11/11/20: I ❤️ mtn biking and listening to @mfmpod . Combined them for a Wednesday morning singletrack shred. Hear @sweatystartup school @shaan & @thesampaar on his real life game of storage Monopoly. I yell “I can do this!” and freak out some hikers.

Cut ride short and go straight to building a list of storage owners to stalk. How did you build the list? A proprietary recipe of Google, County Assessor data, Secretary of State sites, and a bunch of copying and pasting. Fueled by coffee, serenaded by The Wu-Tang Clan.

11/14/2020: I’ve now got a list of 50 of the crappiest storage props near me. Created a complex algorithm to rank the properties by crappiness score. Realized that they all passed the crap test. Typed up a letter, hit print. Ran out of ink, but persisted.

Signed the letters, hand addressed the envelopes praying the postman can decipher my chicken scratch. Stuff, lick, stamp 50x. Took the fat stack of letters to the nearest mailbox. Cringed as I dropped them in and immediately wished I could get them back. Best not to try.

But this letter got you 4 deals - it must be good! I assure you, it was not. See for yourself. Sorry to let down so many of you who asked for this. (Edited to protect my identity and that of my prey. My wife isn't always named Karen. My kids are sometimes Biz and Dubs.)

11/27/20: My first call back! Damn, this is easy. Wait, what do I say? Just say all these words the internet taught you: cap rate, occupancy, rent roll, value-add (wait don’t say that!). Bro, do what good salespeople do - ask the questions!

Great timing! Owner planned to put it on the market soon. 200 units 25k sq ft 98% full onsite manager rates unchanged for years luxury bookkeeper bad website Fairly crappy. $153k gross rev, $74k NOI. $1.1m asking. Is this a good deal? Duck if I know.

12/2/20: This guy @sweatystartup seems like he knows his storage stuff. Maybe he can help. Reach out. He offers consulting! Paid $1500 for fancy spreadsheets and an hour call. Seemed expensive at the time. Best money I’ve ever spent. (Price is now $2500 b/c Nickflation)

Do the deal he says. It’ll make you rich he says. He was right. Closed Feb. NOI is now $124k. At 6% cap it’s worth $2.1m, 10 months later. Now I send him a bottle of whiskey every time I close a deal.

12/10/20: Another call back! This lady is really nice. Her dad built it in the 90s and passed it along to his three daughters now in their late 60s. 9,000 sq ft 80 units Full Prices 30% below market Extra acre to develop $56k rev, $39k NOI

She wanted $650k but one of the other sisters thought it was worth more. Did some magic math to justify a precise price of $656,675 to make the other sister happy. 5.9% cap. Closed Apr. Now: $88k rev, $62k NOI, $1m value at 6 cap. Plus an acre of dirt for expansion!

12/29/21: There’s a prop in same town as #2 that I really want. Why hasn’t he called me? I’m calling him.

Google finds his cell. Leave message, he calls me back. Thought about selling but thinks it’s worth $680k. Very similar to #2 but: lower rent no website cash and check payments only Perfectly crappy. I offer $550k, he says let’s keep in touch. You know it!

1/21: Get approached by a cool tech co wanting my help. Quick $ gets the best of me and I join. Give it 3 months and all I can think of is the crappy storage owners I’m not calling. Bail on great terms. Lesson learned? Nope. (Keep reading.)

2/21: Close 1st.💸 4/21: Close 2nd.💸

5/21: Dude calls me back 6 months after he got my letter! Ready to sell. Okay! 10k sq feet 80 units Full No website Rates 30-80% below market $61k rev, $43k NOI $700k asking price (6.2% cap) I’m not a great negotiator and could clearly see the value-add. Take my money!

Closed Aug. Now: $92k rev, $63k NOI, $1.05m value at 6 cap

8/21: Close 3rd💸

9/21: The headhunters are after me again. They want to pay me more W-2 income than I’ve ever made plus a yacht-full of options to help build a start-up. These storage units run themselves. Got a job!

10/21: Continued stalking that one I want. Twin to #2 and 2 miles down the road. $625k will make him move. I want it so I give in. 9k sq ft 70 units Full Rent unchanged in 20 years No website Cash/check only Room to double size Very crappy. $41k rev, $28k NOI. 4.5% cap rate

That cap rate is fugly, but irrelevant. The playbook will get it to $88k rev, $61k NOI, $1m value at 6% cap soon enough. Plus that extra land to develop. 12/21: Close 4th.💸

This week: I quit! LinkedIn profile burned. I ❤️ storage and I’m good at it. I don’t like fintech that much. Life is short, let’s do what brings me joy.

Plus, I want to be able to explain to my kids what I actually do: “Your dad fixes up crappy storage units, giving people a fabulous place to store their cherished items and other crap.”

Today: Gotta go! Just got a contract for #5 (sourced via cold call, not the magic letter) that I need to review with my attorney. It’ll be the biggest so far at 30k square feet. Stay tuned!

Closed on that one 👆BTW. Now working on #6 . For those continuing to want the money story, here it is: