275. Buying vs. Building a Storage Facility: Pros and Cons, Costs, and Timeline with Guest Matt Wallace
Self Storage Income
AJ Osborne
4.9 • 591 Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2024
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Buying vs. building storage units: which is the better choice, especially for beginners? Is buying a pre-fab (kit) facility better than building one from scratch? Or does buying a run-down self storage facility with value-add potential outperform building due to lower costs? We brought back an all-time favorite episode with investor Matt Wallace to get you some answers.
Matt has done both—buying and building storage units. He’s taken run-down facilities and made them top performers, as well as taking a plot of land and turning it into a 100% occupied self storage facility. Which one does HE think is the better investment? And would he advise a beginner to start with self storage new builds?
In this episode, Matt gives a masterclass on the pros and cons of building storage units, who should (and shouldn’t) be doing it, what you MUST know before you start building, and how he “makes” phenomenal self storage deals that most other investors miss.
What you’ll learn in today’s show:
- Buying vs. building self storage facilities and which is better for beginners
- How Matt filled up a brand new facility (250+ units!) in under three months!
- The building timeline and why it’s (probably) going to take longer than you think
- Why you DO NOT want to buy a “self storage kit” and build it yourself
- How to win a self storage deal even if you feel out of the race
—
Connect with Matt: https://wealthfit.com/expert/matt-wallace/
Connect with Ben, Cedar Creek’s Debt Expert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-benditson-291a6010/
—
📌 Make self storage management easier than EVER with our podcast sponsor Tenant Inc. - https://www.tenantinc.com/
🎙️ Do you have a great story to share on the SSI or AJ Osborne podcasts? You can now apply here! https://form.asana.com/?k=TGU88eU0bFTFW1iHcckuTA&d=1203571084143207
📖 Get AJ's new book that teaches you everything he knows about self-storage https://a.co/d/aRSKcSq
📉 Take advantage of today’s market conditions and invest with us: https://cedar.cc/invest
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | What's up, everybody? Now, the question, is it better to build or buy? Well, I have one of my students |
| 0:06.1 | and friends, Matt Wallace, we did an episode together where we covered just that, where he |
| 0:11.8 | shares his journey and how he got into self-storage and what he's done through expansions, |
| 0:17.7 | buying, and looking at the two. Also with the opportunities to pull off exact |
| 0:22.8 | strategies like that. Now, this is a fabulous episode. In fact, it's one of our top 10 ever |
| 0:27.3 | listened to. That's why we're putting this one out again because it is so important. And |
| 0:32.8 | we're so grateful that Matt came on to share his experience of getting into this industry. |
| 0:38.7 | And so we can understand from his perspective the difference between buying and building. |
| 0:43.1 | We started filling up crazy fast. |
| 0:45.4 | I mean, we did 285 units in 82 days. |
| 0:48.6 | We were 100% full. |
| 0:50.3 | Nothing left. |
| 0:51.1 | Wow. |
| 0:51.5 | Now, you bought facilities and built facilities. What are the pros and cons |
| 0:56.5 | from starting that way if you're still newer in the game and everything? Building versus buying. |
| 1:08.6 | Welcome everybody to self-storage income and we are here at the Coralien Resort |
| 1:14.5 | for the self-storage income event, which so far has been awesome. |
| 1:20.4 | And Matt, thank you for coming on. |
| 1:22.6 | I'm glad we got here and we could do this in person. |
| 1:25.2 | This is way better than doing it on like a Zoom or something like that. |
| 1:28.5 | I prefer that too. |
| 1:29.0 | Right. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from AJ Osborne, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of AJ Osborne and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.