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

Buying a self storage facility is a major milestone, but closing the deal is only the beginning. The real work starts when you take over self storage operations.

When closing day finally arrives and you get the keys, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by everything that suddenly lands on your plate. But in those first few weeks, one overlooked detail or mistake could set your self storage business back thousands of dollars.

We want to help you avoid exactly that. Today, we’re giving you the ultimate checklist—a full laundry list of things to do before and immediately after you close.

Follow these steps to fully stabilize your self storage facility and have it running smoothly in roughly two to four weeks. We’re covering all of your first steps—everything from setting up your property management software and transferring crucial tenant information to putting utilities in your name and much more.

These details are easy to overlook if you’re not careful, and the consequences can be severe. Consider this your cheat sheet for taking the reins and getting your facility firing on all cylinders!

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

—

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-364 

Learn more about Hummingbird - https://www.tenantinc.com/products/hummingbird 

For months, we’ve been saying the same thing: The self storage industry has finally turned a corner. We’re now in a buyer’s market, and we’re seeing some of the best self storage deals in years.

But if that’s the case, where are these deals?

We’re answering this exact question on today’s episode. Of course, you can find self storage facilities the “normal” way—by building your buy box and giving it to your broker to pull properties already listed for sale. But some of the deepest discounts and greatest wealth creation opportunities come from buying off-market, mom-and-pop facilities with huge value-add potential.

And today, we’re providing a three-part strategy anyone can use to find them, even if you’re brand new to self storage investing. We’ll even share a few case studies of real self storage investors who have been able to create several hundred thousand dollars in value by using these exact tactics.

Whether you’re on the hunt for your first self storage facility or looking to grow your portfolio, these time-tested strategies will help you do just that!

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

__________

Join our group, the Self Storage Income Community to learn how to buy, build, and scale your self storage portfolio. While also being around supportive people with similar goals!   https://www.selfstorageincome.com/learn-yt?el=pc-episode-363 

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

How to Win Friends and Influence People : https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671027034 

By the end of this episode, you’ll have everything you need to buy storage facilities—not just any facility, but the facility that is best for you.

This is the exact pre-acquisition checklist Conner uses to get prepped to buy self storage investments. Not only can it help speed up your timeline to your first storage facility exponentially, but it will also make buying every facility after that even easier. If you wonder how Conner and AJ invest at scale and can move on deals so quickly, this is how it’s done.

We’ll walk you through everything you need, from finding lenders and insurance to getting your buy box set up and connecting to brokers who will send you deals, and finally making offers on facilities that fit your exact criteria. This is everything you need to go from zero self storage investments to your first one under contract, and by next week, you could have deals filling up your inbox if you follow Conner’s checklist.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

—

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 

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

Check out this episode next: The Last Time Self Storage Did This, We Made Millions (You Have 2 Years) - https://www.selfstorageincome.com/podcasts/self-storage-income-2/episodes/2149240630 

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-362 

Small self storage investors, you’ve got just two years to take advantage of one of the greatest wealth creation opportunities we’ll likely ever see.

We’ve officially reached the midway point of 2026, and things look a little different than most were predicting only 12 months ago. But one thing has happened as expected: self storage is approaching equilibrium again, and we’ve entered an exciting phase in the market cycle. With interest rates unlikely to fall, sellers are finally accepting reality and are coming to the table with deals.

And we’ve seen this shift play out firsthand in our own business. We’ve bought more self storage facilities in the last six months than we did in the last three years combined. The market has absorbed new supply, deals are available at better prices, and more sellers are motivated to move their assets.

Meanwhile, the REITs are making moves that give us a clear picture of what we can expect over the next few years. The question is no longer what’s going to happen, but who will take advantage before the market shifts again.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

—

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: https://www.selfstorageincome.com/learn?el=pc-ep361

Self storage just entered a new era.

The industry isn’t shifting. The shift has already happened. Within eight days, we saw multiple instances of operator and data infrastructure consolidation. On the surface, these might look like normal acquisitions, but they signal seismic changes within the self storage industry that small operators can’t afford to ignore.

The top 100 operators already control over half of the nation’s rentable storage space, and the top five alone control a whopping 35%. That number is growing.

This is eerily similar to what we saw when online marketing came on the scene. The REITs and big players adopted search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising long before anyone else. Now, they’re on the move again.

In self storage investing, data is king. Thankfully, access has been brought down to the level of mom-and-pop operators in recent years. But those who overlook what’s going on are at risk of losing their competitive advantage in the marketplace.

I’m breaking down exactly what small self storage investors need to do to adapt and why the entire industry is in dire straits if they don’t.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

__________

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

NowMetrics: https://nowmetrics.co/ 

Storelocal: https://www.storelocal.com/

TractIQ: https://tractiq.com/

Everyone keeps talking about AI. But how do you, a small self storage owner with one, two, or a handful of self storage investments, actually use it to grow your revenue, reduce your vacancy, keep customers for longer, and pick up a fraction of the phone calls? Today, we’re showing you how.

Alec Peeples from Storeganise is sharing the beginner-friendly AI “buckets” storage investors can use to easily (and surprisingly cheaply) automate their facilities and make more revenue with way less work. He’ll share the beginner framework that those brand new to AI can try, the “trends” you can discover that generate more income for your facility, and even the exact prompts he uses to find blind spots in storage businesses.

These are high-level, highly usable ways for small self storage owners to get the equivalent of a six-figure salaried C-suite employee for less than a couple dozen bucks per month. If you could access that today, why wouldn’t you?

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

—

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 

Check out Storeganise, the free AI toolkit built for self-storage operators; a library of prompts, skills, and automations you can use with any software: https://ai-lab.storeganise.com

Connect with Alec on LinkedIn! - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alec-peeples/ 

You want your self storage portfolio to build your wealth, replace your income, and give you the freedom to run your business on your own terms. 

So, how do you get there? Or better yet, how do you get there (much) faster than we did? It took us nearly 20 years to go from a single facility to a self-running self storage portfolio and (many) millions in equity. Can you do it in half the time?

Today, AJ and Conner share how to pass through the three phases every self storage business experiences, from a lone investor answering the phones to a true business owner who’s focused on scaling, instead of sending late-payment notices. There are multiple mistakes AJ made along the way that could have saved him years if he had known what he knows now.

Now, we’re sharing it with you so you can build the income-replacing, self-running storage portfolio anyone, even you, can scale, starting in 2026.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

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 - https://www.selfstorageincome.com/learn?el=pc-ep358

 Get our FREE self storage starter pack to learn how to analyze, underwrite, and operate your next storage investment:https://www.selfstorageincome.com/start-podcast?el=pc-ep358

Most self storage investors focus on things like increasing revenue, maximizing occupancy, and mastering operations.

But not enough of them play defense.

Depreciation is a powerful tool that can save your self storage business thousands—potentially even hundreds of thousands—in taxes, but few are harnessing its full power. Brian Liles and Brian Broussard from CSSI have done it for over 65,000 facilities to date.

With a cost segregation study, you could accelerate depreciation on your self storage facility’s components, creating a massive paper loss this tax year that puts more of your hard-earned dollars back in your pocket today.

For many self storage owners, one or two of these cost segregation studies can create enough cash flow to fund major upgrades or even buy the next self storage facility. Whether you’re acquiring an existing facility, building new construction, or looking to catch up on tax deductions, these are real, practical strategies you can put to work right away.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

—

- Get our FREE self storage starter pack to learn how to analyze, underwrite, and operate your next storage investment:https://www.selfstorageincome.com/start-podcast?el=pc-ep357

- 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 

- CSSI - https://cssiservices.com/ 

- DSIRE - https://dsireusa.org/ 

- Email Brian at [email protected]