Talonvest Capital Inc., a provider of third-party capital placement, debt and equity for commercial real estate nationwide, is now offering two new loan programs for the self-storage industry. The company is offering high-leverage CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities) loans for borrowers who want to take advantage of maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. It is also providing variable-rate bridge loans for properties with positive lease-up absorption.

The non-recourse CMBS loan offers up to 80 percent LTV and comes with five-, seven- or 10-year terms. Interest rates currently range from 5.3 percent to 5.9 percent.

The bridge loan, also non-recourse, offers prepayment flexibility, a breakeven debt-coverage ratio, and interest rates as low as 4.75 percent.

Based in Costa Mesa, Calif., Talonvest engages in principal investment activities in the $10 million and under range including making loans, buying notes and buying assets. The company is operated by principals Jim Davies, Thomas Sherlock and Eric Snyder.

Beckson Manufacturing, a Bridgeport, Conn., provider of thermoplastic products, has released its new safety utility hook, a simple, inexpensive device that makes it easier to move heavy objects while preventing back injury. The hook can be useful at self-storage sites or any location where heavy objects need to be moved from one location to another such as post offices, mailrooms and warehouses.

The Beckson utility hook comes in several sizes. The three- and four-foot models are recommended for pushing and pulling trays and bins. The longer hooks in five- to eight-foot lengths are best for warehouse applications or anywhere an extended reach is needed. Users can avoid bending over or using stools and step ladders for moving objects in hard-to-reach places such as high shelves. Custom lengths are also available.

The products aluminum tubing is sheathed in high-strength, non-conductive plastic for safety. The finger grip provides comfortable ergonomic operation, and the sturdy hook gets a firm hold on the object. The hook may also be used as a protective club.

Goods are priced to include freight for ease of ordering and can be purchased through Becksonmfg.com.

 

Charlotte County Self Storage in Port Charlotte, Fla., recently sold for $625,000, or $26.71 per net rentable square foot to a limited liability company.

Built around 1996, the 23,400- square-foot facility is located at 4201 Whidden Blvd. It includes 305 self-storage units, of which 43 are RV- and boat-parking spaces. The units range from 25 to 250 square feet. The two-story facility features units with climate controlled or without. Amenities include drive-up units, security cameras, computerized gate entrance, roll-up doors, a manager's office and an onsite apartment.

Michael A. Mele, first vice president investments and senior director of the National Self-Storage Group, and Adam Wides, associate in the Tampa office of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, represented the buyer and the seller, a Florida private investor.

Storitz.com, a self-storage shopping and comparison site, this week launched a social-media contest to help customers get organized for summer and win a day of services from professional organizer Justin Klosky.

The Get Your Stuff Together winner will also receive free rental of a 10-by-10 storage unit at a facility in California for three months. In addition, Klosky, founder of O.C.D. Experience, will assist the winner in organizing and packing items for the self-storage unit.

Interested participants can visit Storitz.com/organizer to complete the entry form, which includes a sentiment of 140 characters or less describing why entrants need Kloskys help. Five finalists will be chosen. A winner from the five finalists will then be voted on by Storitz's Facebook fans. The contest is only open to entrants looking for self-storage in California.

Entries will be accepted through July 31. Finalists will be announced Aug. 5 and final voting will take place through Aug. 12. The winners will be announced Aug. 15 on the Storitz website and its social-media outlets.

SpareFoot, an online marketplace of self-storage facilities, is sharing its findings from a unique project in which the companys 18 employees got to know the self-storage product in a fun and personal way. Called Adventures in Storage, the mixed-media reality series documents the employees experiences as they rent and move in and out of self-storage units.

CEO Chuck Gordon coordinated the nine-week project in which pairs of employees moved a growing pile of possessions from one storage facility to the next around Austin, Texas, adding creative items for the next team to discover. Each duo was responsible for finding storage near a teammates home, with or without the help of the companys facility-finder website.

Every Sparefoot employee, from developers to salespeople to marketers, booked units, signed leases, obtained locks and optionally rented trucks to cart stuff around town. Moving forward, every new staffer to join the team will pick up where things left off and complete the same tasks.

The idea sprang from Gordons realization that most of his employees had never personally used self-storage. He wanted them to understand the challenges storage customers face. He hopes the project inspires improvements to SpareFoots website, which will make finding and reserving storage units easier for users.

To speak intelligently about anything related to the consumer experience, everyone at SpareFoot should have personal experience renting a storage unit, Gordon said. Everyone will learn what it really means to rent storage, and see how much of a pain it is. This should help guide everything we do to make the process easier for consumers.

Adventures in Storage was documented through filmed interviews with employees and footage taken at storage facilities. Weekly blog posts unfold the story in a narrative style similar to that of a typical TV-reality series. A short video accompanies each post. One of nine blog episodes is released every Monday at 6 p.m. CST. The first blog posted to the Sparefoot website on June 20.

The company is also running a social-media contest. The first three people to correctly guess one item in the final storage unit featured in the project series will win $100. Interested watchers and readers can follow @SpareFoot on Twitter with hash tag #adventuresinstorage.

Founded in 2008, SpareFoot.com lists more than 5,000 self-storage facilities in its nationwide directory, which allows consumers to compare sites before renting. Through multiple websites including SpareFoot.com, SelfStorage.com, Apartments.com and many others, SpareFoot helps self-storage operators find new tenants through a pay-for-performance model. The company is backed by Silverton Partners, FLOODGATE and Capital Factory.

Centreforce Technology of Strathpine, Queensland, Australia, has released RapidStor, a new online, real-time booking system for the self-storage industry. The system shows customers real-time prices for spaces available at a self-storage facility and gives them the option to move-in now or later.

Centreforce spent nine months writing a specific application that would use application programming interface (API) from SiteLink Web Edition self-storage management software to access real-time data. RapidStor interacts with the SiteLink API and the facilitys database to complete the move-in task, including the acceptance of the storage agreement, payment processing, e-mail invoicing and updating the facility software. An added advantage is customers pay their first month, at full price, at the time of move-in.

The code used by the system includes security features to protect each customers identity and credit card details using high-level encryption. The procedure is hosted on Centreforces PCI DSS-compliant servers. Online payments are processed by payment partner ADVAM. Sites that use the technology enjoy low, non-commissioned fees.

Self-storage has moved rapidly to the Web from traditional media like the Yellow Pages, and operators have had to rethink how they do business. The leaders of the industry have invested in new technology to harness this consumer change in buying practices, said Dallas Dogger, Centreforce managing director.

RapidStor was first deployed through the website of Capital Self Storage in Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The facility received its first online move-in within 20 minutes of going live. Since implementation in March, more than 70 reservations and move-ins have been completed using RapidStor.

Our website and the RapidStor procedure employed by Centreforce, combined with SiteLink, have given us the tools we must have to service our growing customer base The RapidStor feature is an essential part of our business, said Ian Oliver, director of Capital Self Storage.

Clients find the process a lot quicker when they come to move in, added facility manager Kevin Reilly. They have done the hard work before they get to the office.

SiteLink Web Edition is provided by Raleigh, N.C.-based SMD Software Inc. SiteLink software is used by more than 9,500 users worldwide. Centreforce has provided sales and support for SiteLink in Australia and Southeast Asia since 2007.

Police are looking for information regarding a March 6 fire at a self-storage facility in Shasta County, Calif.

The fire at Keep It Mini Storage on Highway 299 in McArthur destroyed several units and personal property. Firefighters estimate the damage at $450,000.

The Shasta County Sheriffs Office is offering a reward up to $5,000 for information on the fire, which investigators are calling an act of arson. Anyone with information should call 530.243.2319.

Keep It Mini Storage has five locations in the Los Angeles area.

American Buildings Co. (ABC), a metal-building manufacturer, promoted Mike George to general manager Atlantic division.

George has worked at ABC for more than 13 years, serving in a variety of roles, including design leader, builder services manager and district sales manager for the Midwest division, and the builder services manager for the Atlantic division.

George brings more than 17 years of industry experience to this new position and is well poised to lead the division to its best results ever, said company president Ron Kuenkler.

Im honored and excited to be selected as the general manager for the Atlantic division, George said. I look forward to the opportunity to continue working with our team to serve our customers and grow our business together.

Headquartered in Eufaula, Ala., ABC has been designing, manufacturing and delivering metal-building systems and roofing systems to the industrial and commercial industries for more than 50 years. 

By Heather Lutze

As many companies have already discovered, having a business presence in social-media communities such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can have a positive impact on their bottom line. Being able to connect with customers and prospects to build loyalty and community goes a long way in todays world, and social-media marketing is changing the way customer relations takes place.

One of the questions businesses ask when implementing their social-media strategy is, Do we open this up to the company? Some argue that allowing employees to access social-media sites during the day will result in a productivity drain. They often encourage businesses to put website filters in place and ban it altogether.

However, Australian scientists at the University of Melbourne recently published an interesting study that found when employees take time to visit websites of personal interest, it provides them a mental break and actually increases their ability to concentrate. The scientists documented a 9 percent increase in productivity among their subjects. As they explained, The activity helps keep the mind fresh and helps put you in a better place when you come back to working on a topic.

In addition, people dont work 100 percent of the time on what theyre assigned. They do other things such as get a snack, go to the restroom, talk to coworkers, surf the Web, etc. Essentially, theyre already giving themselves some diversion. The question is whether you want to offer a suitable distraction or let employees choose their own. Clearly, giving staff an acceptable pastime is the way to go, especially if doing so helps the companys revenue.

With that said, you cant simply allow everyone to post to the companys social-media sites arbitrarily. You need to establish rules of engagement. The following suggestions will help.

Put Everything in Writing

Detail what is and isnt allowed to happen on your social-media sites. For example, you may want to specify such things as not sharing proprietary or client information, keeping all posts positive, not divulging salary or benefit information, and not revealing any corporate intelligence.

What you allow or disallow is up to you and your specific company culture. Some companies decide they will talk about clients and customers (with the customers permission), while others feel talking about customers invites competitors to try and steal them. The main point for everyone to remember is if you wouldnt post the information on your company website, dont post it on a social-media site.

Make it clear in the document that if employees break any of the rules outlined, their job is in jeopardy. Additionally, reveal whether human resources is monitoring the e-mails, posts and tweets. Have each employee sign off on the social-media rules and place a copy in the employee file.

Limit Access

Rather than let everyone jump in feet first, start by forming a social-media committee. Send out an invitation to your staff for people to join the committee, but make sure they know its optional. Those who come to that meeting will be the best people to represent you on the Internet. Work with them to help clarify the rules of engagement and define your companys purpose for being on social-media sites. Then allow these people to become social-media advocates for your company. After a few weeks, have them report back to you on whats going well, what theyve learned, and whats not working.

After creating a policy or implementing adjustments based on their feedback, open social media to other employees until you have everyone on the sites who wants to be there. If someone doesnt want to tweet, blog or make Facebook posts, thats OK. Forcing people to be your social-media voice will backfire and cause more harm than good.

Consider IT and Other Staffing Needs

When implementing social-media access company wide, your information-technology considerations are critical. Youre opening your company outside your corporate firewall. Make sure youre protecting your companys assets before opening those portals.

Additionally, while social-media posts can be a rewarding part of peoples day, you will eventually need a full-time staff member to oversee your social-media activities. In fact, within the next two years, every company with more than $2 million in revenue should plan to have a full-time social-media position. Big companies already have such dedicated positions in place. Take your cue from them and start planning now.

Implement Your Policy From the Top

Your companys top-level executives need to be willing to dive into the companys social-media activities as well. If your employees see the CEO is on Facebook, posting tweets on Twitter, blogging regularly and having fun doing it, your employees will embrace social media as well. No matter what the companys size, structure or culture, the use of social media needs to work its way down.

The Way of the Future

Contrary to what some people may think, social media, especially for business, is not a fad. It may morph and change over time, but its certainly not going away. Companies that embrace it now and get employees involved will be the ones to reap the most rewards. Set up your social-media guidelines and gradually phase it into your operations. Not only will employees productivity increase, so will your companys bottom line.

Heather Lutze has spent the last 10 years as CEO of The Findability Group, formerly Lutze Consulting, a search-engine marketing firm that works with companies to attain maximum Internet exposure. A nationally recognized speaker, shes the author of The FindAbility Formula: The Easy, Non-Technical Approach to Search Engine Marketing. For more information, visit www.findabilitygroup.com .

Hessam Nadji, managing director of research and advisory services for Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, was featured on a Fox Business exclusive on June 15, sharing his outlook for commercial real estate in 2011. A copy of the broadcast can be viewed at http://www.marcusmillichap.com/Video/fox_061511.asp.

During the segment, Nadji discusssed the lastest issues facing the single-family for-sale market, the divergence between commercial real estate and the single-family housing market, drivers of the apartment market and more. Nadji said sales activity in the commercial market has been positive in the past 12 months, increasing approximately 17 percent. This is due in part to job-growth numbers in the past year, as weve added 1.8 million private-sector jobs in the United States. Apartments are performing well ahead of retail, office and industrial properties.

Nadji, with more than 20 years of experience in real estate research, marketing and technology management, joined Marcus & Millichap in 1996. He oversees the companys research division including economic and real estate information tracking and analysis and the production of the groups various publications. He also manages the design and application of various research and marketing tools and analysis-related technology, as well as various real estate supply and demand analyses and databases.

Marcus & Millichap is one of the largest investment real estate brokerage firms in the nation, with more than 1,300 real estate specialists in more than 70 offices. The company includes a National Self Storage Group that specializes in self-storage real estate transactions.