I'm a full-time firefighter in California. I bought my first property at 19 during the 2008 crash. Single-family homes first, then multifamily, and now I focus on self-storage and industrial.

Today I own and operate 12 self-storage facilities across 4 states - all built on days off, between bedtime routines and baseball games. No syndication. No outside investors on most deals. Just methodical and consistent acquisitions over 15+ years.

I wanted to share some of the biggest lessons I've learned along the way in case it helps anyone here who's looking at storage as an asset class.

What I got right:

Seller financing changed everything for me. My best deals have been off-market, direct-to-owner conversations where the seller carried the note. Banks are great, but a motivated seller with no broker is where the real deals live.

Starting in rural and secondary markets. I buy in small towns where competition is low, barriers to entry are real, and $300K-$1.5M facilities are still findable. I'm not competing with REITs.

Focusing on economic occupancy, not just physical occupancy. A facility can be 90% full and still bleeding money if half the tenants are 60+ days delinict or paying rates from 2018. The gap between physical and economic occupancy is where most of the hidden value sits.

Building systems before scaling. I didn't buy facility #4 until I had a management platform, an operations manager, and a repeatable process. Scaling chaos just gives you more chaos.

What I got wrong:

Trying to do everything myself in the beginning. I spent two years being the property manager, the bookkeeper, and the maintenance guy. It nearly burned me out.

Listening to people who had opinions but no facilities. The best advice I ever got came from operators who were actually in the business - not podcasters or masterminds who had never closed a deal.

Not raising rates fast enough. I was afraid of losing tenants in small towns. The reality is that a $10/month increase on 200 units is $24K/year in revenue, and I've never had meaningful move-outs from a reasonable rate bump when it markets with high demand. 

Where I am now:

12 facilities, 4 states, full-time firefighter, married with 3 kids. I sold out of most my single and multi family, although I still own a select few in great locations. I'm transitioning from active operator to strategic owner. My goal has always been time freedom, not empire building.

Happy to answer any questions about self-storage acquisitions, operations, financing, or how to build this alongside a W-2. I'm an open book.