from CRE Daily Newsletter As apartment living grows tighter and taller, Americans are increasingly turning to self storage for a little breathing room — and no state is building more of it than Texas. Unprecedented growth: The US added 4.1M apartments between 2015 and 2024, nearly 40% of all multifamily units delivered over the past 40 years. As renters prioritize location over size, newer apartments are up to 75 SF smaller than those from the early 2000s. Space for renters: Meanwhile, the self storage industry has quietly kept pace, adding 547M SF of space over the past decade to reach 2B total SF, meeting demand from a growing renter population and remote workers needing extra space. The epicenter of expansion: Texas cities are dominating in both multifamily and self storage growth. · Houston leads with 240K new apartments and 20M SF of storage. · Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio each added tens of thousands of apartments, alongside millions of square feet of storage. · Fort Worth built nearly half of its apartments and storage inventory in just the past decade. Southern cities follow: Sunbelt cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, and Miami are mirroring Texas’s trajectory — booming housing markets matched by surging self storage demand. Atlanta and Denver, however, remain undersupplied, with storage inventories well below national benchmarks. Urban space shortage: California metros like LA and San Diego have strong multifamily growth, but storage development lags, especially in LA, where inventory sits at just 2 SF per capita (vs. the national 7). Seattle is one exception, responding well to shrinking apartments and remote work needs.

Interesting data on overall self storage industry from Storable.

Spoke with an owner today who I’ve had conversations with over the last 5 months. My most recent LOI that I sent him a few wks ago had 3 seller financed options. He likes my offers but just doesn’t know which option to pick. The offers vary in purchase price, down payment amount, monthly payment amount and # of years of seller financing. He wants me to go meet him and see his facilities in person. I told him I want to be under contract before going to meet him and he said he’ll think about it. He wants to shake my hand to get to know me as best he can before getting ‘into bed’ with me for a seller financed deal. Not sure what to do here other than trust my gut. My gut tells me we’ll get a deal done if I go see the place w/o a contract first. But I of course would rather be under contract first. I’ve walked away from this deal a couple times because he said my offers were too low and he keeps coming back to me. And we’ve built great rapport. He wants to get a deal done. Other ideas or guidance?

Right now, I'm in North Dakota with my wife Jennifer and our son, visiting the University of North Dakota. My son is chasing his dream to become a pilot, and he's just about 3 weeks away from earning his private pilot's license. UND is one of the top aviation programs in the country, and we're here making memories while supporting his dream. On Thursday, I'm headed to Indianapolis to watch my oldest daughter, Madison, compete in a volleyball tournament. Madison earned a D1 volleyball scholarship at an east coast school next yeare, and my opportunities to see her play as much as I do now are quickly shrinking. So I'm soaking up every moment I can. Four years ago, I embarked on what I believed was a 10-year journey toward financial and time freedom. But something incredible happened... That 10-year timeline shrank dramatically—down to just 4 years. Self-storage changed everything. Today, I don't ask permission to travel with my family. I don't stress about missing out on life's biggest moments. I simply go. If you're a stuck, overwhelmed with your 9-5, grinding day after day to fulfill someone else's dreams... I see you. I WAS YOU. My journey accelerated the moment I hired a coach. Someone who had the game plan, knew all the answers, and helped me take confident, strategic action. Now, I'm looking for 7 motivated individuals to join me this April in a brand new case study group. You'll learn everything about self-storage investing, end-to-end, and position yourself to close your first deal within the next 6 months. If you're ready for time freedom, financial independence, and the power to choose how you spend your days... Comment "FREEDOM" below. I'll personally reach out to schedule a clarity call, and together we'll craft your custom game plan.