04 Feb 2026
Real Estate is the Powerhouse of Investing, and Self-Storage is the King of Real Estate
By Marc Goodin
Real estate makes more multi-millionaires than any other investment vehicle. It is easy to invest in real estate because there are many options, such as: buying and owning yourself, the stock market REITs, partners, limited liability partners etc. It could be single-family homes, apartments, raw land, self-storage, elderly living, car washes, just to name a few.
You can decide how much time and money you want to invest. Only have a few bucks and zero time. Investing in real estate/self-storage via the stock market might be the way to go. If you want to personally take the time to create added value, there are multiple avenues.
The core of a good real estate investment includes Cash flow, Retirement Security, Appreciation, Depreciation, Amortization, use of other people's money/time/experience, ability to keep your career(if you choose to), and earned residual income.
Self-storage is the King of real estate investment because it is simple to run and self-storage can supersize all the key reasons to invest in real estate. Self-storage has many advantages that are not found with many other real estate investments.
I have not seen any other business that has as many vendors to help the new and seasoned self-storage developer or owner. Books, classes, seminars, conferences, associations, management companies, apps, high-tech software, and franchising are just some of the helpful options.
Of course, the main reason for many investing in self-storage is because it has an incredible 30-year track record for the lowest failure rate and the highest real estate business profitability year after year. Few banks are going to lend millions to an inexperienced real-estate developer but because of self-storages track record of incredible success, not only can you get a loan, but with an SBA loan, you can get a loan with 15% down that even covers your expenses until you break even.
Self-storage is simple because it has fewer moving parts to oversee: 2 employees vs 25 for a restaurant; Order supplies quarterly vs daily or weekly; No replacing appliances, no painting walls or installing new carpets; Not a long, drawn-out process to evict tenants who did not pay the rent; No late-night calls for heat or plumbing repairs etc.
Inflation cuts the profits of most real estate businesses but not self-storage. Most self-storage businesses are not subject to inflation. The land and buildings are the majority of the cost of doing business for a self-storage. Since these items are fixed costs, they are not subject to inflation. Plus, with the right sales and marketing plan, you can raise your rents more than inflation every year for growing profits.
Inflation allows you to pay your loan with dollars that are worth less every year. Most people do not understand this incredible value. For example, let's say it takes the income of 300 units to pay your loan the day you open. But due to inflation creating higher rental rates in 5 years, it will only take 240 units to pay the rent. That means the rental income from an extra 60 units goes into your pocket (Over $100,000)
Self-storage has supersized tax advantages (think other people's money, appreciation, depreciation and amortization) that lead to more money in your pocket. Ask anyone who has owned self-storage for 5,10 or more years the difference every 5 years makes. And even more exciting is taking out multimillion tax free loans paid back by the renters. My philosophy is build it, fill it up, refi for tax-free million-dollar loans over and over until you die.
My favorite part of self-storage investing compared to other real estate investments is that I can put time into the business to improve operations, sales, and marketing efforts for more profits. No one is going to work as hard as you will for your business.
If you're considering starting your own real estate business, it only makes sense to check out self-storage.
As CEO of Storage Authority Franchising, Marc Goodin shares his passion, expertise, and unconventional wisdom with busy professionals to help them develop their own self storage while they continue their careers. He owns three self-storage facilities that he designed, built, and manages. He can be reached at marc@StorageAuthority.com or directly at 860-830-6764 to answer your franchising, development, marketing, sales, and operations questions. His best-selling self-storage books are available at Amazon.
Marc Goodin
860-860-6764
www.StorageAuthorityFranchise.com
Marc@storageauthority.com
