Category: Best Practices

As a self storage owner or operator, much of your ability to make the right decisions hinges on your data quality. If your database contains outdated, inaccurate or incomplete data, you will lack visibility to the information you need to reduce costs, retain tenants and grow your business. With technology quickly becoming a determining factor in self storage success, effective data management plays an even more significant role in your operation’s bottom line. But what is data management? And how can you improve data management to achieve better outcomes for…

It’s not uncommon for self storage investors and those in the industry orbit to have a limited understanding of cap rates. Certainly, they may know what’s considered a “good” cap rate but may not have a full mastery of the equation that created it. In this article, we’ll define and demystify cap rates, apply it in a real-world example and offer guidance on their importance in self storage investment decision-making. Cap rate, short for capitalization rate, is a core measurement used to estimate a property’s ROI. Imagine having a crystal…

Third-party management is turning out to be an acquisition goldmine for Life Storage. Joe Saffire, CEO of the Williamsville, NY-based self storage REIT, said roughly one-third of the 75 facilities purchased so far this year were part of Life Storage’s third-party management platform. Saffire called the company’s third-party platform a “robust acquisition pipeline.” “The hard work of our acquisitions and third-party management teams over the past several years executing on our relationship-based strategy to be well positioned when opportunities become available is clearly paying off,” Saffire said in a Nov.…

In today’s investment market, the main concern on everyone’s mind is the potential for a significant uptick in inflation. Over the past ten years, the average rate of inflation in the U.S. was about 1.8%. However, many experts are now calling for higher than normal inflation due to the impacts of the coronavirus stimulus bill, low interest rates and a rapidly recovering economy flooding the market with cheap money. The result will be increased competition for goods and services resulting in rapidly rising costs and inflation. The general way to…

Online reviews are the new “word of mouth.” For years businesses relied on happy customers to relay their satisfaction to friends and family—aka, potential new customers—via word of mouth. But in today’s mobile world, word of mouth has been effectively replaced with online reviews. With easy access to the Internet, consumers have changed the way they shop for pretty much every product or service available. Rarely does anyone make a purchase without looking up reviews online. It’s simply part of the decision-making process now, and it can be argued that…

In the current climate, operating a successful self storage operation requires a Herculean effort. There’s no end to the tasks owners and operators face every day, from sales and marketing to site maintenance and security. It’s essential to not cut corners when it comes to the safety of your security system, but you don’t have to be a technology expert — start by following a few best practices: Vet both the solution and the provider. In addition to vetting the solution, evaluate the solution provider. Look for a technology vendor…

Today, CubeSmart (NYSE: CUBE), the third-largest owner and operator of self storage properties in the United States, introduced SmartView by CubeSmart, its proprietary mobile app, designed to connect users seamlessly to key performance metrics. Utilizing SmartView, third-party management clients have easy access to their data wherever and whenever they want. SmartView is the latest enhancement from CubeSmart as part of an ongoing focus to build innovative technology to help drive the self storage industry forward. “SmartView is our newest way of leveraging technology to enhance our third-party management experience by…

Safety and security are hallmarks of today’s self storage industry. In competitive markets, solutions that protect tenants’ physical safety and the security of their possessions are differentiating factors — they separate market leaders from the rest of the pack. Increasingly, the quality of your operation’s safety and security solutions directly impacts tenant acquisition and retention. Yet it may be tempting for owners and operators to inadequately evaluate their choice in security solutions — a mistake that can have serious consequences for the bottom line of your business. If a single…

In this day and age, we’re all aware that a positive review is a hot commodity. As a consumer, we live in a time when combing through reviews is a common practice, especially when making important purchasing decisions. What tends to be thought of as a “black spot” are negative reviews. However, positive and negative reviews build consumer confidence, increase knowledge and validate the offered services. Isn’t that crazy!? That means a customer’s one-star-review about after-hour access issues is just as valuable as the five-star review, which details the excellent…