Can you give context on why your friend is "wanting to build a storage unit facility" from scratch VS. buying an existing one. Does your friend already have the land or something? I guess my point is prioritize buying an existing facility first. Also, I agree with Dave here regarding feasibility study, that being said if your looking for some free feasibility data or even in addition to a paid feasibility study I encourage anyone to prompt Co pilot GPT 5, chat gpt or others, (I believe co pilot logged into a Microsoft account is the "safest" for data but don't hold me to that) I recently used this to help quickly clarify how materially undersupplied an area was and it blew my socks off. Remember AI generated content may be incorrect. Prompt, start with something like: *“Act as a self‑storage market analyst. Evaluate the feasibility of building a new self‑storage facility in [City, State]. Provide: - Market demand vs. supply (sf per capita vs. benchmarks) - Competitor analysis (unit mix, rates, occupancy) - Population and growth trends (including shadow population) - Traffic visibility and zoning considerations - Recommended size, unit mix, and phasing strategy - NOI and value projections at stabilized occupancy.”* Key Data to Include in Your Prompt The more local and specific, the better: 1. Target Location 2. Competitor Inventory (google maps ariel view using measure tool find SQ footage of competitors nearby note the year the satellite imagery was taken bottom right hand corner..) 3. Population & Demographics (AI can find this easy, but if you have local behind the scenes insight feed it that data) 4. Land or Building Options 5. Benchmarks ------ I Hope this helps :)

Great creative question, I believe mostly retirees in their 60s/70s and some burned out 50s. I agree with the younger sellers cashing out early ( not as common) Properties are often clean but mismanaged, or rough with deferred maintenance. Sometimes there's land to expand that was never developed. I think Dave said it well on his last power hour there is always some sort of motivation often unknown is how he put it I believe. I think life events play a big role, it reminds me of the classic D’s of why customers rent storage: Death, Divorce, Downsizing, Disaster, Displacement, and Default (meaning financial distress or foreclosure.) Maybe a more important focus to ask other experienced self storage investors: Out of the deals you have closed, what’s the common seller real motivation and how have you structure the deal to solve their problem?

Dave you were dropping value bombs and well experienced advice! Keep up the great work! 🔥