Finding Land Faster As Simple as 1-2-3
By Marc Goodin, CEO of Storage Authority.
Step One: Set your personal minimal land standards
Step Two: Follow step one and quickly pass on land not meeting your parameters.
Step Three: Be consistent and spend at least 8 – 12 hours a week looking for land.Too many people spend hours looking at a potential self-storage site when most sites should be rejected in 5 - 15 minutes. Set your concrete minimum standards for six items and you will have 10 times the amount of time to look at sites that have a chance. Everyone will have their own standards. A person with $500,000 cash vs a person with $ 1 million cash vs a person with $10 million cash will have some standards the same but Many will not be the same.
Here are my personal minimum standards based upon building an 80,000 sf single-story facility with me investing $.1.5 to $2 million cash and taking an SBA loan for the balance.
Land:
· Zoned for self-storage
· 4.5+ acres of usable land if rectangle, almost square in shape, otherwise 5 acres. If the area dictates significant non-climate control units, it will take 6 acres.
· Parcel width 260 feet
· Topo grade change in development is less than 10 feet, preferably much less.
· Priced under $2MM with a maximum purchase price of $1.5MM
Demand:
· Office (at the facility) rental rate for a 10 x 10 for facilities considered real competition is $130+ with minimal self-storage In the pipeline.
· Existing & pipeline Self storage less than 15 sf/person. At this sf/person I like to have no self-storage in the pipeline.
Location:
· Easy access & great street view.
· 3-mile population of 15,000 people
· On a busy road with at least 10,000 vehicles/day. Interstate highway traffic not included.
· My wife would not have a problem being in this area at night.
Typically, If it a site does not meet these parameters I am quickly looking for the next parcel. It can take an hour to check all these items out but most of the time it only takes a 5 – 10 minute read of the site and a non-qualifier will jump out and you are done.
Given these are minimum standards it does not automatically mean that if a site has them it is a great site. It means further research is warranted.
There are exceptions to every rule or standard. If a 10 x 10 non climates control was renting for $250/month and all the 3-mile facilities were full I could certainly pay more for the land and maybe reduce other standards as well.
Here you can learn more about land qualification standards: https://www.storageauthorityfranchise.com/post/are-you-on-the-right-side-of-the-road
Here is the math on how long it takes to find land:
Research 100 properties, make 3 offers buy 1. Timewise the math is:
100 properties researched = 40 x 1 hours = 40 hours
30@ 2 hours = 60 hours
30@ 4 hours + 120 hours
3/100 offers made = 3 x 20 additional hours = 60 hours
1/100 purchased = 1 x 20 additional hours = 20 hours
Sub Total 300 hours
Additional hours to find land to review: 100 hours
Total 400 hours*
*This assumes you are following a proven system to find and research self-storage and have an experienced self-storage team helping you. And that you are looking for land locally to where you live.
Weeks to find land:
@8 hours a week = 400/8 = 1 year
@ 10 hours a week = 400/10 = 40 weeks
@12 hours a week = 400/12 = 33 weeks
Pros will find self storage land for $400,000. In this case of 400 hours the hourly rate is $1000/hr. ($400,000/400hrs = $1000/hour) I love self-storage is so hard. That is what makes the payoff so great for those who do the hard work.
No time? Why not pay a guy $100,000/year to find land? Maybe $50,000 salary and $50,000 finder’s fee when he finds the land.
Why doesn’t Storage Authority Find land for franchise owners? I would be happy to put a team together to find land for franchise owners for $400K But most Franchisees understandably want to make maximum profits including saving $1000/hour finding land. Basically, for nothing Storage Authority provides the guidance and land qualifications they need to find land. We are available for and highly suggest one-on-one weekly conferences to help guide and provide the know-how on how to find land and review land. And better than weekly conferences we are available practically 24/7 to help answer questions and share our expertise.
Cheers
Marc
Do you want to know if you qualify for a Storage Authority Franchise?
If you fill out the application (apply icon on our website) you will have your answer in 2-3 days.
Or we can have a 10-minute call today and not only will you know if you qualify, you will learn the basics of what is involved in developing and operating a self-storage business. Give me a call or let me know a couple of good times to call you. (Let me know the time zone - I am Eastern Standard Time)
Or better yet let’s meet up in Sarasota, FL for a day!
Marc@storageauthority.com or 860-830-6764
Marc Goodin is the President of Storage Authority Franchising.
www.StorageAuthorityFranchise.com The only self-storage franchise. He owns 3 self-storages he designed, built, and manages. He has been helping others in the self-storage industry for over 30 years. He can be reached at marc@StorageAuthority.com or directly at 860-830-6764 to answer your franchising, development, marketing, sales, and operations questions. His best-selling self-storage books are available on Amazon.
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