Is a first-time storage buyer actually in a stronger position with lenders than an investor who already owns fifty properties?

Joe Downs sits down with David Merkin, senior managing director at Eastern Union Funding, one of the country's largest commercial mortgage brokerages, who has placed debt on hundreds of storage deals across a network of 200-plus lenders.

Merkin pulls back the curtain on what banks really evaluate in self-storage financing: the sponsor, the story behind the numbers, and a credible business plan.

He explains why complex borrowers get rejected, what belongs in a lender-ready package, and why most deals die from self-disqualification…not weak fundamentals.

For anyone learning how to invest in storage, this is the financing playbook that turns "who would lend to me?" into a fundable deal.

Listen For:

5:44 What does David Merkin say lenders actually care about most?

13:50 How do first-time buyers hold a hidden financing advantage over veterans?

20:34 What does a clean, lender-ready storage financing package include?

24:18 Does a mortgage broker beat your bank on storage loan rates?

26:16 Why do most storage deals die before the application is sent?

CONNECT WITH GUEST: DAVID MERKIN, SENIOR MANAGING DIRECTOR | EASTERN UNION FUNDING

LinkedIn | Website

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Belrose website | Belrose email | Belrose LinkedIn

What's the one cost that quietly kills first-time self-storage deals... before the new owner ever collects a dollar?

This episode pulls back the curtain on the management question that's holding too many qualified investors back from their first acquisition.

Host Joe Downs sits down with Alex Erbs, Director at EquiCap Commercial and co-founder of Gateway Storage, who built a full internal KPI and operations system through Erbs Management Group before watching it merge with The Storage Mall, now one of the country's leading third-party management platforms.

Alex has been a buyer, operator, management company founder, and broker. He's lived every stage of the storage investing lifecycle.

In this episode, he breaks down what first-time self-storage investors get catastrophically wrong about NOI, occupancy, and management...and why the investors still waiting for a perfect deal are the ones losing the most ground right now.

Listen For:

3:28 Do most first-time self-storage investors fail to model third-party management costs before making an offer?

7:49 What does the management fear actually look like in year one and what does it look like after?

17:19 What are the three most critical KPIs every new self-storage owner must track from day one?

24:21 How does a seller's reported NOI differ from what a new self-storage owner will actually collect?

25:05 What separates the self-storage investors who close from the ones still looking 18 months later?

CONNECT WITH GUEST: ALEX ERBS, DIRECTOR | EQUICAP COMMERCIAL

LinkedIn | Email | EquiCap's Facebook | EquiCap's LinkedIn | Website

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Belrose website | Belrose email | Belrose LinkedIn

Are you still piecing together self-storage market data from six browser tabs, census pages, Google Maps, and a legal pad full of math while a motivated seller waits?

The institutional buyers cracked the code long ago, and in this episode, Joe Downs pulls back the curtain on the exact platform they use to do it.

Guest James Breunig, Head of Sales at StorTrack, the platform tracking over 74,000 self-storage and boat and RV storage facilities across the United States, brings 18 years of storage industry experience to the table.

Breunig reveals the 24-point data framework serious buyers use to evaluate markets, the single rate-trend indicator that predicts occupancy without even knowing the number, and why one data point will almost always steer a first-time storage investor wrong.

If you're in the research phase right now, this episode is your unfair advantage.

Listen For:

03:48 Why do most first-time self-storage investors rely on a single data point and get burned?

07:15 How does rate trend data reveal self-storage occupancy without pulling the actual number?

16:11 What does James Breunig show a first-time buyer on their very first day inside StorTrack?

19:43 How can self-storage investors use StorTrack's discovery tool to hunt deals across the entire country?

29:41 What does James Breunig recommend for investors still sitting on the sidelines doing market research?

CONNECT WITH GUEST: JAMES BREUNIG, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER | STORTRACK

James' LinkedIn | STORTRACK LinkedIn | Website

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Belrose website | Belrose email | Belrose LinkedIn

What does a self-storage broker actually think when your offer lands in his inbox and why does the broker's decision happen long before you ever submit an LOI?

Joe Downs sits down with Matt Rosendale, a broker with the Lindsey Self-Storage Group and a first-time storage facility owner himself, to pull back the curtain on how listed deals actually work.

With over a decade representing sellers and connecting buyers across the self-storage market, Matt reveals exactly what separates buyers who get to the closing table from those who never get the callback.

From proof of funds and buyer profiles to how brokers handle sellers still pricing like it's 2021, this episode delivers the insider self-storage investing intelligence most first-timers never get.

If you're ready to stop submitting blind LOIs and start closing deals, this conversation is your playbook.

Listen For:

5:33 What do first-time self-storage buyers need to do differently to get a broker's attention?

7:07 How does Matt Rosendale evaluate whether a buyer can actually close a self-storage deal?

14:07 How should buyers handle a listed self-storage property priced above what the market supports?

26:46 Can a first-time buyer really compete against institutional buyers and REITs for self-storage deals?

35:09 What should first-time storage investors do today to accelerate their path to their first facility?

CONNECT WITH GUEST: MATTHEW ROSENDALE, BROKER AT LINDSEY SELF STORAGE GROUP

Website | LinkedIn | Email | 484-695-0872

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Joe Downs on LinkedIn

Belrose website | Belrose email | Belrose LinkedIn

What actually separates the investors who close their first self-storage deal from everyone else watching from the sidelines and why does it have almost nothing to do with money, intelligence, or market timing?

Joe Downs sits down with Jack Pezzino, Vice President of Education at Belrose Storage Group, the man who runs the mentorship program, leads weekly live calls, and personally guides first-time storage investors from zero to one.

With Belrose Storage Group's portfolio exceeding $50 million across 20 self-storage facilities, Jack has a front-row seat to who succeeds…and why.

In this episode, he dismantles the most persistent limiting beliefs blocking new storage investors, reveals the real source of first deals (it's not brokers), and explains how data-driven decisions eliminate fear at every stage of the buying process.

If you've been on the fence about your first storage investment, this episode is your turning point.

Listen For:

9:35 Who actually closes their first self-storage deal and what does the real buyer profile look like?

14:25 What are the most common limiting beliefs blocking first-time storage investors from taking action?

20:04 Is SBA financing truly available for first-time storage buyers with no prior commercial real estate experience?

23:39 What does the emotional journey of buying a first self-storage facility actually look like at each stage?

26:55 If brokers aren't the main source of first deals, how are new storage investors actually finding and closing properties?

CONNECT WITH GUEST: JACK PEZZINO, VICE PRESIDENT OF ACQUISITIONS BELROSE STORAGE GROUP | STORAGE MOGULS

Website | LinkedIn

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Joe Downs on LinkedIn

Belrose website | Belrose email | Belrose LinkedIn

Is the gap between what your storage facility is and what it should be worth more than the facility itself?

Joe Downs sits down with Sydnie Wilda, operations and property management expert at Anytime Storage, a hands-on operator who has managed both boat and RV facilities and self-storage, including facilities within Joe's own portfolio.

The conversation delivers a field-level breakdown of the two most overlooked opportunities in storage investing right now: underperforming mom-and-pop self-storage facilities sitting 30% below market rents, and boat and RV storage operations being run like oversized 10x10 units.

With 600,000 new boats and RVs sold annually against only 25,000–30,000 new storage spots added each year, the supply gap is real, but Sydnie reveals why the operational gap is the bigger opportunity, and exactly how to close it.

Storage investors at every stage need this episode.

Listen For:

4:08 Why do self-storage operators consistently mismanage boat and RV facilities when they cross over?

6:26 How does access failure at a boat and RV facility damage tenant retention in ways self-storage simply cannot?

10:31 What does Sydnie Wilda actually see when she walks into an underperforming mom-and-pop storage facility?

14:05 How do bad Google profiles, below-market rents, and missed insurance revenue represent fixable management problems?

24:52 Where does Sydnie Wilda see herself in five years, and what is she doing today to make it happen?

CONNECT WITH GUEST: SYDNIE WILDA, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER | ANYTIME STORAGE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

LinkedIn | Instagram | Website

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Belrose website | Belrose email | Belrose LinkedIn

What do you do when the seller of your first self-storage facility simply stops showing up? Phones go dark, the website dies, and occupancy craters to 40%...while you're still under contract and $25,000 deep in non-recoverable costs?

That's the crisis at the center of this episode.

Joe Downs sits down with Adam and Kirby Leiby, a sales professional and homeschooling mom with zero prior storage experience, who purchased Lemon Springs Self Storage in Sanford, North Carolina for $625,000 in August 2025.

Less than a year later, the 96-unit facility is at 70% occupancy and climbing, year-one projections are hit, and deal number two is already in their sights.

Their story is a masterclass in one of the most valuable skills in self-storage investing: telling the difference between a market that doesn't want you and an operator who simply stopped trying.

If you've ever wondered whether you have what it takes to close a distressed deal, this episode is required listening.

Listen For:

1:10 How did two career professionals with zero storage experience decide to buy their first self-storage facility?

7:33 What does secretly shopping a 10-mile radius around a storage facility actually reveal about the market?

12:26 When occupancy drops to 40% mid-contract, how do first-time storage investors decide whether to walk or close?

15:40 What is the single moment Adam and Kirby Leiby decided to push through and close the Lemon Springs deal?

22:43 What does a storage investor's five-year portfolio vision actually look like in practice and what are you doing today to get there?

CONNECT WITH GUEST: ADAM & KIRBY LIEBY

Website | Adam's LinkedIn | Kirby's LinkedIn | Adam's Instagram | Kirby's Instagram | Adam's Facebook | Kirby's Facebook | Facebook Page

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Joe Downs on LinkedIn

Belrose website | Belrose email | Belrose LinkedIn

What would happen to your household income if you couldn't work tomorrow?

That single question is at the heart of this episode and for guest Christin Blunk, it wasn't hypothetical. When her husband Rod was diagnosed with stage four cancer three days before Christmas, their income stopped cold.

What followed transformed their life with 20 years of residential real estate experience into self-storage investors generating $12,000 per month in passive cash flow…on less than 15 hours of management per month.

Joe Downs sits down with Christin to unpack how she and Rod found and financed two self-storage facilities in Kentucky using conventional bank financing, no SBA, no private equity, with a combined investment of under $200,000 and built a portfolio now tracking toward $3.75–$4 million at exit.

If you've been sitting on the fence about self-storage investing, this episode is your wake-up call.

Listen For:

7:13 How did a stage four cancer diagnosis completely change the way Christin Blunk thinks about income and self-storage investing?

12:24 Why did Christin spend a full year educating herself before buying her first self-storage facility, even with 20 years of real estate experience?

17:14 How did Christin finance her first self-storage acquisition using conventional local bank financing with just 20% down?

22:49 What did Christin discover during due diligence on her second self-storage deal, and how did she turn 40 non-paying tenants into an advantage?

34:36 What does Christin Blunk say to the storage investor who has all the information they need but still hasn't pulled the trigger?

CONNECT WITH GUEST: CHRISTIN BLUNK

Warriors 2 Wealth Website | Warriors 2 Wealth YouTube | Christin's Instagram | Christin's LinkedIn

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Belrose website | Belrose email | Belrose LinkedIn