Property V Self Storage

Good Morning, Store Nation,

I've got a mate who is a professional property investor.

Hes been doing it for years, knows the market inside out and is genuinely very good at it.

And after showing him my self-storage numbers, he's now looking at opening his own site. Whooop 😂

So I thought it would be fun to do a proper head-to-head comparison between one of his best property investments and one of my self-storage facilities were about to open. 

• Two professionals,

• Two different assets,

• One question —

• Which is the better investment?

Today, we're looking at ROI (Return On Investment). 

Tomorrow I'll be back with the CoC (Cash On Cash) comparison.

My Friend's Property Numbers -

For transparency, this is in Hull, and it was 4 years ago that he bought it:

• Property price: £53,000

• Fees: £2,000

• Materials: £10,000 (distressed property, six months to renovate — and we're not counting his time as an expense, though we probably should 🤷‍♂️)

• Total investment: £65,000

• Annual return: £6,900

• ROI: 10.6%

Solid numbers. 

He's good at what he does, and this is a genuinely good property investment.

Who wouldn’t like a 10% return!

Ok, now my site will be opening later this year

My Self Storage Numbers:

Here’s a link to a video going deeper into the numbers.

• Total setup costs: £75,500

  (I just want to point out you can do this way cheaper. We’re going for the premium look, so we are spending way more on opening the site than we need to)

• Negative cashflow in the first six months: £22,000

• Total cash in: £97,500

Now here's where it gets interesting. Let's look at the ROI year by year:

• Year 1: 5.1% — yes, lower than property to start

• Year 2: 70% — now we're talking

• Year 3: 236% — yes, you read that right

• Year 4: 513%

• Year 5: 916%

• Year 6: 1,459%

By year six, the site is generating £410,000 profit annually and has produced over £1.1 million in cumulative profit.

Now compare that to £6,900 a year from property.

I'll be honest — in year one, property wins.

Self-storage takes time to fill up, and the first year is tough.

But from year two onwards? It's not even close.

And remember — my friend is a professional property investor who is very good at what he does. And he's still looking at self-storage.

That should tell you everything you need to know.

Anddd yessss, before anyone points it out …

Property is more passive, no doubt about it …

But self-storage is the most hands-off business there is.

The extra effort is definitely worth the returns 

Tomorrow (I can’t wait for this) I'll be back with the Cash on Cash comparison —

Annnd …….. trust me, it's even more nuts.

PS. Want to see how these numbers could work for your own site? My free training breaks it all down.

Watch it here: https://www.mrselfstorage.com/self-storage-investing-academy

Loads of self storage love,

Dean ❤️ 🙃