I've been a huge fan of and hopefully one day investor into storage facilities for many years now. I've always felt the allure of the business as one of the most recession proof and sounds investments that could be made.
Think about it....The population continues to increase, land does not, and people love to buy things! Many now more than ever are also down-sizing or may have lost their homes and are in need of storage space for their belongings. When the market is booming, the need is also very real as each city finds a storage facility a necessity for its growing population.
Maybe your a fan of the new hit series TV Show Storage Wars...http://www.aetv.com/storage-wars/. As the rave about storage units grows for the avid buyer of units that are repossessed or for the investor looking for a sound place to put their money, the business is hot.
Here are some big companies that have put their money in a big way into this business as of recent. Recent news reports show that a number of companies have been buying up self storage facilities as fast as they can. An Austin firm has pledged to spend close to a $150 million in the next year.
Another spent $53.9 million in the last quarter for a total of just under $90 million on the year. Another announced that it spent $126 million in self storage facility acquisitions for 2010. However, those numbers pale in comparison to what another company has recently announced they plan to do.
Axxcess Capital Ventures LLC and former Universal Self Storage Acquisitions president Troy Downing have teamed up with plans to spend $1 billion to acquire as many self storage units as they can in 2011. That’s right-- $1 billion.
“We believe this is an excellent time in the real estate cycle to acquire self-storage properties...a return to positive growth fueled by a slowly improving economy and Americans shifting to smaller, more affordable housing and needing more rentable storage space for their possessions...Entrepreneurs launching small businesses and online marketers needing to warehouse inventory are added demand factors,” Downey says.
I'm sold....I think that for years to come the rental price per square foot and combination of market trends and growth opportunities makes this one of the best investment opportunties there is.
