Starting your own self storage business was a pretty big undertaking. Years later you’ve seen it grow and thrive into a vibrant business that nets a tidy profit all at the same time. You are proud of your business and the fact that you have gotten it to be successful when so many businesses fail.
Then you read about a self storage facility in Texas going for $4.3 million; and then another in Chicago for $3.9 million; and then you read about a company pledging to spend $150 million on self storage facilities over the next year. In case that did not have your interest piqued there is one real estate investor looking to spend $1 billion in the next year.
With so many self storage companies selling for such high prices should you hold onto the business you built or is it time for you to sell and retire to the Bahamas?
One thing to consider is that not every sale is one that the seller chose to do. The economy is still considered a poor one right now and some owners were in distress and did not have a better choice. That being said there is no telling that even though they felt they had to sell that they did not walk away with a tidy sum of money when the deal is done.
The trick to making sure that you get the most for your self storage facility if and when you decide to sell is in choosing the right broker to handle the deal.
"Other than a couple of portfolio transactions, there have been very few non-distressed self storage properties that have sold in Southern California this past year," Dean Keller, the president of Bancap Self Storage Group, Inc. in Southern California explained.
"… The key for the seller is to hire a self storage broker with a proven track record of getting the highest and best price possible. Self storage is such a unique property type and it takes a very specific expertise with decades of experience to maximize value for sellers in this unique property niche."
A perfect example would be a deal that Keller recently finished in Los Angeles. He brokered a deal for the sale of two prime self storage properties in Los Angeles County, 405 Self Storage and El Dorado Park Self Storage, for a total of $26 million.
Twenty-six million dollars could sure go a long way in the Bahamas!
Sources Used:
“Bancap Self Storage Group Sells Two Trophy Storage Properties.” PRWeb; 20 January 2011.
“One Billion Reasons to be in the Self Storage Industry Right Now.” Self Storage Industry News; 07 January 2011.