Self-storage
The rent roll says it’s full. It doesn’t say what they’re paying.
Occupancy counts doors. What pays the loan is what gets collected — after move-in rates, discounts and everyone who’s behind. Check that gap first.
Check this deal free See every file by name
Cash flow model · self storage business plan · red-flag checklist
- Gross potential rent — every unit at street rate$64,800
- Less — physical vacancy (street rent on empty units)−$6,480
- Less — loss to lease (occupied units renting below street)−$4,990
- Less — concessions & promotional discounts ($/mo)−$1,180
- EFFECTIVE RENTAL INCOME — rent actually collected$52,150
- ECONOMIC OCCUPANCY (collected rent ÷ gross potential rent)80.5%
A rent roll is a claim until you test it.
- The rent roll shows every unit rented. It doesn’t show what any of them agreed to pay.
- Half of them signed at a move-in rate nobody has raised since.
- You don’t know how many are behind, or how long this seller lets them stay.
- Something new went up a few miles away while this one was being listed.
Three moves, in this order.
1. Get the rent roll unit by unit — the rate each tenant actually pays and the month they signed. Not a summary. Not a percentage.
2. Turn doors into dollars. Take off concessions, discounts and anyone delinquent, then compare what’s left to the rates being advertised today.
3. Check what’s left against the loan. Debt coverage, break-even and twelve months of cash flow — so you know if the payment survives a slow quarter.
You end up with a number you built yourself, and a short list of things the seller has to explain.
The self storage business plan, and the model underneath it.
Acquisition Toolkit — three files
| File | What it does |
|---|---|
Self-Storage Cash Flow Template .xlsx | Unit mix, rate roll and economic occupancy, then twelve months against the loan — break-even and debt coverage included. |
Self-Storage Business Plan Scaffold .docx | Fourteen numbered sections, each prompting you for what belongs in it. |
Self-Storage Acquisition Red-Flag Checklist Guide | Eight sections. Opens on verifying occupancy and revenue, ends on the signals worth walking away from. |
Lender Package — those three, plus three more.
| File | What it does |
|---|---|
Self-Storage Personal Financial Statement .xlsx | What you own, what you owe, and what’s liquid — the picture of you a lender asks for. |
Self-Storage Lender Resume Template .docx | Five sections. Your experience, written for whoever decides on the loan. |
Self-Storage Loan Document Checklist Guide | Six sections of what a lender asks for — including round two. |
Spreadsheets open in Excel, Numbers or Sheets. Your numbers stay on your computer — nothing uploads.
No hype. No loan promises.
This won’t get you approved and won’t tell you whether to buy. It helps you build the number yourself, while walking away is free.
It’s built for buying a facility that already exists. Developing one from the ground up is a different problem, and this is the wrong tool for it.
We’re not lenders, brokers, attorneys or accountants. Where a question needs one, the files say so.