Show Us the Money

I hate money.
But I love money.
Know what I mean?

I oftenwonder what the social and political structure of this nation would look like ifwe reverted back to a simple, primitive system of barter. What if we could tradeour talents, belongings or services for the things we need? How would that alterthe present system of power and commerce? I think we would all be amazed by howmuch peripheral product would fall by the wayside if it couldn't simply bebought with currency, if it had to be earned with elbow grease or aptitude, ifit required the sacrifice of something with more than monetary value. It's aninteresting concept. Of course, we're all too terribly attached to luxury toever allow such thing. But imagine the possibilities.

In and of itself, of course, money has no value. It's just paper and ink. Butwe have assigned it vast significance. People live and die by the mighty dollar.We aren't really given much of a choice. Especially if you own or operate abusiness--your survival depends on your fiscal well-being.

This issue is officially our Finance Issue. Each year at this time we attemptto provide some insight into the state of financing for self-storage, as well aspractical information on topics such as putting a loan package together, whereto find money to buy or upgrade a facility, whether or not to use a broker orhow to choose a lender. It's no secret that the financing landscape for thisindustry has changed dramatically over the past few years. As pointed out in ourSeptember issue ("When Lenders Disappear"), access to capital stillexists--the problem is simply finding it.

This year, Neal Gussis, now with Beacon Realty Capital, addresses"What's in Store" for self-storage finance, examining the variousfunding sources available today, from conduits to mortgage bankers to savingsand loan associations. Michael Parham provides us with the "Big FinancialPicture," through a demonstration of cashflow analysis as well as amultistate survey. R.K. Kliebenstein helps prepare you to work with a lender,and business lawyer Scott Shabel shares some insight on pitfalls to watch forwhen refinancing a facility.

Since you probably won't ever be able to trade in those valuable baseballcards for the facility of your dreams, prepare yourself to work within theparadigm. We may hate the process of securing financing, but we all love theresult. Learn to make the best financial decisions for you and your project.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all,
 
Teri L. Lanza
Editor
[email protected]