336. The #1 Lie Costing Self Storage Investors Millions
Self Storage Income
AJ Osborne
4.9 • 591 Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The self storage industry is often described as one of the safest asset classes in commercial real estate. Low default rates. Recession-proof demand. An industry that rarely goes out of business. Only a fraction of a percentage of owners ever get foreclosed on.
That story is a lie.
You’ve heard it before. You’ve probably said it to other investors, your friends, and family when they ask you why you own a self storage facility or why you want to own one.
This is not reality—and today, I’m going to show you proof that the self storage industry is riskier than investors could ever imagine. Why would I say this as someone who owns hundreds of millions in self storage? Because where there’s risk, there’s opportunity, and in 2026, the “perceived” risk is higher than ever—and so is the opportunity.
This is the biggest lie in the self storage industry, and if you believe it, even for a second, you’ll get caught buying at the worst times and sitting on the sidelines during the best. This is how I was able to buy millions in undervalued assets after 2008—and in 2026, I’m doing it all over again.
What you’ll learn in today’s show:
- The #1 lie in the self storage industry that is costing investors millions
- How I’m buying majorly discounted self storage facilities in 2026
- The self storage facilities that are at the greatest risk right now and need a buyer to save them
- How I predicted the self storage bubble that finally burst in 2023
- The “wealth explosion” that self storage investors can expect (it won’t last)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This one lie about investing, particularly in self-storage, |
| 0:05.0 | has destroyed more investors than anything else. |
| 0:09.0 | It has also led incredible opportunities. |
| 0:13.0 | Now, I have built a self-storage company that's worth hundreds of millions of dollars. |
| 0:18.0 | This is a lie that is repeated by everyone, the Wall Street Journal, every |
| 0:22.4 | single broker, the whole industry. But they don't understand that it's a lie. And the reason they |
| 0:29.2 | don't is because they don't understand how it actually works. So yes, I am telling you that the |
| 0:35.3 | experts have it wrong. And I'm going to show you why this can not only save you from massive risk, but it can help you find the opportunities. |
| 0:50.3 | Now, this is always interesting feedback that I receive because I invest in self-storage. |
| 0:59.8 | So why am I pointing out the negative sides or drawbacks? |
| 1:04.4 | This was the same feedback that I got in 2021 and 2022 when I talked about the self-storage bubble. |
| 1:12.2 | With a self-storage company, with hundreds of millions and assets, people wondered why I was |
| 1:18.2 | making a bearish case when there didn't seem to be any. |
| 1:22.7 | Once again, this comes from the lack of understanding of the numbers, and you will see this |
| 1:26.7 | very clearly. |
| 1:28.1 | It's easy to understand if you know where to look. Now, first, the big lie. The big lie is that |
| 1:36.1 | self-storage is the lowest defaulting commercial real estate class out there with less than 1%. In fact, a default rate of 0.11 or 015% currently. |
| 1:51.2 | Now compare that to multifamily, which we've talked about in other videos. Multifamilies, |
| 1:57.7 | delinquencies are skyrocketing. They're also defaulting and going to much more in the |
| 2:06.5 | next two years. Why? Because the maturity loans of those assets are growing exponentially over the |
| 2:13.2 | next two years at high interest rates. Now, when I say that, most everyone thinks I've never ever heard |
| 2:20.5 | anything other than how self-storage is recession-proof, that it's such a safe asset, the delinquencies |
... |
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