He Had No Money for His First Deal: 5 Years Later, He Owns 17 Properties

Real Estate Rookie

BiggerPockets

Entrepreneurship, Education, Investing, Business, How To

4.7 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rookies think they need millions to invest in commercial real estate, but that’s only a myth, and today’s guest is about to show you why. In this episode, we’re talking all about an asset that might sound big and scary but is actually much easier to buy than you probably think: self storage! Welcome back to the Real Estate Rookie podcast! Cameron Barsanti has owned single-family homes, multifamily properties, and other assets. But his favorite? Self storage. These large metal boxes have no toilets, no tenants living on the property, and less maintenance than residential real estate. Since zeroing in on self storage just five years ago, Cameron has scaled to a $70+ million portfolio spanning nine states! Today, he’s giving you a complete crash course on the asset—how it works, how it makes money, and everything you need to know to get started. We get into analyzing markets, the ideal tech “stack” for new investors, and much more. So, if you’ve ever wanted to know how to get into self storage, without a ton of money, this episode is for you! In This Episode We Cover How to start investing in self storage facilities in 2026 The number one skill every self storage investor must learn Creative ways to find mom-and-pop self storage facilities for sale The easiest way to find and fund your first self storage deal in 2026 The most important factor when analyzing a self storage market And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠h⁠t⁠⁠tps://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-720. Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Most rookies here, self-storage, and immediately assume it's out of reach, too commercial,
0:05.5	too expensive, too institutional.
0:07.8	So they cross it off the list and never look back.
0:11.4	That assumption is costing them.
0:13.3	Today's guest has built a 70 million self-sourge portfolio across 17 facilities in nine
0:18.5	states and in Guam in less than five years.
0:21.2	He's also coached hundreds of first-time investors into their own facilities.
0:24.9	And by the end of this episode, you'll know exactly what a rookie-sized self-storage deal actually
0:29.5	looks like, how to find one, how to pay for it, and how to actually run the business once you own it.
0:55.4	This is the Real Estate Rookie Podcast. I'm Ashley Carey. And I'm Tony J. Robinson. Let's give a big warm. Welcome to Cameron. Thanks to join us on the Rookie Podcast today, brother. Hey, guys. Thank you. I really appreciate it. It's an honor to be here. And just big fans of your guys and your show and all that you're doing and all the value you're adding. So again, it's my pleasure. Thanks so much for having me.
0:58.9	So Cameron, let's get started with a myth that there is in the self-storage industry,
1:04.0	that this is a big commercial play. You need multi-millions of dollars to actually get into
1:10.2	this asset class. But what's the actual truth?
1:14.2	Can you kind of dismantle this a myth for us? And how could a rookie actually get into this asset
1:20.1	without millions and millions of dollars? Yeah, great question. Definitely let's debunk it.
1:25.4	So my first deal, actually, we had zero money. And what I found
1:30.4	that's great about all the real estate games, you know, all of us play, including you guys,
1:35.2	is a lot of times really we don't know what's going to happen next, but when we have a deal in front of
1:41.7	us, that deal all of a sudden not only inspires us and brings new
1:45.2	motivation, but also insight. And so I had a deal locked up. And when we started looking at the numbers
1:51.0	and the opportunity, then my wife and I started doing stuff, you couldn't imagine to find
1:56.8	money to make that happen because we actually had an opportunity in front of us. And so our first deal, even though we didn't have any money in order to buy this with a 50-50
	...

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