January 2021

I was talking to a new investor who had not yet entered the Texas self-storage investment space, and he was primarily interested in distressed opportunities. And when we talk about distressed opportunities, we talk about properties that have been mismanaged for one reason or another, maybe something has happened. Either way, they are not making any money. We do not necessarily need them to be… Read More »What is the Replacement Cost of a Self Storage Facility

At Marcus & Millichap, we have a lot of brokers who specialize in different product types, whether it be hotels, retail strip centers, or apartment complexes. And they’ll come to me and say, “Why is self-storage so popular? And the main reason is that self-storage does pretty well, even when we’re in economic downturns. And if you think about it, it really makes sense because… Read More »Why Is Self Storage Stable in a Downturn

Let’s talk about due diligence. Let’s say someone’s found this piece of property and it’s a decent location and so forth. What would be the suggestion for someone who is looking for, and walk us through a process that you go through? Assuming that you’ve found a property that you think might be an attractive acquisition opportunity. The main thing to look at is the… Read More »What Should A Buyer Look For In A Self Storage Investment

As self-storage brokers, we spend most of our time in the primary markets throughout Texas, but one of the interesting things that we have seen, and we have kind of touched on some of this relative to the capital markets, is an interest in secondary markets. We recently closed a portfolio out in the Permian, in West Texas, not too long ago. This was a… Read More »How Do the Capital Markets View Self Storage Compared to the Rest of the Commercial Real Estate

Somebody asked me the other day about cap rates and whether they’re important and so forth. And we admittedly said that cap rates are in fact very important, but they’re by no means the only thing that we pay attention to when looking at a facility’s value. Brandon Karr: Cap rates, of course, are the net operating income divided by the purchase price. The percentage… Read More »Self Storage Cap Rates And Why They Are Important