Investment Real Estate LLC (IRE), a property-management and consulting firm serving the self-storage industry, has hired Matt Rosendale as a brokerage associate. He’ll be responsible for assisting the brokerage team with sales, property valuations and sales-comparables tracking. Rosendale will be based in the York, Pa., home office, supporting staff in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states.

“The IRE brokerage team is thrilled to have somebody with Matt’s sales experience and can-do attitude join the team,” said Kevin Bledsoe, vice president of brokerage and acquisitions. “We know our clients will enjoy working with Matt, and we look forward to introducing him to the self-storage owners we serve.”

Rosendale earned a bachelor’s degree from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. His background includes education and industrial gas sales. After several years as a high-school social studies teacher, he pursued a career in sales. He was employed for three years at Praxair Inc., where he took on various leadership roles and helped his customers increase productivity, decrease costs and increase wallet-share. This included a Pennsylvania-based metal fabricator that switched products and improved productivity while cutting costs by 50 percent, the release stated.

“I am thrilled to be a part of Investment Real Estate! It’s evident they have created a thriving, positive and rewarding culture, and I look forward to working with the team to help achieve the goals and dreams of our clients,” Rosendale said.

Since its inception in 1998, IRE has provided brokerage, construction, development and management services to self-storage owners and investors. It’s a division under the Investment Real Estate Group Cos., along with Investment Real Estate Management and Investment Real Estate Construction LLC.

 

SOS Systems LLC, a provider of security solutions for the self-storage industry, has hired Kevin Farnell as director of business development. Farnell’s career experience includes business development, client relations and revenue growth, according to a press release.

Farnell was employed for nearly five years as an MLS tracing specialist for Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corp., a provider of supply-chain logistics solutions for the freight and carrier industries. He was also a production technician for Flowers Baking Co. of Villa Rica. Farnell earned a bachelor’s degree from Middle Georgia Technical College, according to his LinkedIn profile.

SOS Systems specializes in the design and installation of access control, burglar and fire alarms, and video surveillance. The company has more than 15 years of experience in commercial, residential and retail security-system installation. It’s a factory-trained dealer for access systems by OpenTech Alliance Inc. and PTI Security Systems.

Source:
LinkedIn, Kevin Farnell

The body of a 55-year-old man was discovered on Aug. 6 inside his unit at Allstor Self Storage in Lady Lake, Fla. The tenant was found while the facility manager was conducting a site walkthrough at 114 W. Guava St. The employee noticed a car parked in front of a unit whose door was closed but unlocked. When he looked into the space, he found the man lying unresponsive on a couch. He then closed the door and called police, according to the source.

Police indicated the deceased was lying in a semi-fetal position, with his head covered by a red T-shirt. Several prescription medications were near the body, along with 30 empty beer bottles, investigators wrote in the police report. The unidentified man’s sister told police her brother “struggled with alcoholism for a long time.”

No evidence of foul play was found inside the unit, the source reported.

Source:
Village-News, Villager Found Dead in Storage Unit

Inside Self-Storage (ISS) has released its 2019 Top-Operators Lists, ranking the industry’s top 100 facility owners and top 50 third-party management companies by net rentable square feet. The lists include facility and brand owners, independents and property-management firms. The data also features contact information, expansion plans, and each company’s number of locations and units. The lists are featured in the September issue of ISS magazine and available online.

The Top-Operators List was historically issued as a single top-100 ranking by total square footage. For the third consecutive year, ISS has broken the data into separate rankings for owned and managed square feet to reduce the potential for square-footage redundancy that can occur when using only total square-footage figures for all companies in a single list.

A more robust version of the data is available at the ISS Store. The 2019 package includes both complete lists in Excel format as well as a 19-page PDF companion comprising a three-page analytical report of the list results and a full representation of the rankings in easy-to-read format. For the fifth consecutive year, the lists feature data on owned vs. managed self-storage facilities for companies that do both, with breakouts for number of facilities, units and square footage for each.

The report portion of the PDF analyzes growth, decline and general movement among this year's final list participants. It identifies companies in aggressive growth mode, notable portfolio declines, and up-and-comers in the business. It also tracks activity by the industry’s six largest players, putting their numbers in context with each other as well as the larger rankings. Previous lists for 2012 through 2018 are also available for purchase.

A gallery of the 2019 Top-Operators Lists is also viewable online, providing an inside look at which companies impacted the latest ranks. It includes historical and comparison data and offers insight to factors that affected the lists this year.

The Top-Operators Lists are compiled annually by ISS. Participation is voluntary and open to all self-storage operators. To be considered for the 2020 list, self-storage operators can complete the online form.

For more than 28 years, ISS has provided informational resources for the self-storage industry. Its educational offerings include ISS magazine, the annual ISS World Expo, an extensive website, the ISS Store, and Self-Storage Talk, the industry’s largest online community.

Self-storage managers, did you know you’re running a multi-million-dollar business? You’re the voice and face of that operation and, as such, you hold power to make or break it.

Being a facility manager is no longer about being the caretaker and picking up trash. It’s about being proactive, closing leads and hitting the numbers. As the industry becomes more competitive, we need managers who can drive the business in the direction it needs to go. That hinges on your understanding of cash flow and how your day-to-day decisions affect it. Let’s look at ways you can positively impact the bottom line.

Discounting Rent

The most important number to most storage owners is occupancy. We want tenant locks on doors, as this usually means money in the bank! But as a manager, you sometimes need to discount the rental rate to close a deal. Let’s talk about some common rental decisions and how they can affect the bank balance. We’ll pretend our 10-by-10 rate is $100, and we charge a $20 admin fee. When trying to close a rental, we have a few choices.

$1 move-in special. With this offer, the most we’ll lose is $99. It’s a good deal if the tenant would have gone to a competitor. If your average length of stay is a year, then you’ve given up $99 to earn $1,101, which is worthwhile. However, if the tenant is already prepared to sign the lease, offering a special is just giving away money for no reason. A move-in discount isn’t a reward for customers you like. It’s a way to close the deal for someone who’s on the fence.

Waiving the admin fee. I’m a big fan of waiving one-time fees instead of giving away rent. It’s a single reduction in cash instead of a monthly one. If we waive the admin fee, we only lose $20.

Giving a free lock. Most locks cost the storage operator $4 to $8. I would gladly give away $4 to make $1,200 over the lifetime of the tenant’s stay.

Dropping the rental rate. When we make it all about price, it’s all about price. Great managers sell on benefits instead. Let’s say we rent a unit for $90 instead of $100. We’re losing $10 every month until we raise the tenant’s rate, which may not be for a year. This creates an annual loss of $120. If you want to get fancy and apply a 7 percent capitalization rate on that amount, it’s $1,714 in facility value. Renting units at the highest possible price should be your main goal. Everything else helps feed it.

Waiving Late Fees

Once you rent the unit, keeping customers happy is critical to maintaining a stable property. One challenge to this is late fees. No one likes to pay them, which makes enforcing them one of the hardest parts of your job.

Your owner should provide guidance on when it’s OK to waive late fees and to what limit. Some owners don’t want you to waive even $1, while others want happy customers by any means, even if it means waiving $1,000 in late fees each month.

Just remember, you can provide great customer service without giving away money! You can be sympathetic to a customer’s situation while upholding your company policy. Explain the late-fee policy again so there’s no confusion, and then offer to sign him up for autopay.

Think about it this way: To waive a fee, would you be willing to take the money out of your pocket and put it in the company’s bank account? Your owner is paying bank loans, property taxes, flood insurance and your paycheck. Keep this in mind the next time a tenant asks you to waive a late charge.

Managing Collections

Hand-in-hand with late fees is collections. A good manager teaches tenants to pay on time, every month, and doesn’t give much leniency. When you start bending the rules, you’re asking for trouble. I’ve heard managers say, “Rent is due on the first, but you have until the fifth before we charge extra.” Guess what? They just taught their customers to pay on the fifth.

It matters how you handle rent payments, late fees and collections, and how you discuss them with tenants. Your actions teach them how to treat the business and tell them how seriously you take your responsibilities. Being firm about policies will make your job easier and your boss much happier.

Knowing When to Spend

As a good self-storage manager, you must know when to invest money in the business. I once knew a manager who wouldn’t perform maintenance on the golf cart because he didn’t want to spend the money. This was harmful to the business because it forced customers to walk around the property rather ride in safety and comfort. Another manager ran out of locks and didn’t buy more because she felt she’d spent too much that month. But we make money reselling locks! One manager wouldn’t stock up on supplies in advance, which inevitably led to last-minute store runs. This left the site unmanned, plus the products cost more that way.

It’s your job to keep office supplies and retail shelves properly stocked. You also have to keep up on facility maintenance. Knowing how to spend money to make money is the mark of a good manager.

The self-storage industry is getting more competitive, which could lead to lower rental rates. That means fewer dollars going into the business bank account, so each one counts. Keep this in mind when making decisions about discounts, late fees, collections, and purchases or repairs. There’s a phenomenon called “other people’s money” in which we’re bolder when we’re playing with money that isn’t ours. Be aware of this and make the best decisions possible for your facility.

Magen Smith is a former self-storage manager turned certified public accountant (CPA). Her company, Magen Smith CPA LLC, helps storage operators understand the financial side of their business. Services include monthly financial management, bill-pay functions, revenue management and strategy. She also offers a curb-appeal checklist available for download and has created an online revenue-management course complete with checklists, cheat sheets and guides. For more information, e-mail [email protected]; visit www.selfstoragecpa.com.

You know your self-storage business needs a good website to succeed, so you want it to have all the functionality and features it should. To cover all bases, consider outsourcing the creation and ongoing maintenance of your digital storefront to professionals.

There are many reasons to hire a third party. Perhaps you’re no longer happy with the drag-and-drop template you originally created—at midnight, in your pajamas—or you’re sick of fighting your way through WordPress. Perhaps you’re hitting a wall in your growth. If your customer conversions are low, you’re struggling to manage your time, or you simply want the website experience to be handled by someone with expertise, outsourcing is the answer.

The question is what type of website do you need and how much will it cost? Every self-storage operator has different needs, but hopefully this article will serve as a guide to help you plan.

Nontechnical vs. Technical

Your website serves as the base for your Web presence and improves your approachability and trust with customers. The first question to answer is whether you want it to be nontechnical or technical. A nontechnical website will include just the basics: a landing page, an “about me” page and a contact page. This is the bare minimum for most storage businesses. It’s simple but doesn’t have to be boring. You have almost unlimited style choices and can have it designed to fit your brand and style.

A technical website will include more. One option is to incorporate online payments. If you work with any creditors who don’t accept these, you know how annoying it is, so don’t put your customers through this hassle. Integrate a payment-management system into your website to ensure customer convenience and loyalty.

Other options possible with a technical website are online reservations and rentals. With reservations, you have the benefit of securing renters before units are even open. Online rentals are the future, allowing customers to complete the rental process the way they’re already used to accomplishing many of other day-to-day transactions. It also allows for future integration with lease e-signing. Online rentals take the customer off the market!

A nontechnical site will cost much less to create and maintain; however, you won’t stand out from the competition. In fact, you’ll all stand together back in 2009. The technical site will cost more to bring to life, but every dollar you spend on providing a user-friendly experience for customers will go a long way, as many shoppers value convenience over pretty much everything else.

Website Costs

When it comes to creating a new website, there are four things for which you’ll pay: onboarding (website creation), recurring costs, ongoing maintenance and updates. Of course, the more complex and technical your website is, the more it’ll cost. You can pay as much or as little as you want, depending on your desired features and capabilities.

When it comes to choosing a designer/developer, you have three main options from which to choose. The following have tradeoffs when it comes to quality, time spent on the project and expertise.

• Local freelance designer: This’ll be your cheapest option, depending on the provider’s professional history. It likely won’t have any experience in the self-storage industry, but if you can communicate exactly what you want, it should be able to make it happen.
• Industry-experienced designer: This’ll be more expensive but comes with the advantage of design that’s highly curated and tested within the storage sector. It’ll likely involve different people within an agency working on the design, Web development and customer-support aspects of your site.
• High-end designer: If you want your dream actualized, this is where to go—and it’ll cost you. A high-end designer can customize your website exactly the way you want it, bells and whistles included.

Among recurring costs, the most common is website hosting, which might already be included with whatever platform your designer decides to use. You’ll also need to pay for your domain name. This yearly cost is generally inexpensive, at about $12 per year.

Finally, you have ongoing maintenance and updates. If you have a simple site, it likely won’t need too much support. A complex site will need more, as is expected. At a minimum, you’ll want to ensure your design stays modern, the site is search engine optimized (those standards change over time and often!) and your information is up-to-date. Depending on what you need and how often, you can either contract out the work periodically as necessary, purchase an ongoing maintenance package, or hire someone on retainer who can provide a set number of billable hours each month.

Just a Facelift, Please

You may be thinking, “This is an awful lot of work. Is it really necessary?” Yes. You must have website, and the better it is, the more your business will succeed.

If you have an existing website and developing a new one seems like too much, consider giving it a revamp. Maybe it just needs some simple updates. Any developer will charge for changes, so do an analysis on how much a facelift would cost compared to new development. Think about what you want and what will be the best fit for your needs.

You and your customers should like using your website. Think about why people use it in the first place. Do they need your contact information? Are they trying to figure out where you are? Do they want to see photos and unit descriptions? Are they looking for rental rates? Do they just want to rent a unit and pay you now? Knowing why customers visit your website will tell you what you need to provide.

Your website isn’t a commodity; it’s your virtual storefront. You should put just as much care and effort into it as you do your physical facilities. It should align with your overall business objectives and be a good representation of who you are and what you have to offer customers.

Tommy Nguyen is co-founder and chief operating officer of StoragePug, a provider of self-storage software, website development and marketing. Powered by modern marketing, StoragePug has built an e-commerce platform that connects customers to self-storage through online rentals, billpay and lease eSign. For more information, call 833.786.7784; visit https://storagepug.com.

Update 8/9/19 – Stor-Age has opened its new facility in Craighall, the company’s 50th location in South Africa. The property at 376A Jan Smuts Ave. contains more than 600 storage units. It’s on a busy arterial leading into the Sandton and Rosebank suburbs and will serve the communities of Craighall, Craighall Park, Dunkeld, Hurlingham and Hyde Park, according to a press release.

“The opening of Stor-Age Craighall, the 50th [facility] in our South African portfolio and the 24th in Gauteng, reflects the growth trajectory of our business,” Lucas said. “We aim to meet the needs of the SME business, household and student sectors, and this development not only reflects the necessity for the self-storage product in key urban areas, but also highlights the success of our growth strategy.”

Stor-Age also recently broke ground on a new R90 million facility in a northern suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It has seven additional projects in its development pipeline. Once complete, the facilities will add an estimated 60,000 square meters to the company’s Gauteng portfolio, the release stated.

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12/12/17 – Stor-Age Property REIT, which operates self-storage facilities in South Africa and the United Kingdom, has entered a R95-million transaction for the development and acquisition of a new property in Craighall, Johannesburg, South Africa. Valued at R19 million, the facility will comprise 2,393 square meters and serve the communities of Blairgowrie, Craighall, Craighall Park, Dunkeld and Hyde Park. Expected to be complete in mid-2019, it’s is one of five projects in the company’s pipeline, according to the source.

“The transaction structure aligns with Stor-Age’s measured approach to the risk profile of new developments, which focuses on opportunity while limiting downside risk for distributions growth profile over the medium term,” said CEO Gavin Lucas.

Stor-Age also recently acquired a facility in Crewe, England, for £7.74 million, the source reported. The company entered the U.K. self-storage market last fall with the purchase of the Storage King portfolio for approximately £77.13 million. The deal included 13 owned facilities and 12 properties under licensing and management agreements, primarily in Southeast England.

Headquartered in Cape Town and established in 2006 by the Lucas family, Stor-Age operates a 62-property portfolio, primarily in four South African metropolitan areas, that comprises approximately 300,000 square meters. It’s the operator appointed by Stor-Age Property Fund Managers Pty. Ltd. to manage and market the property portfolio owned by Stor-Age Property Holdings Pty. Ltd., and was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in November 2015.

MyPorter, a startup business specializing in valet self-storage in Atlanta, has closed an investment round of $2.2 million. The company will use the funds to “drive accelerated market-share gains” locally and pursue Southeast expansion during the first quarter of 2020, according to a press release. The capital infusion comes after the company achieved revenue growth of 390 percent and positions the operator for a Series A funding round next year, officials said.

The most recent investment was led by several angel investors including Ken Haines, CEO of Marietta, Ga.-based home-maintenance network The Wrench Group, and Wes Matelich, CEO of Rx Green Technologies LLC, a company that produces and supports research-backed products intended for commercial cannabis cultivation.

"I saw a unique opportunity with MyPorter to upset an essential services industry that would have a lasting impact locally and, potentially, nationally as well," Haines said. "It's exciting to be an early investor in a company disrupting a decades-old industry in a make-or-break market like Atlanta."

Launched in 2015, MyPorter was funded by CEOs Robert Crump and John Foshee through 2017. The company received its “first major outside capital” in January 2018, the release stated.

The company expects to exceed more than 10,000 “customer jobs” this year. "Robert and I eschewed the traditional institutional funding sources when we started out because we wanted to truly understand the basic mechanics of the business and build the company from the ground up in order to ensure we started from a solid foundation from which to drive sustainable growth for the business model that we envisioned," Foshee said. "Choosing this path has allowed us to create a model that is extremely scalable and investor-friendly. We're excited about the high caliber of investors we've engaged up to this point and look forward to our Southeast expansion while we pursue our Series A."

MyPorter serves the Atlanta metropolitan area. The company uses an online platform that allows customers to schedule item pickup, maintain a visual catalog of stored bins and bulky items, and schedule delivery of items to their home.

Source:
Yahoo Finance, MyPorter Accelerates Growth Strategy With $2.2 Million in Funding