ong Kongers are known for their entrepreneurial spirit, but shrinking apartments and the increasing difficulty in finding spaces for commercial purposes have created an obstacle for citizens who wish to start their own business. However, they found self-storage to be a solution to the problem, which resulted in increased demand for facilities in the region.

According to Andrew Work, executive director of Self Storage Association Asia (SSAA), who has worked in Hong Kong for the past 28 years, when you take into consideration that around 70 percent of people using the facilities are paying with a personal credit card, it could fool an untrained eye to believe businesses make up only 30 percent of the customer base. This is something Work knows not to be true.

“Many people paying with their personal credit cards are using the space for inventory for a side business, developing prototypes, or storing frequently used tools or other equipment. Like anywhere, many entrepreneurs mix their personal and business goods in a locker. So, the real usage is probably closer to 50/50 personal and business,” he states. “Consumers are always finding new ways to use storage to support their businesses and personal aspirations.”

In 2019, he officially became the executive director of the association when Luigi La Tona, the SSAA’s founding executive director, who had up until that moment been responsible for growing the association to global recognition, was hired as the COO of Storhub, Singapore’s first and largest self-storage operator. “He told me it was time to return and run the organization. I couldn’t say no!”

“It’s more of a CEO Summit with top people from around the world joining in a five-star location with an awards night and a top-secret ‘experience night’ that runs long and hot,” says Work. “In most Asian companies, English doesn’t penetrate too far down from the C-suite, so we tend to cater to that group via our lingua franca, whether at the expo or in our CEO-oriented magazine, STORBOSS.”

The awards ceremony was first implemented in 2022, when it was hosted online due to the COVID restrictions in Asia. “The awards reward innovation and excellence across a wide range of operating expertise and give companies a benchmark for excellence,” he says. “There is an overall Asia winner in each category, but we also recognize a winner in each territory from which we receive entries.”

The first self-storage business in the region started with lockers in retrofitted, old industrial buildings. Companies would lease or buy around one to three floors in a building. However, as time passed, the industry grew, institutional money started to come in, and the industry expanded with companies acquiring entire individual buildings, which can cost between $80 million and $250 million (USD). “This has resulted in operators controlling the entire building experience and not depending on a building owner committee to deliver a high-quality experience from the ground and lobby to the [actual] self-storage spaces,” Work adds. This has also been a factor in allowing the businesses more visibility. “Where you used to only see small signs on buildings, now entire buildings up to 10 stories high are being wrapped in a company’s livery boldly branding the facility.”

Another new restriction states facilities must have at least the equivalent of 1 meter (3 feet 3⅜ inches) of space between the lockers and the ceiling. “These two measures pose some constraints on efficiency and maximum volumes of lockers,” says Work. “We’re working with the fire department, the main regulator, to look at new materials and fire detection and suppression technologies to improve safety standards in a way that allows customers more efficient and cost-effective use of their space.”

Facilities tend to be very tech-driven in the country, often combining three or more technologies to provide a completely contactless experience for customers. “Facial recognition, dynamic pricing, complex apps, sophisticated energy monitoring, solar panel energy generation, cutting-edge access control, and more are all being used,” says Work. “Electronic door locks, like the Nokē access systems, allow customers, especially business users, to change how they think about the storage and their staff’s access to improve distribution or realize other efficiencies.”

These technological efforts have been getting noticed by customers looking to start their own companies, as many of them have chosen to try to start their operations from self-storage facilities. “Nascent entrepreneurs start to think of storage as a place where they can get a new business going,” Work says. “Tech is making it a smarter option for them, where they can make their operations more efficient, and they can be more creative with how they operate in their early days.” When it comes to choosing a facility, customers tend to replicate the pattern noticed in more mature markets, prioritizing location and price to different degrees. “The use of apps has picked up, and people seem to respond well to options to sign up and pay online without even speaking to a sales representative.”

Specialty storage is also a big market in the country, especially when it comes to wine storage, which has been increasing in demand over the years. “In terms of consumer demand, the wine storage market has been very lucrative, and new supply hasn’t caught up to demand yet,” he states. But as the industry grows, they can cater more to other specific local customers’ needs. “One company has a great niche for serious cyclists: narrow lockers designed specifically for bikes, paired with tire repair stations and showers for post-ride clean-up. Hong Kongers are creative and will no doubt find more uses for self-storage.”

Hong Kong’s self-storage industry has been having a steady growth for the past few years, and occupation rates are constantly at around 80 percent. However, the penetration rate is still low for a region with more than 7 million residents in a continent of over 4 billion people. According to market research conducted by Mordor Intelligence, the market size is currently estimated at 3.67 million square feet and is expected to reach 5.39 million square feet by 2029.

e get into self-storage to have more time and money, so our goal is to automate and have great training platforms and systems so we can delegate as much as possible to our team. But there are a few things you must do yourself to ensure it is done on time and done right. By doing these things yourself, you will have confidence in the results and the next steps.

It is best to use a free hunting app on your phone that will show the property lines and where you are standing on the property to make sure you walk the entire property. If you find a problem, you can mark the location to have your team review it sooner rather than later. You can also ask your civil engineer to accompany you to get his/her input early on.

You should have a checklist ready to fill out as you will refer to it multiple times. The review checklist should describe and rate the following: location, street view, property condition, office, office hours, manager, kiosk, office and web rates, how long rates are good, fullness of the facility, cleanliness of the facility, size of the showroom, the manager’s greeting (Was it in front of the counter?), facility tour (Did the manager show you a unit?), sales pitch (Did the manager ask for the rental?), ability to close (Did the manager overcome your concern and ask for the rental again?), and follow up (Did the manager get your number and call you back?).

A facility visit will help you determine how you will stand out from the competition and help you set your rates with confidence. You will often be amazed that the competition is so bad that your rates can be 30-plus percent higher than their rates.

We use an Excel spreadsheet calculator so a preliminary P & L can be done in minutes. Having a calculator makes it easy to do multiple P & Ls with varying components like interest rates, construction costs, and rental rates.

The best way to know if the manager is 100 percent compatible with you and fully understands the job requirement is to be at the multiple interviews yourself.

• Follow the dress code.
• Walk/clean the site two times a day.
• Enter every prospect into the software and call back in 24 hours.
• Do not discount the price or waive fees—no exceptions.
• Open the facility on time and keep the computer and lights on until closing.
• Follow the monthly marketing calendar to a T.
• Sweep and mop the office daily.
• Use scripts.
• Call late tenants per our standards and add notes to software.
• All renters must buy tenant insurance.

Others can be checked by logging into various programs. For example, the management software will allow us to confirm past-due renters have received the prescribed text messages and managers have added the phone call notes to the program. Listening to managers’ phone calls is a must to confirm they are following the scripts. Secret shops by a third-party business are worth every penny to make sure your managers are doing a great job.

Some items can only be checked by visiting the manager and site. Regular on-site staff meetings with occasional surprise visits will confirm the office, site, and units are clean. Performing a detailed, on-site lock check each month is a great way to confirm the units and paperwork are in order. The same goes for a monthly on-site visit to check the paperwork. This also allows the staff to regularly ask questions and for you to provide ways they can be more efficient and promote the business better.

There is no such thing as a 100 percent hands-free business, but self-storage is close compared to the other business choices.

here are few things in life that stay with you forever. On an individual basis, these include personal milestones, such as weddings and the births of children. In the collective, there are historical moments, such as where you were when planes hit the World Trade Center. Magazine stories, on the other hand, tend to inform or entertain before they are forgotten.

That isn’t the case with Karen Reggio’s story. In this month’s installment of “Women In Self-Storage,” we’re showcasing her exceptional tale of overcoming unbearable hardships and her ability to extract the good that came out of them. Make sure you have tissues close by.

Thankfully, she’s always gotten along well with her siblings. “Our favorite people to be around are each other,” she proudly says. And their close-knit clan expanded when a sister was added to the mix when Reggio was 15.

It was a parent’s worst nightmare. The doctors gave a grim outlook, and her baby required multiple daily injections at home, a treatment that would be unbearable for any adult, let alone a toddler.

But even during these dark times, Reggio experienced kindness from many people. “When Mary was a few months into her treatment, one of my friends came over with a huge gift basket,” she says. “Inside, there was a card signed by 25 women. I only recognized two names, so I asked who the rest of them were.”

It was a group of women who would meet every Monday to pray for Mary. “They didn’t know her, yet they all got together weekly to do this for my daughter,” she says, tearing up when remembering their benevolence.

And her little miracle baby kept living; at age 11, Reggio was notified of a clinical trial for a new medication called Gleevec. Instead of the daily injections, she’d take oral meds once a day. Only four children were accepted into the trial, Mary being one of them.

It worked. The family was elated, but they still dealt with the realities of living with cancer: falling asleep during class due to exhaustion, people walking on eggshells around them because they didn’t want to say something insensitive, or making friends with other kids who understood what that was like.

“We were told we had to go as a family, because this would create fellowship with other families going through the same thing,” she says, adding that one of the most wonderful aspects of the camps was that all the activities, like games, singing, and swimming, involved all the kids without distinctions among those who had cancer and those who didn’t. “It was so important for Mary’s brothers and sister to be around other kids who were experiencing the same fears and isolation. It really was life changing, since kids who were tired from treatment or who had to take off prosthetics to jump in the pool were all playing together. It was refreshing to be around people who got it.”

It was especially a relief to laugh freely. The kids had a sense of humor about crazy things that would happen at the hospital. “With cancer, people often think that you should be sad all the time,” Reggio states. “But it’s very therapeutic to know you can experience joy again.”

She was also surprised to learn that every single person who ran the camp was a volunteer. There isn’t even an executive board that makes a salary. “That changed my life,” she says. “I decided I wanted to do that too. I wanted to be that kind of person who gives back.”

Reggio goes on to say, “After three years at Kure It, it was time for a change.” She considered another nonprofit management position, but Reggio was also intrigued with the idea of staying in the self-storage business.

Through Kure It, she had met Lance Watkins, with whom Barry Hoeven had created Charity Storage, an organization that provides storage units to be filled with donations that are later sold at auction. The proceeds are then donated to various charities, including Kure It.

Fortunately, Watkins told her about a new project he wanted to start. What is now Storelocal was in its beginning stages, and he needed some administrative help.

She was up for the challenge. “He had a backpack full of contracts and we started organizing things from a cubicle. We didn’t even have an office,” she recalls, proudly highlighting how much that little project has grown. “Now we have Storelocal branded locations all over the country and a full suite of technology through Tenant Inc. We’ve launched so many products and services, and it’s been such a treat to watch it grow from the humble beginnings in that cubicle.”

“What I love the most about self- storage is that there’s no gatekeeping,” says Reggio. “If someone has a great idea, they want everyone else to benefit from it, too. Whether it’s good products or services, everyone wants everyone else to succeed; and that’s pretty unusual in other industries.”

She also loves her experience at Storelocal. “Over the years, I’ve done most jobs here—accounting, bookkeeping, HR, marketing—now we have whole departments doing each of these things.”

Then, after all her kids grew up, married, and started their own families, Reggio started thinking of moving back to New Orleans. Thankfully, Storelocal let her work remotely, so she packed her bags and returned home.

She hired a resumé writer to help her, and the results impressed her. “He had taken all of the skills I used throughout my years volunteering and crafted paragraphs highlighting abilities and contributions. And when I read them, I thought, ‘Wow! I would totally hire someone like this!’”

Such an epiphany serves as a valuable lesson: Don’t discount your soft skills and experiences. Talk to as many people as you can. “Put your feelers out when you’re looking for a position. You’d be surprised at how many people are looking for someone. It doesn’t have to be something you went to school for, or you have work experience with. You are capable of many things, even things you don’t foresee.”

Above all else, Reggio brings up something that hits directly at the heart. “If our family had to choose to do life again, if we could choose for Mary not to be sick, of course we’d choose that. But our lives wouldn’t be as rich without the people we have met through this experience. Sometimes the worst things in life are also the source of great joy and wonderful relationships.”

his August, Extra Space Storage celebrated its 20^th year on the New York Stock Exchange. This is a big accomplishment for any company, especially one from the self-storage industry, as back when the company went public, the public wasn’t yet as educated on the product as they are now.

Created by Kenneth M. Woolley in 1977, Extra Space Storage joined the NYSE in 2004. Being publicly traded took the company to new heights; the easier access to money resulted in steady growth, and the company went from being a relatively small business worth $700 million to the largest in the industry, valued at $32.5 billion.

In the meantime, the self-storage industry changed and evolved into a mainstream asset class. Stubbs recollects going to events and talking to investors of more mainstream asset classes at the time, such as malls, office buildings, and apartments, which didn’t know much about self-storage, and his and his colleagues’ efforts to educate the investors along the way. “It was quite a process. But today, self-storage has become a core asset class, and people accept it more. I mean, if you are going to invest in real estate, you probably need to own some portion of self-storage.”

In the past few years, usage has also increased. “When I first started in the self-storage space back in 2000, we probably had about 5 percent usage in the United States. Today, that number is above 10 percent,” Stubbs adds. “The industry also went from mom-and-pop operators who owned two or three properties to several large companies like Extra Space. Today, there are four publicly traded real estate investment trusts, so a lot has changed in the industry.”

After just eight months of going public, they were able to raise $300 million, making them, at the time, the largest IPL in the state of Utah. The initial success was met with even more investment, which led to massive growth that continues to this day. “Our ability to access capital and raise money became very different. Now we do bond offerings that are $600 million in a week,” he affirms. “We went from doing $20 million loans for four properties to doing $100 million loans or $200 million equity offerings.”

Their first big investment after going public happened in 2005, when Extra Space Storage acquired Storage USA, which was owned by GE at the time. The $2.3 billion deal was covered by news outlets such as The New York Times. “At the time, we had 150 stores, and they had 450. So, really, what catapulted our growth after being public was buying Storage USA.”

“When we had 150 stores, we knew all of our employees. You could walk around the corporate office in Salt Lake City, or go to any of our stores, and you would know all of them. Today, with 7,500 employees, it’s not realistic to think you are going to know every single person or that you are going to be able to meet personally with them every single year,” he states. “We still do town hall meetings and involve our employees to let them know they are heard. We want to know what is going on at the store level; that’s a core piece of our focus, as well as implementing a lot of their ideas, as we always had a culture of ‘doing things better’ or ‘doing things differently.’”

Stubbs took over the role of CFO after years of shadowing and being mentored by former CFO Kent Christensen in 2011. “Kent did a great job at helping me be prepared to move into the CFO role,” he says. “He allowed me to be involved in things some people might not have, and as a result, it made my transition much easier.”

Stubbs also attributes part of his success to the company’s ability to hire people who are overqualified and can handle more responsibility as time passes by. “You can hire two kinds of employees. You can hire someone that you hope has the ability to grow with the job, or you can hire someone and have the job grow into that person. We have effectively overhired many times, and as a result, we haven’t had to replace people or hire over people. It has really helped.”

nvestment rates have declined slightly from Q1 2024, reflecting the common characteristics of self-storage: slow and steady over the long run. As Gary Sugarman, COO and principal of The William Warren Group, said, “Self-storage is great; it can’t always be unbelievable.”

Cap rates declined slightly in the 2Q 2024 Investor Survey slightly, back to Q4 2023 levels approximately or a 7 bp decline from Q1 2024 levels to 5.76 percent. There is a near certain belief the Fed will cut rates in the near term, and that appears to be reflected in higher optimism this quarter. Key performance indicators are shown in the Segmentation by Investment Quality Table.
See Segmentation by Investment Quality Table

Absent knowledge (or my answer, I don’t know), let’s look at what math suggests. Solving for a current cap rate of 5.76 percent could look like the example in the Band of Investment Table.
See Band of Investment Table

he outlook for storage is uncertain in the second half of the year.

A team from Yardi Matrix attended the SSA Fall 2024 Conference in Las Vegas on Sept. 3 to 6 and found the atmosphere mixed. Operators are pessimistic about 2024 results, given that the typically busy summer leasing season has been shorter and weaker, while brokers and investors feel confident that deal flow will pick up as performance finds a bottom and interest rates come down. Advertised rental rate declines are fueling uncertainty in underwriting for acquisitions and development, but investor interest remains high and there is an abundance of capital waiting to start or expand self-storage portfolios. The bid-ask spread that has kept many on the sidelines has shown little sign of budging, but impending interest rate cuts could help bring cap rates back down from 5.5 to 6-plus percent. Rental rate declines could moderate over the next few months, after rates dropped aggressively in fall and winter 2022 and 2023, as supply pressures start to ease and existing customer rate increases become less accretive to in-place rent growth, providing motivation to hold the line on street rates.

Advertised rates continue to decline year over year. Following weakened demand and declining occupancy, advertised rate growth continues to be negative. Nationwide, advertised rates were down 4.3 percent year over year in August, with an annualized average per square foot of $16.31 for the combined mix of unit sizes and types—the 23^rd consecutive month of annual declines.

Advertised rate growth also remains negative year over year across Yardi Matrix’s top metros. Same-store rates for non-climate-controlled (NCC) and climate-controlled (CC) units decreased in all 30 top metros in August compared to last year, while rates for large units (10-by-20, 10-by-30) are doing much better than those for small units (5-by-5, 5-by-10) in nearly all metros.

Nationally, Yardi Matrix tracks a total of 3,408 self-storage properties in various stages of development, including 837 under construction, 2,063 planned, and 508 prospective properties. The share of projects (net rentable square feet) under construction nationwide was equivalent to 3.4 percent of existing stock through the end of August.

Yardi Matrix also maintains operational profiles for 32,142 completed self-storage facilities in the U.S., bringing the total dataset to 35,550. We are happy to announce our new Evansville, Iowa City, Longview, and Peoria storage markets are now available on the subscriber portal.

Same-store advertised rates for combined NCC units nationwide decreased 3.8 percent year over year in August, a slight improvement over the -3.9 percent average over the first seven months of the year, while same-store advertised rates performed worse for comparable CC units, declining 5.1 percent year over year, a deceleration from an average of -4.7 percent from January to July. Customers are more likely to rent NCC units when the weather is nicer, likely contributing to the difference in performance between NCC and CC units. In addition, new supply tends to primarily be CC units, which impacts rates.

The self-storage REITs continue to lead rate declines, with advertised rents at stabilized properties down 5.4 percent annually versus 4.0 percent for their non-REIT competitors in the same markets nationwide. However, the difference has come in quite a bit compared to August 2023, when REITs’ advertised rates decreased 7.4 percent year over year versus their non-REIT competitors at 3.5 percent.

See August 2024 Year-Over-Year Rent Change for Main Unit Sizes Table

The national average for combined advertised rates per square foot fell 50 basis points, or eight cents, to $16.31 in August from July. This is the second consecutive month of decreases after the busier summer leasing season came to an earlier-than-anticipated end, and slightly worse than the average 0.3 percent month-over-month decline in August of 2017 to 2019.

One of the metros experiencing positive growth in sequential rates was Nashville, which had the second- strongest performance in advertised rates year over year. Nashville has seen a rapid reduction in new supply in lease-up over the past three years, which has led to a turnaround in rate growth in the metro.

See National Average Street Rates PSF Unit Types Table/Chart

A handful of top metros are seeing healthier storage rates in spite of weak multifamily performance. Storage performance in Austin has improved from a year ago, and advertised rates decreased 3.0 percent year over year in August for popular 10-by-10 NCC units. However, amid strong population growth (up 2.5 percent year over year), Austin has seen an influx of recent apartment supply, and rents significantly underperformed all the other top metros in August, with multifamily advertised rates dropping 5.5 percent year over year.

On the other hand, other top metros are seeing strong rent performance across both their storage and multifamily markets. Washington, D.C., had the best storage rate growth in August, with same-store advertised rates for 10-by-10 NCC units falling only 0.5 percent compared to August 2023. The metro’s apartment rent growth also outpaced all but one of the other top metros, with multifamily advertised rates increasing 3.8 percent year over year. In addition to a strong apartment market, Washington, D.C.’s storage performance has been fueled by a decline in new supply being delivered over the past few years.

See Self-storage Major Metro Summary Chart

Nationally, the amount of new supply delivered over the past three years is equal to 8.7 percent of starting inventory, while deliveries over the trailing 12 months account for 2.8 percent of the inventory that existed in August 2023. Three-year supply, a proxy for inventory in lease-up, has been gradually decreasing over the past few years across the nation, from 9.2 percent in August 2023 and 10.2 percent in August 2022.

Atlanta has been impacted by a large amount of supply in lease-up, with deliveries over the last three years equal to 12.4 percent of starting inventory. As a result, storage performance in Atlanta has been weak and advertised rates for main unit types and sizes dropped 10.0 percent year over year. The metro has been attracting developer interest following strong performance during the pandemic, and suburban Atlanta has seen over 1.1 million square feet of construction starts thus far in 2024, which will create even more challenges in the future.

See NRSF Delivered Over the Last 36 and 12 Trailing Months Table/Graph

With 63.3 million net rentable square feet (NRSF) under construction, the national pipeline was equal to 3.4 percent of existing stock through the end of August, shrinking a small 0.1 percent month over month. Construction starts have slowed only modestly from a recent peak in summer 2023, which means we will continue to see new projects come online in 2024 and 2025. However, despite new supply continuing to move forward, the pace has slowed given the interest rate and rental rate environment, and our recent forecast shows deliveries declining 9.4 percent in 2024 from 2023.

Without any construction starts in 2023 or 2024 to backfill recent deliveries, San Jose saw its pipeline of new supply under construction dwindle to 0 percent of existing stock in August. However, this is a welcome reprieve for the metro and should help the market in the near term. San Jose has dealt with weak demand from out-migration, losing 0.7 percent of its population in 2022. Consequently, rental rates have struggled across the metro, with advertised rates falling a considerable 180 basis points from July to August for combined unit types and sizes.

See Under-Construction Supply by Percentage of Existing Inventory Table/Graph

After growing up in Indianapolis, Shreve attended Indiana University Bloomington (IU), where he developed a strong interest in both real estate and politics. “I came as a freshman undecided but had two internship experiences that were formative,” he says.

Choosing political science as an elective, Shreve landed an internship with a senator in Washington, D.C. He graduated with a BA in political science from IU; he also earned a master’s degree in international studies and diplomacy from the University of London and an MBA in Agribusiness from Purdue University.

“With grid paper, I started laying out storage buildings,” Shreve says. He found that there wasn’t enough square footage left over for an office and a manager’s apartment, which is how most facilities were operated at that time in the late 1980s. “There was only enough ground for 25,000 square feet on some of these parcels,” he says.

The partners decided to forgo self-storage and focus on retail development instead, but it was the germ of an idea for Shreve. “I was getting ready to graduate the next year and thought I had something that would work in terms of small self-storage, centralized, and without a manager on site,” he says. “I was determined to cut my teeth on that notion and do a couple of locations.” His plan was to graduate to apartments or retail developments. After trying his hand at other commercial real estate types, however, he found he did best with self-storage.

Simplicity was key to the strategy. “I was just doing something like 50-unit, pre-engineered steel buildings.” Shreve says. “Simple construction, not fenced, not paved.” He began to build a small portfolio of storage facilities under the Storage Express brand, which he founded in 1993. “The secret sauce was the simple operating platform,” Shreve says. The stores were remotely managed, allowing him to allocate human resources across locations. The phone number 1-800-STOREIT was prominent on all of the buildings at these locations.

Calls came into a small, two-person office. “We rented space over the phone and mailed out rental agreements with a return address envelope, asking customers to return the agreement with a check or money order,” Shreve says. “Then we would cross our fingers and hope we got it back. Most of the time, it worked. It was as simple as that.”

As Shreve added more locations, field service reps moved around to the various properties for lock checks and maintenance. “It was rudimentary but innovative in the way that we had multiple locations without a manager,” he says. “It was simple and scalable. I could do that with one person in the office and one field tech to take care of a dozen little properties, or I could have two people in the office and two in the field to take care of another dozen properties.”

The industry responded to Shreve’s unmanned business model with passing curiosity. “Some thought it was novel,” he says, “but few believed the managerless approach was likely to be broadly adopted. Most believed customers would be unwilling to rent without the human interaction.”

Yet the simple strategy proved successful and Shreve continued to add to the Storage Express portfolio over the next few decades. “I bought properties in years when properties were on sale and it was a good time to buy, and I built properties in years when it was more profitable to build,” he says. “I acted as general contractor and we got pretty good at building facilities.” They built a consistent product, which Shreve says is important in a business you want to scale up.

There were bumps in the road, of course, such as the tail end of the global financial crisis that hit private self-storage operators hard in 2008 and 2009. “It was tough sledding for all of us,” Shreve says. “I was thankful to make it through unscathed.” Despite obstacles, Storage Express became the largest self-storage company headquartered in Indiana, with 125 stores across six states.

In 2020, Shreve thought market conditions were favorable for beginning to sell some of his self-storage interests. In June 2022, Extra Space acquired Storage Express’ remaining 107 remote storage properties across Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky. The sale also included 14 future development sites. Extra Space announced that total consideration for the acquisition was approximately $590 million. Shreve was appointed to the company’s board of directors but resigned from the position this year to avoid a potential conflict of interest while running for office.

Early in 2023, Shreve took his first big venture into politics when he ran for mayor of Indianapolis against an incumbent who was running for a third term in a Democrat stronghold. In a largely self-funded mayoral campaign—the city’s most expensive to date—Shreve battered his opponent with nine months of campaign ads attacking the incumbent’s record on public safety and other issues.

Winning as a Republican in the overwhelmingly Democrat city was a longshot. Ultimately, he couldn’t turn the tide. As to why he chose to run against such improbable odds, Shreve stated in his concession speech that “This wasn’t a head decision. This was a heart decision.” The upside was that during the pervasive campaign, he was able to get the attention of the city at large and share his concerns over growing crime, needed infrastructure improvements, and other issues. At the time, Shreve had no plans to seek any other office.

Two months later, Pence announced that he wouldn’t be seeking reelection to the House of Representatives in Shreve’s district. Shreve saw it as a better opportunity to serve the people of Indiana. “I thought, ‘Here is someplace I can really make a difference,’” he says. In February, Shreve filed as a candidate on the last day to file for the 6^th District primary. In May, he won the nomination in a tight race.

“Most of what our operators need happens on a statehouse level,” Shreve says. “When I was going through the chairs with the SSA, all of our efforts were focused on the general assemblies from state to state because that’s really where the touchpoints are for self-storage.”

The big issues are property tax policy, lien sale notification requirements, vehicle and title transfer issues, and updating of the construction codes and standards, none of which happens at a federal level. “So, we were always heavily focused on advocacy work at the general assembly level,” Shreve says. “We spent a disproportionate amount of time on states like California, where they had the moratorium on evictions or rate changes. For three years, California was locked down and it was a real challenge for smaller operators.”

All states remain under watch, however. “There was a councilman in Miami who wanted to regulate the colors that self-storage could be in,” Shreve says. “You have to be mindful of, attuned to, and get in front of efforts at overregulation at the state and even at the local level.” For example, he notes that Ohio charges a sales tax on storage rentals that is both burdensome to collect and is an additional cost for the renter.

“We just have to be vigilant,” Shreve says. “I would encourage everyone to stay involved with their industry associations and to keep their ears to the ground and share information. When some menacing legislation or threat surfaces, let your industry association know it so we can get on it. Some things can move pretty quickly, especially at the local, city, or county level.”

At those levels, he says a challenging ordinance could be introduced and adopted within 45 days, while most bills that go through the general assemblies take six months or so. “The SSA has a bill tracking service that we monitor, and we engage advocacy talent at the state level on an ongoing basis,” Shreve says.

Although the industry has used promotional rates in the past, it would typically be six to nine months before renters received a substantial rate increase. “That’s fair pushback because it does represent a significant change in the way things have traditionally worked,” Shreve says. “In my Storage Express days, we’d raise rates, but we didn’t raise them 30 percent in three months’ time. The really big operators have gotten pretty aggressive on that, and we are seeing some pushback.”

Shreve says that regulations could potentially happen even on a federal level because the companies that are most brazen about doing it are operating nationally. “That could result in some federal regulation being introduced,” he says. “It’s a fair issue to call into question.”

If such legislation is introduced while he serves in Congress, Shreve says he will address the matter with care. “I would work to be quietly helpful by talking to people both in the industry and to colleagues in Congress, including someone who might be authoring the bill, about how we could get the industry to modify or make some changes without actually implementing legislation,” he says. “It’s easier to head off a challenge through quiet communication than to introduce a bill that goes into a law and try to fix it after it’s already been adopted.”

Shreve says the people serving in both the House and Senate come from a variety of industries and those who have a footing in real estate or development can bring their experiences. “We can be helpful in communicating back to our own industries and can help colleagues who may never have been in business at all understand the other side of why we have a practice in place.” he says.

His advice for new operators? “Don’t run out of cash,” Shreve says. “There are countless businesses that have failed—not because they lacked a great underlying idea, or a viable marketplace, or even top management talent. Rather, they failed because they simply ran out of cash.” He says cashflow management is key to survival in the early years of a business.

In fact, fiscal responsibility is one fundamental principle of running a storage business that Shreve says he will take to Washington, D.C. It’s a key issue on his platform. He notes other things learned through his experience in the industry that he will carry with him to Congress as well: “The value of understanding your market, as in your district and voter demographics. The importance of developing a team. A lawmaker, like a business executive, is only as good or as effective as the bench of talent that he or she staffs up with. The value of relationship building with your peers, in both business and politics.”

Lastly, Shreve says, “Constituents are like customers. They’ll vote with their feet. If you aren’t serving your customers or your constituents, they’ll take their business elsewhere or give their vote to another candidate.”

This closeness influenced his college career. Rudel enrolled at North Dakota State University in Fargo. He started his studies by majoring in engineering, but he soon found that he wasn’t that enamored with the subject. He was more interested in psychology, since it helped him better understand one of his younger brothers, who was a special needs child, so he eventually switched majors.

“Having a brother who had special needs made me want to work with other people with the same challenges,” Rudel says. “Back then, having a child with such a condition was often deemed an embarrassment, and a lot of families hid their kids. I wanted to change that, so I got involved in some community programs with the YMCA.” While in college, he coordinated teaching students at three local universities to run a program for mentally disabled people. “We would go on speedboats, snowmobiles, and plan other recreational activities.” It was rewarding for him to see them having so much fun, and it was life changing for them to be accepted.

This community involvement eventually led Rudel to get a graduate degree in special education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. After graduating, he taught special needs children at Omaha public schools. However, this part of this career would be short lived. About a year into teaching, his father moved to Phoenix because the state offered more support for his mentally challenged son. Rudel moved to Arizona to be closer to his family.

While in the Grand Canyon State, he became involved with the Boy Scouts and worked as a Scoutmaster for a decade. It was an enjoyable role that allowed him to continue working with children and spend time in nature—something he and his wife, Carol, have always loved to do. “We’d go backpacking and camping all over the state. It was really fun.”

The move was also a catalyst to switch careers. Once in the Southwest, his dad got into real estate, and Rudel decided to join him. “My father was very entrepreneurial and was always looking for a challenge,” he states. “He had grain and feedlot operations in North Dakota and built a grocery store for his hometown.”

The memories of starting the project are bittersweet. While working together during those early days, Rudel’s dad was diagnosed with leukemia, and they were both aware that he had a limited time. In fact, his father passed away at 53 years of age, halfway through the development of the facility. “It was at that point that I got my general contractor’s license,” he says. “That way, I could complete construction on that project.”

This tenacity has been evident in everything Rudel has done throughout his professional life. Once he makes up his mind to do something, he goes all in. This is something colleagues in self-storage attest to.

“I’ve known Chris for over 50 years,” says Bob Schoff, who, along with Rudel, co-founded the Arizona Self-Storage Association (AZSA). “And I can say that he’s like the phoenix from Arizona. In the 70s, there was nothing regulating this industry—no lease agreements, no lien laws. And he was very instrumental in getting everything off the ground.” Although life can get complicated and cause people to shift priorities, Rudel has always juggled everything well.

“I’ve been on and off associations throughout the decades,” Schoff says, “but Chris has always remained involved. I’ve never known him to miss a single meeting. He always wants to help everyone, make things better. Always selfless, always devoted.”

Rudel also went into a partnership with a developer in Newport Beach. “My uncle and I invested in a building in Arizona, and this developer rented office space in it, so we decided to go into business with them by building warehouses in Phoenix and Vegas.”

After a few years of the partnership, Rudel decided to turn his focus exclusively on self-storage. “I already had my first facility in Phoenix, then built a single-story project in Tempe and a multistory facility in west Phoenix,” he says, proudly adding that he’s still owns them and they are in better condition today than they were back then.

Amy Amideo has been the executive director of AZSA since 2020. “Ever since I started at this position, Chris has played a crucial role in my success,” she shares. “He’s been a mentor since day one, especially when I was new and overwhelmed. He always took time from his busy schedule to make sure I felt supported.” Not only is she grateful for his guidance, but she has a long list of compliments when speaking of him. “He’s such a great human being—so wise, kind, funny, great businessman. I’m really happy to know him.”

Hardy Good, chairman and CEO of New Empire Ventures, whole heartedly agrees. “Chris Rudel is a fine man of the highest integrity—a true early pioneer in the self-storage industry in Arizona.”

Good explains how he met Rudel early on in his career, and that he admires that Rudel has always been courteous and generous with his knowledge and experience. “He’s always helpful. Even in the 70s, when there was a significant reluctance within the industry to share information, he’s always shared helpful insights. Nowadays, it’s a lot more common for even competitors to share information, but Chris has done it since the beginning. He’s always been honest, open, and helpful.”

Similarly, Ray McRae, vice president of Storage Solutions, explains how self-storage insiders will greatly miss him as the sun sets on his career. “I have known Chris since I ventured into the self-storage business back in 1998. It has been an honor serving so many years with him on the Arizona Self-Storage Association board; I was sad to hear the news that he’s retiring from AZSA,” says McRae. “His level headedness and can-do attitude has always been an inspiration to everyone. I really wish him all the best in every pursuit in life’s journey, although I will truly miss working with him.”

His colleagues aren’t the only ones who love him. Rudel even passes the likability test with some of the most challenging people to truly win over: the in-laws.

His son-in-law, James Appleton, director of program sales at MiniCo Insurance Agency, has many heartfelt things to say about him, too. “Chris is a down to earth, North Dakota farm boy with a servant’s heart and an abundance of time to mentor everyone, in both life and the self-storage industry.”

Appleton also admires Rudel’s will to continue moving forward even when facing emotionally tolling difficulties. “When he decided to continue working on the facility he started building with his father, he helped forge the way for a burgeoning industry, both in Arizona and nationally,” he points out, describing a situation that could have easily been abandoned after the heartbreak of losing his dad. But what’s even more impressive is that he didn’t stop once the project was completed. “By way of the Arizona Self-Storage Association, Chris helped craft some of the first lien laws that other states still utilize and reference in their own laws. A true pioneer.”

Rudel’s guidance has also been the roadmap that led Appleton where he is today in his career. “I was previously in the television/advertising industry,” he says. “We shut the company down in 2006, and Chris gave me the opportunity to move the family out to Phoenix and jump headfirst into commercial real estate and self-storage. I definitely wouldn’t have seen myself in the industry if it weren’t for his mentorship and support.”

Appleton’s gratitude and admiration extend on a personal level, too. “Everyone is family to Chris, and everyone gravitates to him. He isn’t one to seek accolades, but he has the respect of everyone he has ever worked with, and it’s an honor to be his son-in-law.”

First, challenges and failures are part of life. As a personal example, he shares that when he was in real estate, he put a lot of time, effort, and money into projects that didn’t work out. He specifically remembers an industrial park in Prescott Valley, for which he worked on for 15 years, only to break even.

And in the 1980s, when things got rough in the real estate market, he didn’t panic. He thought of ways he could transfer his skills into services that would still be in demand. That’s when he pivoted and started offering consulting services to mortgage banks, providing advice on whether certain properties should be developed or sold as they were, and how to proceed to regain their capital.

“The Lord has always opened a door for me, even in challenging times,” he says, looking back. “We were able to not only learn but make a decent living during a tough stretch in the real estate market.”

In fact, that’s the best advice he has for people who are starting their careers. “Stay focused. There are a lot of distractions in life, and this can be very problematic, since they can become hurdles to completing projects.”

He believes that having a narrow scope of endeavors increases the likelihood of finding viable solutions to life’s challenges and success in projects. “Other attractive opportunities would come along, and I chose to stay within self-storage. I decided early on to take on one project at a time to take them to fruition.”

Also, he advises that when the going gets tough, keep pushing forward, and don’t forget to help others while doing it. Because that’s something else that has been paramount for Rudel: being mindful of those around him. He’s the living example of the adage “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

In the professional sphere, he has resigned from his board position at AZSA, but he mentions that being involved in the association has been one of the most positive and uplifting aspects of his career. He’s grateful for the industry in general. “One of the best things about self-storage is the quality of the people,” says Rudel.

The Rudels also still love being active members of their community. Both he and his wife have been involved in church and youth leadership throughout the years, because that’s the biggest thing about him: Despite all of his professional accomplishments, he highlights that what he values most are the people he loves.

“My priorities in life have been my faith, my family, and my friends. And I think to a large degree, that’s a good share of the basis of the successes we’ve been able to achieve.”

It’s also a value he learned from his dad. “One of the things my father taught me is that the person who’s most successful is the one who surrounds himself with the best team of positive people. Your work should be a passion and enjoyable. And the Lord has blessed me in providing just that.”

Another reason data doesn’t tell the full story is because self-storage thefts often fall under the “hotel rule” of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Handbook. This rule is used to reduce the burden of reporting burglaries of temporary lodgings, stating that if a number of dwelling units under a single manager are burglarized and the offenses are most likely to be reported to the police by the manager rather than the individual tenants, the burglary should be scored as one offense.

“This means that if a burglar hit 20 units at one location and the manager calls the police, the number of burglaries reported will be one,” explains Justin Insalaco, a retired police officer, strategic advisor to the Atlas One law enforcement safety network, and a board member with Crime Stoppers Global Solutions. “Reporting also uses the concept of ‘same time and place,’ which means that if the same person or group of persons committed more than one crime and the time and space intervals separating them were insignificant, all the crimes make up a single incident.”

“If you put on your ‘criminal hat’ for a moment, it’s easy to see why self-storage facilities are attractive to thieves,” says Maggie Bode, director of business development for DaVinci Lock. “They are vast with only a handful of individuals on site at any given time, and hundreds of units present hundreds of opportunities for theft. Plus, they’re also often on the outskirts of town, meaning police response can be slow.”

Christine DeBord, chief commercial officer at Janus International, agrees that the prospect of simply hopping a fence and cutting a lock can be far more attractive to thieves than breaking into a home where neighbors, occupants, alarms, and proximity to police could pose a problem. However, she notes that theft could also come from inside the property. “Someone could pose as a tenant to gain access to the facility,” she says. “Or, an employee or existing tenant may see someone loading something valuable into a unit and return later to snatch it up.”

However a thief gains access, police across the country are warning that self-storage thefts are on the rise. In Arapahoe County, Colo., for example, sheriff’s office investigators say there has been a rapid increase in storage facility thefts, with 60 occurring in the first six months of the year alone. “We’ve never seen it happen at this level before,” said Sgt. Brett Cohn. “The uptick started during COVID and hasn’t stopped. We need to educate the public and take away the opportunity for these types of crimes. It’s the only way it’s going to stop.” MSM also reported on a facility in Colorado Springs in which police had responded to nearly 30 calls in three months.

Colorado and Tennessee aren’t the only states with a self-storage theft problem. According to Xercor Insurance Services, Kentucky, Texas, and California round out the top five, however it is a national problem.

Insalaco believes a shortage of police officers is one reason for this. “Less manpower on the street means more petty theft,” he says. “But bail reform also plays a part.”

Bail reform was designed to ensure that non-violent criminals are not detained simply because they can’t afford bail, promoting fairness and reducing unnecessary pretrial incarceration. By allowing them to maintain employment, housing, and family ties, the thought was that these non-violent criminals would be less likely to reoffend. However, the Department of Criminal Justice reports that eliminating bail for select misdemeanor and nonviolent felony charges led to little change in recidivism.

“How a case is prosecuted is up to the discretion of the prosecutorial agency,” says Steve Lieberman, founding partner with the Law Offices of Lieberman & Taormina, LLP, one of the nation’s leading attorneys specializing in firearms law, self-defense, and home invasions, and co-owner of the Artemis Defense Institute. “In some jurisdictions DAs [district attorneys] have taken the position that each unit represents an individual crime against the renter. Others have taken the collective view and essentially relied on the theory that this should be a civil matter between the renter and the storage facility owner. There is no hard and fast rule.”

Because there are no hard and fast rules, Insalaco says theft charges are typically a low priority. “Let’s not forget that prosecuting attorneys are elected officials,” adds Insalaco. “They all want the high-profile cases that are going to help them get re-elected. Storage theft is not really a compelling story, and they may just want to get it off the docket quickly, so it becomes a game of ‘catch and release.’”

Nearly 12 years ago, Marshall Calvert, a revenue management analyst at Crescendo Properties, was overseeing a Public Storage facility in Las Vegas. The property had become a target for one thief, who had broken into dozens of units in the area–76 to be exact–and made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of belongings. Despite Calvert’s pleas to local police to do more, the crook remained on the loose. “I’d had it,” says Calvert. “So, I took it upon myself to randomly drive into facilities when he was known to strike, somewhere between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.”

As fate would have it, Calvert eventually encountered the man, who was also armed. “I called the police, and this time they came quickly,” he recalls. “After a bit of a standoff, they were able to subdue him and get him off the property.”

Calbert says that despite this, the thief almost got away with it. “The guy had people stating he was only there this one time, including his girlfriend,” he explains. However, Calvert and the district attorney were able to scare the girlfriend into talking by claiming to have evidence that would prove she was lying under oath and liable to get 10 years for it. “She freaked out and started screaming that he had made her lie for him and admitted that she was storing all the property at her house for him,” continues Calvert. “The DA walked back inside the courtroom, and about 30 minutes later came back out and said they made a deal and that his sentence would be in the double digits.”

Self-storage operators aren’t the only ones fighting back; sometimes tenants do some sleuthing too. Just recently, a thief had been hitting a SmartStop Self Storage facility in Homestead, Fla. One of the tenants, who asked not to be identified, said that he’d had nearly $25,000 worth of belongings stolen from him. He’d filed a police report but the criminal hadn’t been caught.

Fed up, the tenant decided to stake out the facility on his own. The morning of the 4^th of July, the thief returned, but this Independence Day heist cost him his freedom. Through the facility’s large windows, he was spotted breaking into numerous units. “We noticed that the individual was actually [going] from unit to unit,” said the tenant. “The technique that he used was actually [climbing] through the ceiling.”

Of course, it’s not always safe for owners or tenants to take matters into their own hands, nor are they likely to luck out with a girlfriend who sings like a canary or a crook who puts on a window show in broad daylight.

One security company that is working on a way to facilitate this type of collaboration between self- storage operators is OpenTech Alliance, Inc. Along with Xercor Insurance Services, it has created the Self-Storage Security Council. Robert Chiti, CEO of OpenTech, says the council has a mantra: “Criminals are becoming organized; it’s time for the self-storage community to do the same.”

Chiti says it’s imperative that self-storage operators share data, work together, and document theft in order to provide law enforcement with the information they need to do their job.

“Most self-storage operators deal with theft independently,” explains Chiti. “They don’t want to talk about it, because they don’t want it to become a public relations issue. But when a self-storage industry is broken into, especially multiple units impacting numerous tenants, it’s going to make the news anyhow. So we aim to create a format for collaboration.”

To be part of the council, operators must sign confidentiality agreements, stating that they will not use information to portray any other facility in a negative light. “We strive to create an environment where there is conversation without fear,” says Chiti. “We want to know what operators are doing about theft, what they’re seeing out there. Is there vandalism? A suspicious car? Tenants behaving oddly? Share that information. It could be valuable for others.”

The ultimate goal of the Self-Storage Security Council is to create a data tracking system. Since its inception, Chiti says four more insurance companies have joined, and there is now a network of more than 100 operators across the country sharing information. “We are organizing as an industry to protect ourselves and our tenants. With all of our data, we are starting to see patterns. We’re able to collect evidence to give to the police. And they’re able to turn what might be a misdemeanor into a felony and put these criminals away for a while. It’s about being proactive, not reactive.”

Chiti says the concept is still incubating, as the network works on structure, processes, and attracting new members. At that point, he says the plan is to go to the national Self Storage Association to build a bigger, more robust platform. “It doesn’t matter which security platform a facility has, which insurance company they work with,” Chiti says. “This is not about selling a product. This is about protecting the industry.”

If you are interested in being part of the Self-Storage Security Council, contact Kristie Adams at KAdams@OpenTech.com.

Unfortunately, many other self-storage operators didn’t step up to support their tenants, says Pierce. “I’ve never seen a group of individuals out for blood like I did yesterday, but of the many that were there fighting for justice, only one person was there on behalf of their company and their tenants. The rest were tenants from other facilities representing themselves alone and bearing the majority of the $500,000 in losses.”

“You have to advocate for the police to take these break-ins seriously,” says Eric Isaacson, a real estate investor with a focus on self-storage. He recalls the time one of his investments had a break-in and it was all on camera. “We saw where the burglar touched the wall, and we demanded that [the police] fingerprint that area. It turned up a print and they caught the guy.”

Isaacson says the crook then confessed to 12 other break-ins. “I went to the grand jury and said we have to set an example that we take this seriously. Our tenants loved our bulldog approach and felt cared about.”

Pierce understands the frustration. “We had one detective that wouldn’t answer calls, but another that was on it 100 percent,” he says. “So there’s the side of doing our due diligence, then the side of really pushing law enforcement to move forward.”

Tushim agrees. “The best solution to these types of events is being able to provide as much information as possible to the authorities, as soon as possible, to help them create a case. This means fingerprints, quality photos or video of the perp, a description of the vehicle and its license plate. Much of this information can be easily provided by using the existing security infrastructure in a facility, or by adding a few additional elements.”

“Ultimately, there needs to be accountability in this business,” continues Tushim. “If someone is paying you to store their stuff, it’s up to the facility to keep it safe. That means keeping up maintenance, for example. If your gate is broken and you’re not bothering to fix it, but you’re not discounting my rate for this sudden safety issue, that’s not right. The more seriously you take security, the more you can charge. Don’t undermine your business by only thinking with your pocketbook. This is how some self-storage owners fail themselves.”

Finally, when a case does go to court, Pierce firmly believes it’s important that owners show up for their tenants. “I’ve met good people in the courtroom that lost everything they had to their name with no backing from their facility,” he says. “As individuals, and as an industry, we need to be there for our tenants.”

ith more and more large investors and equity firms enter the self-storage industry, many smaller businesses have chosen to sell or close. The mobile self-storage market, on the other hand, seems to offer more chances for newbies to stand out; it hasn’t been tapped in quite as much by major league players, thus permitting a more level playing field.

According to Jessie Smith, creative director of Boxwell, a company that specializes in creating containers and relocatable units, mobile or portable self-storage is a method in which the company places a container at the customer’s house or business, allowing them the freedom to fill it up and retrieve items at their convenience. However, their clients’ customers also often use it as a quick and remote way to maximize their spaces, as the portable unit can remain at the customer’s location for a longer period. This can come in handy, for instance, when you’re renovating a house and you need extra space to keep the items from a specific room. As for businesses, Boxwell offers a similar solution to maximize their clients’ facilities: relocatable self-storage units, a type of flexible and moveable buildings designed to fit almost anywhere.

Boxwell was was founded in 2015 by Rod Bolls, a self-storage veteran and key member of the National Portable Storage Association (NPSA) steering committee. His main goal with the company was to provide innovative storage solutions to businesses. “Our first clients were portable storage companies. Although we have spread into other markets, portable storage remains at the core of what we do,” he says. “Today, we have portable storage clients across the globe.”

From a self-storage customer point of view, the mobility in the industry is an unmatched advantage, as they don’t have to travel to a facility or rearrange their schedule to try to meet the set access hours. With mobile storage, customers only need to call the storage company and ask them to deliver their container to their address. Once they finish filling it up or retrieving their goods, all they must do is call the storage company and set up a date for the container to be retrieved.

The mobile solution can also be an alternative to a moving company, as it allows more space for storage, often at a better price. It’s also a great option for companies that participate in festivals and organize outdoor pop-up shops, enabling them to rent a container for a season instead of purchasing a more permanent solution that may not be as economical or useful.

The three main priorities for this type of business are buying containers, setting up a facility to store them, and creating a transport system.

When researching containers, make sure to look for durable and high-quality products that are waterproof, non-slip, non-toxic, non-flammable, stackable, and pest-proof. With mobile self-storage containers, which are exposed to the elements and transported from place to place, it is best to invest in good-quality products. Doing so will save you money in the long run with maintenance, pest control, and replacements.

Ask the company you are planning to purchase containers from if they offer customizations, since your containers should become part of your marketing efforts. “They act as ‘moving billboards’ because they’re branded with our customer’s logos, colors, and decals,” says Smith.

Another important characteristic to look for in a manufacturer is good post-sale customer service, especially for investors entering the industry, as they will be your biggest resource when it comes to handling the product, from assembling it correctly to best practices.

“Aside from a superior product, Boxwell’s customer service sets us apart,” says Smith. “We go far beyond ‘making the sale,’ focusing on cultivating long-term partnerships in which we help our clients grow, adapt, and succeed. We offer extensive support, including graphic design services, white-glove assembly, product warranties, and more.”

Smith also points out the importance of the containers’ compatibility with delivery systems. “Our product is compatible with several different delivery systems, making it a versatile and ready-made solution for the on-site, on-demand business model.”

To maximize the efficiency of both, some container manufacturers offer features that can make the entire process straightforward and more efficient, which will play a big role in maximizing productivity and enhancing the company’s reputation.

“Our product’s design [also] includes a number of transport- optimized features,” says Smith. “They have built-in receiver tubes, D-rings, forklift pockets, E-tracks, and tie-downs. They’re also stackable up to three high, even when fully loaded. This allows portable storage businesses to maximize efficiency of their lot or warehouse.”

n the self-storage industry, we often think in terms of space (how to manage it, maximize it, and create it where needed). But at StorageGives, we’ve shifted our focus to making room for something much bigger than storage: giving. As a charitable organization, StorageGives unites the self-storage community around a common mission of supporting eight impactful causes through donations that go directly to those who need them most. One of those causes is the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), an organization whose commitment to finding a cure for breast cancer makes our support not just meaningful but essential.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we honor those we’ve lost, celebrate the survivors, and stand in solidarity with those still fighting. But it’s also a time for action—a time to support the research that will one day lead to a cure. Through our partnership with BCRF, StorageGives is contributing directly to this fight, helping to fund the science that will save lives.

BCRF stands apart because of its commitment to advancing the most promising science. The foundation carefully vets and selects the research it funds, ensuring that every dollar donated goes to projects that have the highest potential for impact. From investigating how genetics influence breast cancer risk to developing targeted therapies that minimize harmful side effects, BCRF scientists are at the cutting edge of breast cancer research.

In recent years, BCRF has also led the charge in studying metastatic breast cancer, the most advanced stage of the disease, which is responsible for nearly all breast cancer deaths. Despite this, metastatic breast cancer remains underfunded and under-researched. BCRF’s dedication to filling this gap is a testament to their determination to leave no stone unturned in the quest for a cure.

One of the most promising areas of research is precision medicine, which uses genetic information to tailor treatments to the individual patient. This personalized approach has the potential to increase the effectiveness of treatments while reducing side effects, improving both the quality of life and survival rates for patients. BCRF is also investing in prevention strategies, studying lifestyle factors and genetics to better understand how we can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer in the first place.

For the self-storage industry, this is an opportunity to give back in a way that is tangible, direct, and profoundly meaningful. Our community has always been one of resilience and support, and we can extend that spirit of care to those facing some of life’s most difficult battles through StorageGives.

This October, as Breast Cancer Awareness Month shines a spotlight on the importance of research and support, we invite you to join us in making a difference. By contributing to StorageGives, you are directly supporting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and other meaningful causes. Whether you’re part of the self-storage industry or simply someone who wants to make an impact, your involvement matters.

StorageGives offers several ways for you to get involved:

• Donate Directly – You can make a direct contribution through StorageGives, where 100 percent of every donation goes directly to our vetted charities like BCRF. Your gift, no matter the size, can have a life-changing impact.
• Participate In Auctions – If you’re a facility owner, you can sign your self-storage facility up to donate a portion of its auction proceeds through our partner, StorageAuctions.com. This allows you to make a difference while conducting your normal business operations.
• Join Events – StorageGives hosts live and silent auctions at events throughout the year. These gatherings provide an opportunity to give on site and engage with others who are passionate about making a difference. You can also volunteer at these events to offer your time and energy to a great cause.

No matter how you choose to get involved, your support helps drive crucial research, bringing us closer to a future without breast cancer. For more details on how to participate, visit StorageGives/Get-Involved.

Together, we can help accelerate the pace of discovery and bring hope to those who need it most. Join us in the fight against breast cancer. With StorageGives and BCRF, we are making space for something bigger: a future without breast cancer.

n an industry as large and diverse as self-storage, it can be challenging to fully grasp the impact of the industry’s proactive legislative efforts.

As you read in the August legislative edition of the SSA Magazine, the SSA and affiliated state associations rely heavily on member feedback when crafting our proactive agenda. When we are successful, we use many channels, including this magazine, the SSA Magazine Weekly email, state and regional conferences, and our annual legislative report, to communicate with members about positive legislative updates.

Where the breakdown can occur, however, is with the feedback loop after the statutory amendments take effect. Are members implementing the changes into their procedures? How much have they saved in time and expense? What other legislative changes would improve their operations? Et cetera.

So, I was heartened recently to speak with several members who are particularly excited about two new additions to the SSA’s legislative priorities.

The first addition provides a self-help remedy for resolving non-monetary defaults. Prior to this year, the self-storage laws in every state only provided a self-help remedy for handling monetary defaults. The laws failed to provide direction to operators when a tenant is paying but breaches another requirement of the rental agreement, for example, living in the space, storing illegal property, or harming other tenants or facility employees.

In the absence of statutory guidance, operators were forced either to rely exclusively on the terms of their rental agreements or pursue a court-ordered eviction. The first option left operators with uncertainty while the second was costly and potentially time-consuming.

So far, laws adding a self-help remedy for resolving non-monetary defaults have taken effect in Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, and Utah. (An existing law in Nebraska has been in place for more than 30 years.) Laws in California and Illinois take effect on Jan. 1, 2025. Although the timelines and other details differ between the laws, they all provide operators with the right to sell property that a tenant fails to remove following a termination or non-renewal of a rental agreement.

The second addition addresses another common problem for storage operators. Every operator that has amended their rental agreement knows the struggle with getting tenants—even the drama-free ones—to sign the amended agreement.

Therefore, your industry associations pursued changes to state self-storage laws to provide for the enforceability of unsigned rental agreements. These changes eliminate the uncertainty of whether an operator can, or a court will, consider a tenant bound to an unsigned agreement. Again, the details differ from state to state, but laws have already taken effect in the four states listed above and Virginia. And, yet again, these provisions take effect in California and Illinois on Jan. 1, 2025.

To ensure that you are making the most of these additions, the SSA’s legal and legislative team has prepared a memo explaining each new state law in detail. You can access this memo by logging into the members-only portion of the SSA’s website.

Finally, I would love to hear your feedback on these additions and any other changes that would help you to operate better. You can reach me at jdoherty@selfstorage.org.

n Aesop’s fable “The Crow and the Pitcher,” a thirsty crow finds a slender pitcher with a little water at the bottom. Unable to reach the water with her beak, she begins dropping small pebbles into the pitcher. With each pebble, the water rises until she can drink. This story teaches a powerful lesson: small actions, consistently applied, can achieve big results. This principle holds true for self-storage operators striving to do more with less. In the race to deliver profitability and growth, we often search for a silver bullet to solve challenges. But often, the key to hitting financial goals lies in small items on budgets and tiny increments of lost time that, like pebbles in a pitcher, add up to substantial savings.

When budgeting, expenses like utilities, maintenance, staffing, and upkeep require close attention. Accurately forecasting these costs is crucial for financial stability. However, beyond big-ticket items, countless smaller maintenance tasks often go unnoticed, like greasing gate doors, maintaining elevators, and checking fire extinguishers. While these tasks may seem minor, neglecting them can lead to unexpected mechanical failures and prolonged resolution times, which can result in decreased occupancy and ultimately lower revenue per square foot.

Just as the crow’s small pebbles gradually raised the water level, “silent savings” in your budget can accumulate into significant cost reductions over time. These savings might not be immediately obvious, but they add up. For example, spending 10 minutes on preventative maintenance for a gate each quarter might seem trivial, yet neglecting it could lead to a costly failure. Regular maintenance helps avoid breakdowns and extend equipment life. If you notice a pattern of breakdowns in a particular gate model or brand, it may be more cost-effective to replace it rather than repeatedly paying for repairs. Identifying these patterns early prevents small issues from becoming major expenses.

Managing maintenance tasks can be overwhelming. The right tools can centralize them into one system. Facility operations software (FOS) can automate routine tasks like record-keeping and maintenance scheduling, which limits human error, takes the guesswork out of critical workflows, and keeps staff accountable for timely, accurate completion. A centralized source of truth for recurring maintenance tasks ensures nothing is missed. The system can highlight recurringv issues, providing insights into when a replacement might be more cost-effective than ongoing repairs.

As 2025 approaches, now is the time to review your budget. Focus on major expenses, but don’t overlook potential silent savings. Like the crow’s pebbles, small actions can add up to something substantial. By adjusting and using technology to your advantage, you can create a more efficient and cost-effective operation.