All Forum Posts by: Mike Carr

@Scott Meyers Great advice. I can definitely understand your reasoning for being the only GP in each deal. I am exiting residential real estate for the same reason as you stated...cash flow. Nothing beats self storage. Im hoping to break into self storage syndication this year.

How did you get started? What did your first deal look like? Knowing what you know now, what would you do first if you had to start all over from the beginning?

@James Masotti Appreciate the invite but unfortunately I was not able to attend. Keep me updated on future events. Thanks!

I manage one. Late fees (2 of them) total up to 3.5% of gross revenue. 

Not to hijack the thread but I have a question that follows along with the original post. I see a handful of self storage operators that are holding 20-30 facilities long-term...some are up to 100 facilities. Anyone have some insight on how their funds are set up? Im sure they are semi-blind pool funds but do they refinance to pay at least a portion of the capital back? Or maybe part of the monthly/quarterly distributions are applied towards paying down the principal invested?

Ted, I am in the same boat as you. Big syndication goals but not as much personal wealth as I would have hoped to start out with.

My thought process (and this has been validated by numerous syndicators) is to partner with another syndicator (as the GP) on a few deals to build the track record and funds. You will need to provide some value to get even the smallest amount of equity. So figure out how you can provide value. Then find the person who sees your goals and partner with them on a few. 

 A few ways to provide value...find the deal, manage the day to day, help raise funds, etc, or a combo of all. 

I like the idea of syndication at 10% over owning 100% of a $400k deal. That's because with syndication you are leveraging knowledge, systems, money, and taking advantage of economies or scale. Plus you would have more credibility/track record with a syndicated $4million dollar than simply owning something outright. 

Just my opinion...everyones goals are different and every deal is different. I can see doing the $400k deal if there was huge upside and it was a homerun. 

looks great. A lot of success stories from his students. I haven't been to one but I will soon. I like the fact that he will partner with students after taking the class. 

3miledomination- self storage domination

Mark helm- creating wealth through self storage

For multi-fam and general commercial RE education...

Ken mccleroy- abc's of reapl estate investing. He also has one on property management. Both great books.

@Sam Guarnieri I have heard a lot of good things about Scott Meyers' Self Storage Academy. I am planning on going to the one in January. He also has a lot of great content on his site. 

Mark helm also has a lot of videos out there as well as a book that goes through self storage investing. 

Search for 3 mile domination videos. They do a lot of management how-to videos. They also wrote a great book called "self storage domination" which is amazing.

This forum has provided me a lot of value in learning self storage...just search self storage in the forums/blogs/etc.

I would go as far as getting a part-time job at a facility to really learn how to run a facility...thats what I did. I have learned more in the past 6 months working there then I have from the books/videos/forums combined....and get paid!

Hope that helps. Feel free to reach out. Love networking with self storage people.