All Forum Posts by: Michael Wagner

FFREI, Rochester, NY's only not for profit REIA is hosting a series of Investor Workshops. The next one will be February 18th.

This is a straight up EDUCATION EVENT.

You will learn:

Why You Should Consider Self Storage Investing.
How Self Storage Compares to Other Real Estate Investing Strategies.
The Fundamentals of Self Storage (Income/Expenses, Industry Standards, Etc.)

Building vs. Buying Existing....the Pros and Cons of each...and my HYBRID model that captures the Pros of Each
How to find Self Storage Deals

Feasibility- Is it a potential DEAL? How to find out in 30 minutes....from your COUCH!
These simple internet strategies are worth the cost of tuition alone!

How to Value a Storage Facility.
What to include in Your Due Diligence.
About Various Funding Options.

How to successfully Transition into Ownership.
How to choose Management Software that fits YOUR needs.
How to successfully Market a facility WITHOUT wasting money.

How to Deal with non-paying tenants......YUUUUP......Auctions are fun and lucrative!


About the Teacher:

So who am I? And, more importantly, what qualifies me to teach you about self storage?

My name is Mike Wagner. I live in Farmington, NY with my wife and two young children. I bought my first storage facility in 2011 for $350,000. I still own that facility today and it just appraised for $1.75 Million Dollars and cash flows just about $75,000 annually.

I bought my second storage facility in November of 2014 for $360,000. Today, just over 2 years later, it is worth over $800,000 (on its way to $1,000,000) and cash flows $40,000 a year. I tell you all this, not to be boastful, but rather to impress upon you that Storage offers you an INCREDIBLE opportunity.
There is nothing special about me.

You can do what I have done and I can show you how!
My wife and I support our two young children working a combined 10-15 hours per week on our Storage Businesses. Neither of us have traditional jobs and we LOVE being a "stay-at-home" couple. Our most recent endeavor is to help others use self storage to improve their lives.

Simply put, I am qualified to teach you about Investing in Self Storage, because I have done exactly what you hope to do. I have succeeded in Self Storage and I can help you do the same.

You should also know that I AM NOT A POLISHED SPEAKER AND I AM NOT A SALESMAN!

There will be no "selling" at this event.

THIS IS AN EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP.

I will teach you as much as I possibly can in the time we have together.
Bring a notebook and be prepared to use it.

AND if you want to learn more after you digest the mounds of information we throw at you, we do have an advanced training service that I will spend 2 minutes (AT MOST) telling you about. Rest assured you will spend the entire time LEARNING how to invest in Self Storage and you WILL leave this workshop with all the information you need to start Investing in Self Storage.


Tuition:

The full cost to attend this Workshop is just $20 for FREIA members and $30 for non-members and INCLUDES Continental Breakfast Fare! 

Contact me for registration details!

The other thing here is that some houses/properties do not qualify for financing.  As an example, many conventional banks will not finance a property that needs extensive work. As such, some agents will want "Cash only" added to the listing so that they dont end up fielding hundreds of calls from potential homeowners when the property really only lends itself to investors/contractors etc....

This is a 2.87 +/- acre plot of land along busy Route 332 in Canandaigua NY. Zoned Community Commercial and within a Mixed Use Overlay District which means it has many many potential uses. Utilities at road. Frontage along main route into this Lake Town in the middle of the Finger Lakes. 25,000 cars per day. Priced to sell.

 My advise would be to make sure you UNDERSTAND THE NUMBERS before you get started in anything.  Beyond that, its tough to answer your question without knowing what you hope to achieve by investing in RE.  Are you looking to build some side revenue in nights and weekends? Or do you want to fully replace a J-O-B in pretty short order?  Are you in a position with current low personal overhead (no car, house debt, no kids, etc) or do you have big monthly obligations that you need to meet?  These are all important questions that should guide any advice you get.

That being said, my niche is self storage and it is a great business for what I desire out of life.  One primary challenge is that the whole business is based on being available when folks need you.  So if you still have a day JOB, then you need to hire someone or develop a system to address the needs that happen while you are at work.  You also need to decide who will take calls after hours (if anybody).  Its not necessary forever but if you buy a struggling facility, you will want to ramp up as quickly as possible and that inevitably involves dinner time calls.

I just scratched the surface here and I know the questions I asked arent the easy ones to answer but you dont want to be one of those people who gets a couple years into investing to realize that your ladder was against the wrong wall (I speak from experience).

Hope that helps.

Mike

It seems to me that this is a viable option but I would be cautious about buying someplace based on the numbers given the regulatory storm that is brewing around the whole short term rental concept.  IF you have a place that could cheaply serve as a short term rental, then why not give it a try.  But I wouldn't invest too heavily in something that the government and hotel lobbies may take away. Just my two cents.

This is a great thread! One point I would like to make is that the KEY to achieving your dream whatever it may be (in this case Minimalism and REI coexisting) is to design the life you want and then design your business to fit that life. Our inclination, for whatever reason, is to design a business first and then stick in a little bit of life wherever we can. This results in overworked and over-stressed investors. If you do the opposite and design your life, start living it and then create a business that you can stick in around the important life things, you can achieve what you are going for. Easier said than done for sure, but entirely doable.

My vote is for the deal.  Of course you need to have a good knowledge of what is available for financing (rates, terms, requirements, etc) and you should have introduced yourself to various lenders that work in your niche so that you aren't a stranger when you do come across a deal.  Beyond that though, I find it far more efficient to have the deal in hand when asking for financing.  Lenders aren't tripping over each other to lend on a hypothetical deal.  They will be much more excited to work with you on a deal in hand.  Its just more efficient that way. 

@Account Closed,

You are more than welcome to borrow and use it.  Just so long as you don't give me the credit!  I stole it from multiple other sources.  The most recent of which is a book called "Lifeonaire".  There are threads here on BP about it. ONe of its main tenets is that "better is better" and that you have to intentionally sit down and define what "better" means to you before you can reasonably expect to attain it.  Very good stuff!

All the best,

Mike

Scott Meyers has a 7 part video series with a lot of good information on self storage.  You can find him on here (it wouldnt let me tag him for some reason).  I also have a humble little blog here on BP called "All Things Self Storage"

 Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominquez and Vicki Robin is a great nuts and bolts Financial Independence/Financial Integrity book.

Lifonaire by Steve Cook and Shaun McCloskey is probably the best book I could recommend from a "philosophy" standpoint.  You should know that it is a faith based book.  If you share the authors beliefs, it makes the book that much better.  However if you do not, you can choose to replace God with Universe or whatever makes you comfortable.  There are a lot of GREAT lessons in the book and it would be a shame to miss out on them simply because they are founded in the Bible.  Two must reads for soemone looking to learn how to live according to thier own definition of success rather than society's definition!  Enjoy and feel free to reach out with questions in the future!