• September 29, 2023

26 Jul, 2023

New Details About the Extra Space/Life Storage Merger

Following approval of shareholders from both companies, the finalization of the Extra Space and Life Storage merger last week resulted in a new leader when it comes to the title of “largest self storage operator in the country.” This was one of the...

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26 Jul, 2023

New Details on the Public Storage Acquisition of Simply | MSM

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for self storage mergers and acquisitions. On Monday, Public Storage – the most active private-market acquirer since 2019 – and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT) announced an agreement in which Public...

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9 Feb, 2023

Public Storage Targets Life Storage | MSM

On Feb. 5, 2023, Public Storage made it known that the publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) was interested in acquiring the entire portfolio of Buffalo, N.Y.-based Life Storage. The press release, which was distributed through various...

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15 Sep, 2020

Strategy Shift: Structuring Transactions In The COVID Era

2020 has ushered in a dramatically different landscape for not only the self-storage industry but the entire economy as well. As brokers, we may sometimes forget that our world of real estate transactions is quite unfamiliar to our clients when they...

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19 Jan, 2019

The Descending Economy

Is Plunging Performance Problematic?

At the moment, descent is not a problem. However, it is a situation most segments of the economy are beginning to confront—that we are over the peak and heading down the other side of the curve.

Self-storage is...

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1 Oct, 2018

What It’s Worth?

Determining The Real Value Of A Property

Operating a self-storage business also means owning a property—a physical building where tenants rent space. After becoming established, the owner/operator typically becomes mostly concerned with the day-to-day...

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1 Sep, 2018

Pawns Of Price

Stalemates In The Sales Process

According to one source, there may be $400 million in self-storage properties that have sat on the sales market for more than two years. By all accounts, storage facilities have never been worth more and experts...

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1 Sep, 2017

Don’t Be Hasty!

The Best Pre-Sale Preparations 

Opting to sell your self-storage facility is not a decision to take lightly. There are many factors and options to consider that should be discussed with your business partners, accountants, and/or financial advisors...

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1 Jan, 2017

Broker Basics

Industry Experience Adds Value

If you are planning to sell your property, you may assume a commercial real estate broker is sufficient. But have you considered using a broker who specializes in self-storage?

The real estate market is complex. You...

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1 Sep, 2016

Buy Or Build?

Investment Insight For The Best Deals

Back in the spring of this year, Sovran Self Storage, Inc., of Williamsville, N.Y., announced it would acquire LifeStorage, LP, a privately-owned self-storage operator for about $1.3 billion. In the deal, Sovran...

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1 Sep, 2016

The Price Of Safety

Fire Code Sparks Costly Change

In Charleston, S.C., a memorial, appropriately called the Charleston Nine site, protects the sacred ground where the Sofa Super Store, a commercial furniture showroom and warehouse facility, once stood. On June 18, 2007,...

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1 May, 2016

The Alternate Route

Planning Your Exit Strategy

By some reckoning, about 80 percent of the ownership of self-storage units are in the hands of private investors. The other 20 percent are under the stewardship of institutional investors, including real estate investment...

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1 Apr, 2016

Time To Sell?

Six Considerations For Sellers

There is a growing perception that self-storage real estate values may be at or near their historical peak in some markets. But, even in markets where prices have yet to fully recover, or where values have simply remained...

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1 Apr, 2016

Staying On Track

Five Steps For Transaction Management

Successfully selling or buying your self-storage facility always comes down to transaction management. It is critical to know the transaction process, move it through the difficult stages, and make sure that...

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1 Feb, 2016

Sell, Buy, Build, Or Hold?

Using Industry Insight As A Guiding Light By Steve Libert

Will 2016 pick up where 2015 left off for investors in the commercial real estate marketplace? More specifically, and more importantly to many of us, will the self-storage sector of the...

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