Self Storage Income

Seasonality is a real factor in the self storage industry. During the colder months, move-ins may slow down, move-outs may pull back, and rent increases often become harder to push through.

You may be tempted to simply coast through the winter months and ramp back up in the spring. But while things may slow down for your customers, they shouldn’t slow down for you. How you use these quieter months can make all the difference when it comes time to lease up, raise rents, and optimize operations, and being caught off guard during the busy season could set your self storage business back for years.

Today, we’re giving you a clear game plan for this winter. We’ll get into what you should expect when temperatures drop, how to plan rent increases, how to move more customers to autopay, and how to manage delinquencies.

Plus, we’ll explore some of the operational improvements that are worth making before business picks up, from upgrading your tech stack to training employees. Whether you’re buying your first self storage facility or looking to stabilize an existing facility, we’ll help you make each season count and maximize your impact year-round.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

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DealHound is an outreach platform that targets self storage owners with cold email so you can build a steady pipeline of off-market deals. No more hunting for deals manually: the AI handles the outreach while you handle closing the deals.  

DealHound officially launches in December 2026.

- Join the waitlist now: https://dealhound.io/waitlist

- See more information here: https://dealhound.io/ 

Join the Self Storage Income Community to learn how to buy, build, and scale your self storage portfolio: https://www.selfstorageincome.com/learn-yt?el=pc-episode-374 

Get AJ's book, Growing Wealth in Storage 2.0: https://a.co/d/aRSKcSq

The last time this happened, self storage facility values rose 385%. Nobody knew how good an opportunity buying self storage was until it was too late. That was back in 2010, after the Great Financial Crisis knocked self storage values down by 35%. Now, we’re seeing storage values fall 30%-35% in many markets, and that parallel can’t be ignored.

Did we just hit the bottom for self storage prices? 

There’s a lot of distress in the self storage industry right now. High interest rates are expanding cap rates, which means prices are going down—fast. Buyers have been taking advantage, but most of the industry is still on the sidelines, waiting for the “opportunity” right in front of them. This sounds a lot like what happened in 2008.

Facilities are selling for far less than people think, and if you’re only looking at the list price a broker gives you, you could miss deals that may not come around for a decade. I’ve been screaming this from the rooftops, but nobody seems to listen, even as I buy self storage facilities for a fraction of what they cost a few years ago.

Are you going to miss the opportunity so many begged for?

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

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Grab AJ’s Book, Growing Wealth in Self-Storage 2.0 - https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Wealth-Self-Storage-2-0-Post-Pandemic/dp/1735258865 

Are you brand-new to self storage investing?

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by all of the different terminology, processes, and strategies. But at its core, self storage is a straightforward business. You buy a large metal building, rent units out to customers, and (ideally) make a profit.

You don’t need to know every last term, but you do need to build a solid foundation. Today, we’re going to help you fill in the necessary knowledge gaps so you have a better idea of what goes into buying and running a self storage business.

We’ll break down some of the lingo you may have heard before, like cap rates, cash flow, net operating income (NOI), and debt service coverage ratio (DSCR). We’ll also compare the roles of general and limited partners and explain why you need a letter of intent before a purchase and sale agreement.

Most importantly, we’ll walk you through the three things every self storage investor needs to get started: deal flow, capital, and people. Master these building blocks, and you’ll be well-positioned to buy your first or next self storage facility with confidence!

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

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Join the Self Storage Income Community to learn how to buy, build, and scale your self storage portfolio: https://www.selfstorageincome.com/learn-yt?el=yt-episode-372 

Get AJ's Book: Growing Wealth in Self-Storage 2.0: https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Wealth-Self-Storage-2-0-Post-Pandemic/dp/1735258865 

The self storage industry is changing. Fast.

In the last six months, we’ve seen rising interest rates push self storage values down, banks tighten their borrowing requirements, and owners reluctantly list more assets for sale.

On the surface, things may seem turbulent. But this shift represents a massive window of opportunity for self storage investors, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the wake of the Great Financial Crisis. Naturally, people are worried that property values could continue to fall, not rise.

And this is exactly the right time to buy.

Self storage fundamentals are stronger than they have been in recent years. Rents have increased, occupancy has recovered, and new supply has been minimal, yet self storage facilities are selling for much lower prices than advertised.

We’ve hit the “stabilized” bottom.

Today, we break down these macro- and micro-economic factors and explain how the recent AI boom is affecting not just the economy at large but also cap rates. With access to more data, tools, and resources than ever before, new investors have even more opportunities at their fingertips. But if you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss them.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

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Self Storage Income 369 – One Self Storage Facility Made Me a Millionaire w/Alex Quezada - https://www.selfstorageincome.com/podcasts/self-storage-income-2/episodes/2149264165 

Get our FREE self storage starter pack to learn how to analyze, underwrite, and operate your next storage investment: https://www.selfstorageincome.com/youtube?el=pc-episode-371

Grab AJ’s Book, Growing Wealth in Self-Storage 2.0 - https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Wealth-Self-Storage-2-0-Post-Pandemic/dp/1735258865 

Many people dream of investing in self storage but never pull the trigger for a variety of reasons. Some don’t feel they have the expertise needed to manage the asset. Others assume self storage facilities fall outside their price range. Neither assumption usually holds up.

Kirk had been buying rental properties for 15 years but hadn’t worked up the courage to buy a facility for all the same reasons. That changed when his broker brought him a self storage deal he couldn’t turn down—a discounted facility with massive value-add potential, located just 40 minutes from home.

After buying that first facility and stabilizing it, Kirk realized just how scalable self storage is compared to other asset classes. Despite starting only two years ago, Kirk has already bought three facilities and wants to own $50 million in self storage in just a few years from now.

Today, Kirk is breaking down how he found, negotiated, and funded each of his three deals, as well as the exact strategies he uses to run his self storage business, improve operations, and grow his bottom line.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

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Work with someone experienced in self storage loans at Live Oak Bank! https://www.liveoakbank.com/business-loans/self-storage/

Join the Self Storage Income Community to learn how to buy, build, and scale your self storage portfolio: https://www.selfstorageincome.com/learn-yt?el=pc-episode-370 

Alex Quezada’s first self storage facility made him over a million dollars. That has to be just luck, right? Over the next six years, he bought 18 more self storage investments, selling several for a $1M+ payday and keeping the others that would cash-flow him to financial freedom. And get this—he did it in Florida, the state with some of the wildest insurance costs and taxes. 

How did Alex scale so quickly and build a portfolio that takes even the experts decades to do?

Back in 2020, Alex was a tired single-family rental landlord. Whether it was holidays, weekends, or birthdays, it didn’t matter—tenants were blowing up his phone. Toilet problems, AC issues—the usual. This wasn’t sustainable; the money wasn't worth it, and he needed a way to build truly scalable wealth. The answer was self storage.

Since that first deal, Alex has bought 18 more facilities, sold four, and held on to 15. He’s done seller financing to fund many of them, direct mail campaigns to get off-market owners to the table, and runs call centers with AI for zero downtime and fast customer service, so no tenant is ever locked out of a unit or a gate. Alex is a master in this game, and we got him to share everything, from structuring seller financing to his exact cadence of direct mail for the most lead flow.

A $1,000,000 check could change any investor's life. This is how Alex does it routinely. 

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

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Alex’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alex.theinvestor.quezada/

Alex’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@alex.theinvestor.quezada  

Patchwork Labs (AI Call Center): https://www.patchworklabs.com/ 

Work with someone experienced in self storage loans at Live Oak Bank! https://www.liveoakbank.com/business-loans/self-storage/ 

How do you know if a self storage facility is a home-run deal or a ticking time bomb?

Right now, the self storage industry is ripe with opportunity. We’ve bought more self storage facilities in the last 12 months than we did in the previous three years combined, and these deals are some of the best we’ve seen in several years.

But not every distressed facility is a hidden gem. Some deals look great on paper but are actually traps—facilities that never fill up, attract low-paying tenants, and have little to no value-add potential.

So, what really separates a great deal from a bad one?

It all comes down to market-driven opportunity and operator-driven vacancy.

Today, I’m sharing how to spot the difference using two real-world case studies—a pair of distressed facilities we stabilized through a combination of savvy marketing and strategic rent increases.

I’m digging into market signals, rental rates, supply and demand, and other key factors that will tell you whether you’re buying upside or just inheriting someone else’s problem.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

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Grab AJ’s Book, Growing Wealth in Self-Storage 2.0: https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Wealth-Self-Storage-2-0-Post-Pandemic/dp/1735258865 

People have self storage all wrong.

Today, we’re giving you the truth, and it flies in the face of how most view the asset:

Self storage investing is not passive.

That might sound like a drawback, but it’s actually one of self storage’s greatest advantages. It’s active because it’s a business. And if you treat it like one, you’ll find there are countless ways to increase revenue, cut expenses, and create real value.

Too many investors view self storage facilities like residential rental properties. Get a tenant in, charge market rent, and hopefully make a profit.

But with a self storage facility, you have far more control over how the property performs. Today, we’re showing you exactly how to do things like optimize pricing, improve occupancy, automate self storage tasks, reduce waste, add new revenue streams, and more.

The best part is, if you pull the right operational levers, you’re not just increasing NOI. You’re fundamentally changing the asset’s value. And that’s what most people miss.

Yes, self storage is hands-on. It’s definitely not passive. But that’s exactly what makes it such a powerful investment.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

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Grab AJ’s Book, Growing Wealth in Self-Storage 2.0 : https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Wealth-Self-Storage-2-0-Post-Pandemic/dp/1735258865 

Join the Self Storage Income Community to learn how to buy, build, and scale your self storage portfolio: https://www.selfstorageincome.com/learn-yt?el=pc-episode-367 

This could be the biggest change to self storage industry data in years. For the entirety of its existence, the self storage industry has relied on guesswork to estimate competitor and market cap rates, occupancy, rental rates, and demand. Most self storage data is tied directly to REIT-run facilities—the biggest, most expensive facilities in the U.S.

What about the small investor? Now, they have access to the data only the powerful players had for decades. 

Earlier this year, when we brought on Noah Starr from TractIQ to announce the biggest data transparency change in self storage history, we didn’t think he’d be back less than a year later to give us so much more to share. We’re giving it all away in today’s show: real cap rates in tertiary markets, actual occupancy rates from operators, the supply pipeline of new facilities coming to the market (and the ones that have been abandoned), and much more.

If you’re a small operator in a small town, you can use this data to see what’s happening in your specific market to make better offers, increase your NOI, and beat the competition more easily than you’d imagine.

Noah even shares a new announcement that will change the game for anyone building storage.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

- Grab the Full Self Storage Data Report Now!: https://www.selfstorageincome.com/storage-industry-report?el=pc-episode-366 

- Self Storage Deals Just Got MUCH Better in 2026 (Huge Announcement) w/Noah Starr: https://youtu.be/eoi825L7ag8?si=8V5VDllc0kMSCqqQ 

- The #1 Lie Costing Self Storage Investors Millions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wztYSZ5fc90 

How much does a self storage facility cost, and how much can you make owning a storage facility? AJ has three recent real deals, all from Self Storage Income members, to show you the real cost, revenue, cash flow, and equity numbers that small investors are seeing in 2026. And even though these numbers look impressive, they’re not rarities.

Self storage is changing, and the deals are getting better, sometimes by the day. AJ has bought more storage in the past twelve months than the past few years combined. Why? Sellers are waking up to reality and realizing that they can’t ask for high prices while interest rates are elevated.

This is a huge opportunity to buy a poorly-operated facility, improve operations, increase cash flow, and sometimes make seven figures in equity along the way. AJ’s going to prove it’s still possible by walking through three real deals, all with sizable cash flow and equity, using simple, beginner-friendly strategies any new self storage investor can repeat.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

How much self storage facilities are actually making in 2026 (and how much they cost)

The simple value-add improvements small storage owners can make to increase their revenue and facility value

Why AJ is buying significantly more self storage now than in the past (a repeat of 2013?)

How one small investor financed a facility at just 1% down (and made a 23x return)

The buy, improve, refinance, and repeat strategy to scale your storage facility faster

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Grab AJ’s Book, Growing Wealth in Self-Storage 2.0 - https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Wealth-Self-Storage-2-0-Post-Pandemic/dp/1735258865

Join the Self Storage Income Community to learn how to buy, build, and scale your self storage portfolio: https://www.selfstorageincome.com/learn-yt?el=yt-ep365

Episode 321. How We (Remote!) Manage Our 19-Facility Self Storage Business - https://www.selfstorageincome.com/podcasts/self-storage-income-2/episodes/2149107392

The Real Numbers Behind a $2M Self-Storage Deal (Case Study)- https://youtu.be/2tWBihDx-Y0?si=MEVtcIUkCuXx7llL

This Family Closed a $247K Storage Deal in 2025 (Here’s How)- https://youtu.be/kxRCsk1YtG8?si=jFlIGmRnvRr6c80L