The first step in evaluating a facility is to underwrite it to determine at what price you would submit an offer.
Underwriting can be daunting. The SSDA simplifies the UW process to be as plug and play as possible, letting you focus on the deal itself.
It includes several instructional resources to help you underwrite your first deal, or just your first deal with the SSDA.
Once you have underwritten a property and determined what price to offer, you will need to submit a non-binding LOI (letter of intent) to the Seller.
This Self Storage LOI Template is one we've used on several successful deals and will continue to be refined based on our experience and other operator feedback.
The excitement of getting a facility under contract quickly wanes when you realize how much work is required to actually close on the property.
It requires the masterful management and coordination of vendors, inspectors, investors, attornies, bankers, and brokers and is prone to delays and miscommunication.
The Flywheel Equity Self Storage Purchase & Closing board is both the process, and the tooling to manage the process, of going through due diligence, legal entity formations, funding, closing, and assuming ownership of an existing storage facility.
Once you are the proud owner of a storage facility, the real work begins.
The Flywheel Facility management board is a starting point to manage the recurring work required for any remotely managed storage facility.
The reality of any storage facility is that tenant delinquencies and evictions require constant attention and repeated outreach to succesfully resolve.
Additionally, the rules and requirements vary by state.
Flywheel Equity has developed a delinquency management system to track the current state of all delinquencies and evictions (currently available for SC and NC, with others by request).
Once your facility has been transitioned to your ownership, you need to understand several storage-specific business metrics to gauge how well the business is doing and to make the best operational and marketing decisions.
The Flywheel Storage OS includes a cohort analysis and performance dashboard to help answer such questions as: "What is the value of a Sparefoot referral vs. a Google Ad conversion?" or "How long does the average 5x10 customer stay in their unit if they moved in in January?".
These are critical questions you have to be able to answer if you want to operate a high performing facility.
[The performance dashboard is currently under active development]
