Self Storage Ventures | Kevin

First house I bought. I was 19 years old and in college at U of Arizona. Homeless guy broke in and stripped all the copper pipe out 2 days after I got keys. 7 days later someone broke out 3 windows. Buddy and I fixed it up ourselves. Made a bunch of mistakes. Rented it out by the room (4 bedroom) since we finished the remodel mid school year. Had tenants sign leases we drafted with zero professional oversight. Washer, dryer, and dishwasher all broke within 1 month of tenants moving in and half the fence fell down. One tenant got in a fight with another. And spray painted her entire room and belongings. Yes, the room we had just finished remodeling/painting. Then she left, and I couldn't get in contact with her. Turns out she checked herself into a mental institution. I packed all her stuff and dropped it off at her parents address (emergency contact) 2 hours away. Finally got on the school leasing schedule and rented it out for $1800/month to a group of sorority girls. My buddy and I had one rule.. we couldn't hook up with our tenants. He broke that rule. Thankfully it was after they moved out. Refinanced it a couple years later and pulled out all capital plus some extra. Sold it a few years after that, with rents at $2200/month For some odd reason, despite all the chaos and consistent pain points, I loved everything about creating wealth and income through real estate. It wasn't passive like people said. In fact, it was the opposite. But that's also the fun part. Bought many more homes over the next 15+ years, some we still own today, most we've sold. If I'm ever having a rough day owning and operating self storage, I just think back to owning dozens of residential units and I immediately begin to smile.

Purchased in 2024: $350,000 Cap Ex: $71,000 2025 Avg. Monthly Net: $4,300 400k loan @ 5% interest Monthly Debt payment: $1666 Monthly Net after debt: $2634 ROI: 151% Add to that: 60% Bonus Depreciation with a cost seg: First year Depreciation - $57,775 Net Savings year 1: $21,376

Coworker of mine worked 41 overtime shifts at the fire station last year. That’s about $80,000 in OT pay. He worked an additional 960 hours. Imagine what he could have made if he put those hours into learning and investing in real estate instead of working OT.

Dave Ramsey really telling people to: • Avoid all debt • Pay off 3% mortgages • Buy mutual funds • Skip real estate Meanwhile his $50M real estate empire is: • Leveraged • Depreciated • Tax sheltered • Earning 20%+ ROI Funny how that works 🤔 Rich teach you what made them poor..

Received a crash course in AI prompt writing. Here's 7 tips you can use to generate the best possible prompts. (Hint, #7 is key!) 1) Describe the task (be as specific as possible) 2) Give it context (it doesn't know you, your business, or anything else in your head) 3. Establish Limits (tell it to ask you clarifying questions.. but not all at once and no more than 3) 4. Assign a persona (who do you want answering you? Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Harry Potter) 5) Specify Requirements (you are the boss, AI is the tool. Tell it what you want, and don't want) 6) Explain why (Again, Ai doesn't know you or your business. Tell AI why you are telling it to do) 7. Ask it to interview you (this will get AI asking questions to really make you think and derive answers. It then uses those answers to ask you even more direct questions. Eventually, you'll have Elon Musk or Steve Jobs, or Harry Potter advising you on your next course of action)

We bomb proofed our college rentals. Concrete floors, concrete countertops, home depot cabinets (easy to replace). Keys for us: a great outdoor space (Arizona) and a big open concept kitchen/great room. Bathroom in every room.

Dad's help me out here... "Are you on your own today? Wow you're brave" - 3 separate mom's at the zoo today I often give my wife (stay-at-home mom) a break and take the kids out. Without fail, mom's come up to me as I run around with my toddlers with little comments like .. "you're brave" , All by yourself today? Wow" , "Just you and your kids today, you must be ready for nap time!" What's up with this? My wife doesn't get these comments from other moms or dads. Are dads not just as capable to take out kids on our own? Why the comments.. Other dad's out there get this too?

You have 100+ customers at a standard storage facility. The same property, if multi-family, might be a 6-plex with 6 customers. Way more data can be gathered when you have 20x the customers. We raise rates on a small portion, and wait for the data on that sample. Then we raise rates on the remaining, based on what we learned. - did customers move out? - did customers set future move outs? - did they complain? - did they pay without protest? - did we receive negative reviews? The answers here assist us with our next raise on the majority of customers. Did we raise rent enough? Did we raise rent too little? Now we have a good idea of what our existing customers are willing (or not willing) to pay. We can now do a more accurate raise without the fear of unknowns based on our initial sample.

Are insurance prices killing your deals?! ***Read This*** Here is what I've learned... First, who's at fault? It's not the insurance companies... It's the Reinsurance companies. In the last couple years the Reinsurance companies (insurance for insurance companies who cover catastrophic disasters) have implemented a new strategy. It's called Double Double Half The Reinsurance companies have doubled their premiums, doubled the deductible for insurance companies, AND slashed their max coverage by half. Unfortunately, insurance companies have no choice but to play by Warren Buffet and his Reinsurance company's rules. So starting your own firm, which might sound great right now, will ultimately lead to you having to play by the Reinsurance companies rules as well. Insurance companies have no choice but raise premiums to mitigate risk and cover their costs. So what can you do? Treat insurance companies like a business partner. 1) Buy at least 100 miles from a coastline (PS. the entire state of Florida is considered coast line to Insurance companies. PSS. 3 years ago insurance companies used 6 miles from coastline in their underwriting) 2) Buy in low crime 3) Buy in low fire danger areas. What if I have a great deal in an area outside of that criteria? BE PROACTIVE. Shift your mindset. The insurance company is now your business partner. In a high crime area? Show them your commitment to security (cameras, gates, fences, locks, security services, etc) In a wind/hail area? Show them your commitment to building materials/precautions taken and why your building will stand compared to your competitors. In a fire danger area? Show your commitment to protection with defensible space, sprinkler systems, comp or concrete roofs, etc. Show your resume. Share your experience with them and how that makes you a competent and successful operator; and show them other properties that have not had any claims due to your operational success in mitigating risk. Unfortunately, times have changed from just three years ago. You must start being proactive and treating insurance companies as if they are your partner in every deal. AND always acquire new assets with higher insurance premiums priced in. Do not buy on current insurance price, you must obtain your own quotes to find your accurate NOI on a deal!