Over the River and Through the Woods

During the old days, self-storage was little more than a ramshackle shed with a nice elderly person holding the keys ... but, this isnt your grandmas business anymore! Unless youve been living in one for decades, you know facilities emerging in the marketplace today are brand-spanking-new, shiny kingdoms of doors, complete with technology to spin anyones head like a top.

Years back, too, finding financing for self-storage was an arduous journey of educating bankers and settling for a loan bruising. This, too, has changed. As you flip through the pages of this special finance issue, youll be reminded of this time and again. Financiers and investors everywhere are singing the praises of self-storage.

Dramatic changes in financing storage facilities in the last 36 months have produced great opportunities for property owners, reports Anthony DiMarco and Gerard D. DiMarco Jr., in their article, Navigating the Mortgage Maze, page 98.

The word is out: Self-storage is a good performer, bellows Steven Ekovich of Marcus & Millichap, a commercial real estate brokerage. Mr. Ekovich penned Investors Paradise, page 40, in addition to sitting for a one-on-one interview discussing the formation and future of the National Self-Storage Group, of which he is national director.

Lenders once considered self-storage unappealing, writes Joe Maehler and Scott Sweeney of Buchanon Storage Capital, in their article Creative Debt Structures, page 64. Not its considered an acutely safe and attractive investment ....

And so, self-storage has much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season. Weve weathered the storm and are out of the woods. A buffet of funding options awaits those who are smart enough to seek out the options. Enjoy the feast!

I leave you with two Thanksgiving quotesone to inspire, the other to make you smile.

For each new morning with its light, 
For rest and shelter of the night, 
For health and food, for love and friends, 
For everything 
Thy goodness sends.

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Thanksgiving dinners take 18 hours to prepare. 
They are consumed in 12 minutes.
Half-times take 12 minutes.
This is not coincidence.
Erma Bombeck 

Wishing you a bounty of blessings, 

Drew G. Whitney 
Managing Editor 
[email protected]