MSM Exclusives

Beyond Scale: Where The REIT Model Breaks Down

David French — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 01:41:53 GMT

Resilience Through Retention: The Impact of Existing Tenants

Chuck Gordon — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 01:35:24 GMT

Small Town Opportunities—And What The Big Guys Miss

STEPHEN BREINING AND ANDREW BONNIS — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 01:14:28 GMT

Most growth strategies in self-storage point at the same kind of place: a fast-growing suburb, a dense corridor of new rooftops, a metro with strong in-migration, and traffic counts that practically underwrite themselves. It makes sense on a spreadsheet, which is why so many operators are chasing those markets, and why they now spend much of their time bidding against each other for the same land and the same customers.

We decided to invest somewhere else. We build in underserved communities where a professionally operated storage facility meets a real local need: places like Dardanelle, Ark.; Mount Airy, N.C.; Reidsville, N.C.; or Richfield, N.C.—markets that rarely show up in national acquisition decks. The kind of town with one main road, where the population would fit inside a single city block somewhere else.

The reaction we sometimes get is a version of “Why there?” It’s a fair question, and the honest answer has two halves. These markets come with real disadvantages that the bigger operators are right to weigh. They also come with advantages those same operators are structurally unable to capture. The case for secondary and tertiary markets only holds up if you are honest about both.

Self-Storage Is Doing Just Fine: Investor Survey

R. Christian Sonne — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 01:04:59 GMT

Stability and resiliency in the self-storage asset class, particularly in a current environment of unstable investment market conditions, indicate minor increases in investment rates in the Q2 2026 Cushman & Wakefield Self Storage Investor Survey. In the past 16 quarters, self-storage average cap rates have varied less than 100 bps, while 10-year Treasuries have increased over 200 basis points.

The current survey shows an increase in investment rates with an average overall capitalization rate of 5.75 percent, an increase of 9 bps over Q1, following a 14 bp increase last quarter. This indicates a total increase of 23 basis points to the average, overall capitalization rate in the first half of 2026. Terminal cap rates increased 11 bps to an average of 6.18 percent in Q2. Discount rates (IRR) increased an average of 16 bps to 7.90 percent this quarter. Cap rates for Class A have not changed significantly, while Class-B and -C rates show a wide trend above Class A, suggesting a flight to quality in the sector.

The self-storage valuation team at Cushman & Wakefield Advisory surveyed over 50 market participants about a wide variety of data points, including the usual cap rate, terminal cap rate, and yield rates. Key performance indicators are shown in the following table:

Incredible AI: The Future Of Trust

Jerry LaMartina — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 21:55:15 GMT

The age of artificial intelligence poses a persistent question: Can you believe what you see or hear online?

Atlanta Mission: The Official Charity Of MSM's THE Show

Brad Hadfield — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 02:46:56 GMT

The roar of the 1920s came to an abrupt halt at the end of the decade when the stock market crashed, plunging the nation into the Great Depression. As factories closed and businesses went bankrupt, millions of Americans lost their jobs, savings, and even their homes. In 1938, as the country continued to struggle through the depression, Atlanta Mission opened its doors as a small soup kitchen and 20-bed shelter.

The Politics Of Self Storage With Scott Jennings

Brad Hadfield — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 02:24:56 GMT

Scott Jennings should not have been a Republican. Growing up in Dawson Springs, Ky., his grandfather was a Democratic politician, and so was his father, a union factory worker who held local office from time to time. “Yeah, by all accounts, I probably should’ve become a Western Kentucky rural Democrat,” Jennings says with a laugh, his unmistakable Southern cadence coming through immediately. “A lot of folks follow their family’s lead, but I’ve always had a contrarian streak in me.”

Jennings’ political views began forming while watching the Republican Revolution of 1994, when Newt Gingrich and a new class of conservatives was taking the country by storm. He was very impressed with their viewpoints and how they marketed them. He also didn’t care much for Bill Clinton. “I mean, he was a smooth guy, but I didn’t find his personal behavior or his brand of politics very appealing.”

Not even Clinton’s saxophone playing on “The Arsenio Hall Show,” a moment that made many young people first view a politician as “cool,” could persuade Jennings. He chuckles at the memory. “It’s funny; I understand why a candidate would do a stunt like that, but it had no impact on me.”

With that, Jennings registered as a Republican and cast his first vote in 1996. “It came as a big shock to my family,” he says with a wry smile. “That’s probably when that contrarian streak first manifested.”

Do the “Click to Cancel” laws affect self storage?

Scott Zucker — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 16:41:27 GMT

The phrase “click to cancel” has become shorthand for a growing body of consumer-protection laws aimed at making it as easy for consumers to end a recurring service as it was to begin one. Although these laws generally have developed in the context of subscriptions, memberships and automatically renewing consumer services, real estate operators should understand the concept and consider whether its reach could eventually extend beyond traditional subscription businesses.

Regulatory Reckoning: NYC Puts Self-Storage In Its Crosshairs

Brad Hadfield — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:23:29 GMT

It began with a handful of consumer complaints and quickly snowballed, as the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) became inundated with grievances against self-storage facilities’ pricing practices. In several cases cited by the city, initial rates around $150 reportedly jumped to $300 or more, forcing tenants to pay higher prices or incur the cost and burden of moving their stored belongings elsewhere; additional complaints followed, citing flooded and vermin-infested units.

Weather The Storm: Keeping Your Facility Disaster-Ready

Patrick Moody — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 20:52:26 GMT

Business involves a lot of planning: strategic, financial, operational. But in self-storage, where you not only have to protect your own interests but the personal property of thousands of customers, disaster response planning becomes all the more crucial.

Here’s a primer on steps to take before and after a disaster to minimize stress for your tenants while limiting your own legal, financial, and operational exposure.