• September 29, 2023

23 May, 2023

Ensuring Your Success in Any Economy | Mini-Storage Messenger

Having been in the self-storage industry for over 26 years, spanning through multiple economic cycles, I have seen this industry grow with each cycle. While many think of self-storage as “recession proof,” that doesn’t mean we escape each cycle...

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29 Sep, 2021

Rental Rate Pressures During COVID-19

Unfortunately, as we sit here today, the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. As a result, issues that many self-storage operators had thought were resolved, including concerns over restrictions on their rental rate increases, remain. As self-storage...

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10 May, 2021

The Resiliency Of The Self-Storage Industry

Over the last year, through a massive public health crisis and a distressed economy, the self-storage industry has once again shown its resolute strength within the real estate sector. Notwithstanding the pandemic and the resulting business closures and...

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24 Mar, 2021

Upholding The Golden Rule

By Donald Jones, president of Donald Jones Consulting & Services LLC

“Do unto others …” or “Treat others like …” are the great beginning phrases of principles of days past. Within the storage industry specifically, managers are accountable to owners,...

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24 Mar, 2021

Persevering In A Pandemic

By Michael Baillargeon, Senior Vice President, Operations, Store Space

By now, all of us in the self-storage industry have been practicing due diligence against COVID-19 for months. We’ve put down strict sanitizing protocols and implemented social...

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24 Mar, 2021

Streamlining Development

Virtual Cost Savings, Productivity, And Projections  

By David Meinecke, Vice President of Jordan Architects

As we continue to navigate through this tumultuous time, we continue to see the ripple effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite varying levels of...

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24 Mar, 2021

Re-opening Your Business During COVID-19

By J. Ashley Oblinger, Esq., Associate Attorney, Weissmann Zucker Euster Morochnik & Garber P.C.

Since mid-March, self-storage facilities across the country have been forced to temporarily close their doors or limit their operations due to state...

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24 Mar, 2021

Running 100 Miles Is A Lot Like Starting A Business

By Rod Bolls, founder and CEO of Boxwell, LLC

There are some things that are commonly considered off limits, if not crazy. Things like running 100 miles or starting a business, for example, are not for everyone. Ultramarathoners and entrepreneurs...

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24 Mar, 2021

Recognizing The Warning Signs Of Oversupplied Markets

By Monty Spencer, CEO, The Storage Acquisition Group

A developer builds a new storage facility in a hot market, but it takes longer than expected to lease-up, causing rental prices to be lowered and the property value to drop.

What happened? Typically,...

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24 Mar, 2021

In the Limelight

By Tim Hobin, Executive Vice President – Real Estate, The William Warren Group, Inc.

As I write this, we’re finalizing the books on another stellar year in the longest economic expansion of all time, and I must admit, it has been a good run. As an...

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24 Mar, 2021

Technology And The Manager

By Andy Kelly, Principal and Broker of A B Kelly Realty, LLC (Self Storage and Commercial Property Management) and Principal of Sierra Self Storage Consulting, LLC

I started in the storage business in 1992 as an area manager. The industry had very...

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24 Mar, 2021

Enjoy The Ride!

By John H. Gilliland, president and CEO of Investment Real Estate, LLC

Remember where we were 10 years ago? In mid-2010, the country was in the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Self-storage developers and owners were reeling. I...

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12 Feb, 2021

Leveraging Technology: Customer Experience Is King

In the past, to find a self-storage unit you would:

  • Ask some friends or family,
  • Look it up in the phone book, or
  • Drive around and stop at the first site you see.

Today you can go online and review locations, prices, and availability all within a...

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12 Feb, 2021

The $10 Rule Maximizing Your Self-Storage Profits

Over my 20-plus years in the self-storage industry, I’ve heard the phrase “three mile” quite a bit. Meaning, of course, that any storage facility you own or operate is really only in competition with the stores that are within three miles. The...

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12 Feb, 2021

The New "Cash" Laws Impacting "Cashless" Self-Storage Operations

Over the last five years, as the use of technology has blossomed in the self-storage industry, more and more self-storage facilities have shifted to unmanned properties, utilizing the opportunities for kiosk services and now even mobile leasing with...

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12 Feb, 2021

Just Give Me Your Price!

Perhaps the most frustrating call received by mangers is the person who just wants to shop your price. The call is usually abrupt; it ends without you sharing anything about your facility and with no chance to gather information to follow up. You may...

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12 Feb, 2021

Revenue Management: A Business Discipline, Not A Project

Everyone does pricing. Some do it by intuition, others do it in a more sophisticated way. Every seller knows that you want the price to be just right–not so high that you put off potential buyers and not so low that you lose out on potential profits.

...

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12 Feb, 2021

Making A Lasting And Positive First Impression

I attended a seminar last week that discussed trends in the real estate market for the self-storage industry. The discussion revolved around the trends in 2018 and what is expected to happen in 2019—cap rates, interest rates, you know, normal real...

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12 Feb, 2021

It’s What’s Inside That Counts

August is sort of a bittersweet month for me. It’s the time two of my kids are getting ready to head to college and my youngest is deciding whose bedroom he is going to try and steal while they are gone. We are trying to cram in every bit of family time...

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1 Mar, 2019

Automated Storage Facilities

Why They Aren’t A Myth

If you’re unsure about embracing automated self-storage, here’s a cautionary tale about underestimating the effects of technology from another industry.

In 2000, Reed Hastings approached Blockbuster CEO John Antioco with the...

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1 Feb, 2019

Why Automation Is The Way Of The Future

When I started Red Dot Storage, the business plan was pretty simple: acquire self-storage facilities and utilize automation and related technology to maximize value. From airport kiosk check-ins to in-app purchases, the automation phenomenon certainly...

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1 Jan, 2019

Open Platforms Are Good For Everyone

When self-storage operators first started using technology it was in the form of PC software that was by its very nature isolated and rarely integrated with other systems. Early integrations included exporting data files other systems could read,...

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1 Nov, 2018

What Took Us Down … And May Save Us Today

By Devin S. Huber, Principal, The BSC Group

As a mortgage broker specializing in self-storage, my typical week includes speaking with dozens of operators, developers, investors, and lenders. Over the last three years, these conversations generally share...

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1 Oct, 2018

Are Your Kids Ugly?

By Noah Springer, Senior Vice President, Third Party and Asset Management, Extra Space Storage, Inc.

Before I had kids, I knew that mine would be the best looking, most polite, and smartest kids out there. They would possibly even be born with a proper...

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1 Sep, 2018

The Help Heroes Heal Campaign

Raising Funds For Wounded Warrior Charities

Sherman Gillums, Jr.

Throughout 2018, AZSA is encouraging self-storage facilities to participate in the Charity Storage Giving Back Program and to conduct auctions to benefit wounded veterans organizations of...

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1 Aug, 2018

Reconsidering The College Rental

By Norm Shore, Director, Kayne Anderson Real Estate How many years have we heard that the college rental is not the preferred customer? Long enough to know that the college student 10 years ago is probably no longer in college, is possibly married with...

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1 Jun, 2018

The Times They Are A-Changin'!

Tom Garden – Owner of Syrasoft Management Software and co-owner of Catskill Self Storage in Leeds, N.Y.

A dozen years or so ago, while hiking in Lake Louise, Banff, Manitoba, I came across a French couple who were attempting to take a selfie with the...

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1 May, 2018

Storage Rent Growth Is Strong

by Jeffrey W. Adler, Yardi Systems, Inc.

Storage rent growth is decelerating but still trending up.

Rent growth for self-storage properties decelerated during the last several months as new supply and the maturing economic cycle weakened tailwinds...

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1 Apr, 2018

Is Your Website Accessible To The Blind?

After the ruling in favor of a customer in the Gil v. Winn-Dixie case (Florida District Court), the flood gates have opened against businesses, including self-storage companies, claiming ADA violations related to website accessibility. Essentially, the...

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1 Mar, 2018

“The future ain’t what it used to be.” –Yogi Berra

Joel Deis, vice president and regional manager, Marcus & Millichap – Seattle Office, and national director of Marcus & Millichap’s National Self Storage Group

By Dave Benson, President and CEO, Morningstar Properties

This past September, in a hotel...

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