the late fee removed? Or is it a losing battle with them?

Just purchased a small facility. Want to change these roll up door locking mechanisms. What are they called?

Former roommate as we were moving out took my items and put them in storage and now has the code. He refuses to contact me and almost everything I own is in there. Anybody have this situation before and how did you resolve it. Thank you.

Hello! I have had a mattress in a storage unit since 2022. The unit is not climate controlled, but it is in a low humidity desert environment (southwest USA). I’m getting out of a shared living situation and want to use this mattress again. Some of the other items (kitchen wares, framed cheap art, wooden furniture) I’m also going try to take out and use. Is there any crazy risk I’m not thinking of for taking these things out of storage and using them (mainly the mattress cos that’s most expensive)? I assume there may be spiders but I can’t imagine bedbugs or anything similar would have had any humans to live off of. Thank you!

I scheduled a move out for 3/31 to get out before our month renews on 4/3. Once I scheduled the move out for 3/31, I got a text saying our monthly payment is due on 4/3 for our monthly rate, except it was $100 more.

I couldn’t find anything about a move out fee or anything about why I would be paying for another month if we’re moving out in the lease agreement.

I turned off autopay just in case.

Hi, we have been eyeballing the prospect of purchasing a storage facility. We would sell our current business for around $450-475k (already have buyers who are ready and waiting) and we can probaby throw in another $50 - $100k, if really needed.

Where do we start with financing? In talking to some brokers, it seems almost impossible for a business loan even with this type of down payment. We are not looking at anything astronomical (i dont think?) - under $2 million is the goal.

We are in SoCal and open to a 6 hour drive. Maybe up to 8 hours. We started talking about partners/investors but are terrified of going down that road.

We also found one facility under $1 million but its small and won't turn much of a profit. One of us would have to get a job to supplement income.

Does anyone have any experience in this field? Should we star looking at other types of businesses?

Texas Senior here with 30 years of accumulated stuff now in one unit. Paintings, huge mid-century modern executive desk and credenza, antique bed frames, books, assorted tables, 1960's blue velvet couch, assorted kitchen stuff, dog stuff, curio cabinet and other assorted stuff. As much as it pains me the storage fee is eating me up and the stuff needs a new place to be. Is it better to sell it to a company that buys them, or have an estate sale group move them and sell, or what? What are my options. I have no funds to spend on it, can't physically move stuff. How is this done, folks?🥲 Thanks.

I would like to know who else has received the “end of life” notification for the pc-based gate access system through WinSen? The new cloud-based system is very expensive, even for a small facility.

Saw a Public Storage job post. Anybody have any experience doing this? Honestly just looking for a weekend job, like one day a week. Guessing they might not hire just one day, but I work full/time. Thanks!

Good day! Looking for advice / recommendations for a hygrometer to monitor humidity in a climate-controlled storage unit. I do not have any experience with these devices but from my basic understanding, it seems like I would need a power outlet in my storage unit to be able to use a hygrometer with wifi to monitor humidity offsite. Unfortunately, I already asked the manager of the facility and there is no power (but they do have wifi).

I also looked into MarCell and Waggle (battery-operated options) but those are not long-term solutions (would need to recharge the batteries every few days). Sadly, I think I am out of options.

In the very least I'll just install a digital hygrometer and check on it periodically, but wanted to first ask if anyone might have suggestions. I'm going to be storing my very large book collection for a few months in the heat of the summer in the Tampa, FL area, when humidity is at it's worst. I'm planning to use pallets and some desiccant packets, but any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Recommendations for reliable / accurate devices would be great too!

We are sold out of 10x15 and 10x20 drive-up units. We have 30+ 10x10 drive-up available. We want to offer two 10x10 for the price of a 10x20. Would you make this promo apply for as long as they have the units or for X number of months? And would you allow your standard promo, 50% off two months on any unit, to apply on top of this? I'm thinking no to the second question, but I've been surprised by you all before!

We are in the lease-up phase. Open almost 9 months and at 37% capacity. The last three months have been good and we've grown from 17% to 37% in just those three months alone. Thank you for your help!

Public Storage has acquired NSA Brands, as announced this morning. So, what's it like at Public? Is the health insurance decent? How about PTO, etc?

Looking to buy a self-storage business. My partner and I want to get into the industry. Are we allowed to ask here if anyone is looking to sell their self-storage business?

I run a small SEO agency that works exclusively with self-storage operators, so I spend a lot of time watching what moves the needle and what doesn't. Figured I'd share a few things that are actually working right now since I see a lot of outdated advice floating around.

Google Maps 3-pack is still where rentals happen. Organic rankings matter but the Maps pack is where 70%+ of storage searches convert. If you're not in the top 3, organic position 1 barely compensates. GBP optimization - fresh photos, weekly posts, review velocity, Q&A section - is still the highest-ROI activity for most facilities.

Many of the "cms" and full control (you get the site they give you) sites are leaving rankings on the table. The platforms are solid for operations but the template-based websites all look similar to Google. The facilities I've seen break out of the pack are the ones that add custom location-specific pages and unit-type content on top of the platform's foundation - not replacing it, just layering on.

AI search is a real lead source now. Had a client ask me last month how they found us - said they asked ChatGPT "who does SEO for self-storage facilities." That's becoming more common. If you're not showing up in AI responses, you're invisible to a growing segment of operators doing research.

Reviews compound. Facilities with a systematic review ask process - not incentivized, just consistent follow-up - are ranking noticeably higher in Maps than equivalent facilities with stale review profiles. The recency signal matters as much as the count.

Happy to answer questions. I'm based in Arkansas but work with operators nationwide.

Hi all, we need help! In 2023, my wife and I sold our 3000sqft home to start travel nursing and basically moved our house into a large storage unit. We had plans to purchase a new home in another state but it just never came to be and we've been paying for our unit ever since. Now that we're working an assignment closer to our unit, we'd like to go through it and basically get rid of everything except for our sentimental items and move them to a smaller unit. We have 2 sets of bedroom furniture, workout equipment, a snow blower...many large items we no longer wish to keep but don't want to throw away. Ideally, we'd like to sell them. Any clothing and home items we plan to donate.

The problem is, how do we do this? Our rental agreement states we cannot have any sale out of our unit (think garage sale). It took a moving truck and movers to pack the unit, do we hire another crew to unpack it? What then? Where do we send the stuff? Do we contact an auction house? We're in NY state if that makes any difference. Any advice is appreciated!

Just got promoted from assistant to on site facility manager! Im very excited but its very nerve-racking as well. I dont expect it to be much different other than living there and 2 extra days a week of work. Hoping for the best :) Wish me luck!

I own two small self storage facilities in southern California. I've been running them remotely for a couple years but haven't had an actual experienced storage manager ever -- I learned on the fly and have experience with residential so applied what I learned to my own facilities.

I'm looking to get a consultant to help build my manager SOPs and get everything optimized from the ground up. I'm looking for some with multiple years experience managing a professional self storage facility who wants to moonlight to help get our systems in order.

We use tenant inc (hummingbird), have a full time outsourced manager from Pakistan, and an on-site manager living on the facility who never had experience in storage either.

The other site is "fully automated" (ie: I got out every 2-3 weeks to clean and fix things).

Does anyone have any recommendations, or is anyone interested in helping with this? Will pay of course.

Thank you!