Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be here, I have joined the community for a while now 🎉

I really thought I was going to have to build. I just wasn’t finding anything that met my requirements. I even bought a piece of land and rezoned it. I’ll probably still pursue that but excited to say I’m supposed to close this week on a new facility. It’s a really small one, just 34 units but the numbers made sense and it’ll be a good intro to the industry.

We closed on our first facility. Thanks to everyone in the Storage Ace community who gave some guidance along the way. I've been in residential real estate for over 30 years and thought it would be somewhat of an easy transition into self storage. That definitely was not the case. Finding the deal was the easy part (for me). But I didn't realize how much I didn't know about self storage and how much is involved after you get the deal under contract. (The following is an unsolicited endorsement). Once I got the facility under contract I joined Dave's coaching group. I decided that I didn't want to waste time trying to figure it out on my own (which I tend to do). Of all the classes, conferences, groups I've joined or spent money on over my real estate career, this by far was the best money I've ever spent. Dave, Ken & the group helped me get to the closing table. Without their assistance I would've been lost trying to put everything in place to get the facility online and start the process of turning it around. As I mentioned before, there is A LOT I didn't know about storage. A lot of details (most of them simple processes) that if you weren't aware of could cost you a ton of time and money. Dave helped with all of that and continues to help as we get this thing rolling. If you're new, serious about getting into self storage, and serious about closing on your First Facility I would highly recommend checking out Dave's coaching class so you can cut to the front of the line and get that first deal. Time to find another one...

Everything I’ve been working toward in self storage is slowly starting to come together. Getting hands-on experience managing a facility. Being put in positions to potentially wholesale deals. Having self storage opportunities sent over for underwriting and deal analysis. Still learning every day, but it’s exciting seeing the consistency and networking start to pay off. One thing I’ve realized quickly:This business is heavily relationship driven.

Sending out some direct mail for a couple of properties that I’ve been researching. What are you doing today to get you closer to what you want?