313. 12 Red Flags of a Risky Self Storage Investment (& How to Avoid Them)

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Sep 9, 2025

A deep dive into 12 red flags that can make or break a self storage investment. Topics include population and employment trends, oversupply risks and how to spot new competitors. Learn about visibility and online presence, how to secret-shop competitor occupancy, unit mix pitfalls, deferred maintenance surprises, and which problems are fixable versus deal killers.

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ADVICE

Use 15% New Supply As Your Red Flag

Avoid markets with more than ~15% new supply coming online unless you can underwrite absorption confidently.
Conner and George treat 15% new supply as a tipping point beyond which forecasting is guesswork.

ADVICE

Check Economic Diversity And Median Income

Evaluate economic diversity and median household income to predict renters' discretionary budgets.
George prefers median income and looks for income levels that support rate increases rather than competing on price alone.

ADVICE

Secret Shop Competitors To Gauge True Vacancy

Do mystery shopping to estimate competitor occupancy and unit-type demand—online listings rarely reveal true availability.
George recommends visiting facilities to see which unit sizes actually rent and where empties are located on the site.

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Buying a storage facility? Make sure you spot any of these 12 self storage investing red flags. If you’re able to avoid them successfully, you could be buying a killer next investment, with high occupancy, high rates, and steady cash flow. After investing in dozens of self storage facilities, with millions of rentable square feet, we’ve nailed down the 12 deadly self storage red flags that can prevent a facility from taking off.

There are two types of red flags: the ones you can fix, and the ones you can’t. The fixable ones might mean you have a serious opportunity within your market, and you can flip that red flag to a green one. The unfixable red flags…that’s another story. Don’t worry, we’re going to spell out each so you know which red flags to run from, and which could make you money.

We’re talking about red flags like: declining populations, too much supply, high vacancy, weak local economics, poor visibility (online and on the street!), and more. Do you think you know which you can fix? Think again, we’re giving you the exact list of self storage red flags.

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

The 12 self storage investing red flags every investor should be aware of
Is a declining population always a bad thing for storage?
How to stop your competitors from building near you and boosting supply
The “secret” way to find out how occupied other facilities are in the area
How much should your self storage customers make? We’ll share the perfect income range
Which red flags can be flipped to green flags so you can profit!

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