The value of professional advice during a self-storage transaction today cannot simply be measured by wins and losses. Over the years I have written articles and analyzed just about every aspect of the self-storage business. However, we rarely explain what a good real estate broker’s duties are and why we get paid to help our clients buy and sell self-storage properties.
Over the last several years the industry has seen, on average, more than a billion dollars of self-storage assets trade hands each year and the overwhelming majority (90% or more) of the transactions were handled by a real estate broker. However, there seems to be a trend in the industry of more owners willing to consider transacting their property “off-market” without the professional advice of an experienced self-storage broker. This year is shaping up to be a record transactional year in the self-storage space with the possibility of more than 5x-10x the average transactional velocity taking place in 2021. Because of the incredible transactional velocity today, it is difficult to keep up with market trends and valuations. With an incredible amount of new equity looking to be placed in the space and valuations rising rapidly, the value of an experienced self-storage broker is more important today than ever.
