The old way: someone finds a storage facility, gets excited, builds a full spreadsheet, spends hours underwriting — then discovers the market can't support the rents. Deal's dead. Hours wasted. On to the next one. There's a better way. Before I ever do a full underwrite, I run a quick analysis first. And a big part of that quick analysis is a market analysis — understanding what the market will actually bear before I touch a spreadsheet. Occupancy rates, street rates, competition density. The market tells you things numbers on a page never will. If the market doesn't support the deal, no spreadsheet is going to fix it. I built a simple tool for exactly this step. It's called the 5-Minute Storage Deal Analyzer — and it walks you through the quick analysis process so you can screen deals fast and stop wasting time on deals that were never going to work. Grab it here: https://join.storageace.io/5-minute-storage-deal-analyzer Once a deal passes the quick analysis, then I go deep. That's when full underwriting is worth your time. Stop spending hours on deals that fail in the first five minutes. Self Storage Power Hour is TODAY at 10am MST — come learn live: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89654514255?pwd=txJtbav30mochXjderlUSzbpo6bntF.1 Dave "8 Facilities. Zero Guessing." DeMink

Hey All - I am looking at a market where UHaul controls my corridor (3 of the 5 facilities). The facilities all appear to be doing well (mine is 94% occupied). I've seen in many markets, including this one, that Uhaul has the highest rates (by a mile). Uhaul prices ~60% higher than the rest of the market & still appears to rent. I'm curious - how do people view UHaul as a comp? My gut is that there is definitely a nice in-between spot on rates between Uhaul & where my facility sits. However, I also suspect UHaul gets such high rates due to the additional products & services they offer (namely: U Haul trucks). How do people think about comping to UHaul?

Looking at a facility in a tertiary town. It's one of only 2 facilities in the 7 miles radius. The only competition is 90% full, but they are right in the middle of the town whereas my facility would be a mile outside of town and currently about 70% full even with current lower prices. The competitor is also near the main street, and the traffic pattern does not come towards my facility. Trying to get an idea about how aggressive I can be raising the rent and also if I can get to the same rate as the competitor in a location that is not as good as theirs.

Hello Acer's community! One of our members, @Reed Swartley, recently shared a tool he's excited about called Lead Sniper. Similar to G Maps Extractor—which captures leads from Google Maps for self-storage facilities—Lead Sniper is available for a one-time fee instead of a recurring monthly charge. I've added a link to the product in the Resource Center, and you can also check it out using the link below. They even offer a free trial so you can quickly build lists of target facilities and capture detailed information from Google Maps, including website data, number of reviews, review scores, addresses, phone numbers, and more. Check it out: Lead Sniper I hope this helps!!

Hey StorageAce fam! 👋 Just uploaded the recordings and summaries for the last month of Power Hour calls — all caught up and ready for you. Whether you missed a session or just want a quick refresher on what we covered, each summary breaks down the core topics, key takeaways, and real conversations from the group in a clean, easy-to-read format. Here's what we covered over the past month: 📌 March 3 — Seller liens, cold calling at scale, SBA vs. local banks, auction strategy, and pre-offer financials 📌 March 10 — Marketing for new acquisitions, Facebook Marketplace, software comparison, underwriting targets, and spotting value-add deals fast 📌 March 24 — First seller call coaching, estimating square footage, leased land red flags, Claude Code automation, and making low offers with context 📌 March 31 — Reolink camera setup, gates and access control, market evaluation, Revy reviews, and the 90-day operating playbook 📌 April 7 — Seller financing deep dive, total value offer strategy, master leases, feasibility studies, and cold storage conversions 📌 April 14 — ISS convention recap, cost segregation, retrading, LOI strategy, and third-party vs. self-management 📌 April 21 — Market analysis tools, building prospect lists, SMS outreach, wood partitions, shingle roofs, and overcoming analysis paralysis You can find all of them here [LINK] Dig in, share with a friend who's just getting started, and bring your questions to Tuesday's call. See you there. 🙌 — Dave