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DealStack Interviews Understanding Self Storage

Understanding Self Storage

Pascal Wagner · March 30, 2023 · 51 minutes · Watch on YouTube

Spartan Investment Group Ben Lapidus

Pascal Wagner and Mike Klein talk with Ben Lapidus about self storage as an asset class, its risks, and how markets differ.

In this interview

Ben Lapidus explains what a cap rate measures and which version to use when a facility’s rents sit below the market. He makes his case for real estate and for self storage within it, and describes the risks he sees, from a building with no other use to a town that depends on one employer. He sorts markets into primary, secondary and tertiary, and describes what it takes to run storage facilities as a full-time team. He also explains why he ranks a team’s character above its track record, and what he learned from his own early deals that went wrong.

Chapters

  • 0:00 Opening
  • 1:19 What a cap rate is
  • 4:11 His case for real estate and self storage
  • 14:14 How Ben Lapidus got into self storage
  • 17:19 Primary, secondary and tertiary markets
  • 27:12 The risks in self storage
  • 35:38 Judging a team before investing
  • 41:19 Lessons from his first syndication

The picture is YouTube’s poster for this episode. Published March 30, 2023 by Pascal Wagner, founder of DealStack. DealStack does not rate or recommend firms. Spartan Investment Group does not pay DealStack, so this page is not a paid placement.

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