Build Wealth Without Losing Your Life and Happiness with Bree Hartman

[0:00] Welcome back to the REI Agent. My guest today is Bree Hartman, founder of Self Storage School, where she helps aspiring investors confidently break into the self-storage industry. What makes Bree’s story so relatable is she was not born into real estate or self-storage. Just a few years ago, she knew nothing about buying storage facilities and was asked the same question many beginners ask today. Less than 12 months later, she purchased her first self-storage facility, and now she is passionate about helping others shorten that learning curve through Self Storage School. Bree teaches investors, emphasizes action over theory, and if you were ever curious about self-storage or wonder why so many investors are making the switch, you’re going to love this conversation. Bree, welcome to the REI Agent podcast.

[0:41] I’m so excited to be here. I feel like our conversation already, like before this, it’s been bomb. It’s been great. I know. I should just record as soon as we get in and just see what happens and surprise me. I am so excited to be here. This is going to be really fun. Yeah, Bree. So what industry were you in before? What got you into looking into self-storage to begin with? Yeah. So I like to say I was a mom with a phone. And I think what’s interesting is I feel like I’ve had nine lives, like everyone else, right? I’m older. I was in my late 30s, and I’m not this young chicken that’s 22 right now, getting into real estate. And so I was a W-2 employee. So I live in Sacramento, California and worked for Fish and Wildlife for seven years and did the whole cubicle life and just realized I was just like suffocating. And so from there, I actually started a gym and I was like, yeah, I’m going to go out there, start a business. Like everyone says, entrepreneurship is the best thing. And really quickly, I learned that there was just a lot of work, like 60 hours a week on other people’s time to get very, very little money with no vacation. And so when I got

[1:55] pregnant with my little girl, I think that was my big shift. My big shift was like wake up call. I had, I laugh about it, like one accidental rental. And I was like, this is going to be the vehicle, like I’ll own 20 of these and passive income. And then really soon I realized like, oh, hey, there’s toilets, there’s tenants, you know, there’s all these issues like service dogs in California. And so I kind of was like, gosh, like I got to think bigger and better. Like what else is out there? And actually like on a podcast, I heard one day, you know, people talk about self-storage and they’re like, hey, no toilets, no tenants, no employees, less issues. And I’m like, sign me up. So I know that’s a really quick snapshot, but honestly, you know, I think ignorance is beautifully blissful and wanting a life that’s bigger and better. And it’s like, how do we not work harder?

[2:43] Like how do we work smarter right now? And, and then go out there and go do it. Right. Instead of just talk about it, talk is cheap. So that’s really like long story short, that’s how I got into self storage was that one accidental rental that led into, wow. Okay. How do I buy commercial real estate? How do I buy commercial real estate and a business, which is self-storage. And that was my big asset class that I really wanted to go after. Do you still have that accidental rental? I do actually, I was like, I got two or three now. And I don’t love them, but here and there, I think it’s, it is a good little play. You know what I mean? So I do still have that accidental rental. It actually is across the street where I live now. So it’s easy. It’s in my vicinity, hands down. Yeah. Well, no, I think like, it’s, it’s one of the things I like about syndications and, and, you know, if anybody listens to the show multiple, you know, for a while, they’ll know that I, I kind of preach about syndications a little bit. Not that they’re like, you know, it’s always going to work at rich quick. You don’t have to do anything. But it’s a way you can

[3:41] diversify your, your real estate holdings, which, you know, if you’re a realtor, if you’re a real estate designated professional, a real estate makes a lot of sense to own for taxes, for wealth creation. You can use that money that comes in now, you don’t have to wait until you’re retired. But, but, you know, I think that’s one of the benefits of it is that you can have different things. And if you do only own, you know, single family or whatever apartments in your area, I mean, that’s, you know, a very narrow scope of real estate. And that’s going to be very obviously market dependent on that. If one law changes, you talked about, you know, California laws with a very tenant friendly, that can impact your whole portfolio. So it makes a ton of sense to have some diversification for sure. And self storage is definitely a, it’s a popular one. It’s a, it’s a one that is definitely for good reason that a lot of people I know are excited about.

[4:38] Yeah. And I feel like, I guess for you, have you ever rented a unit like in self storage, like in your lifetime? I have not actually. Okay. No, that’s fair. And so it’s, it’s interesting. Cause I like went to the statistics, went to the Googles, right? And they say it’s like one in eight people rent storage in their lifetime. And that could be in an up market, a down market or a sideways market. But I really think that, you know, we’re America, we’re in a consumerism economy. And so as real estate, like you live in DC, like as real estate goes up and density is high, it’s like, how do you move your things out? And so what a lot of people do is they move stuff into storage and they’ve been using storage as the easy button for many, many years. And it’s only going to continue like that. And so, um, I think it’s just very fascinating because in self storage, I can, I think why for sure I got into it was that it’s like, how do you have a simple, boring business and commercial real estate? And that was kind of the self storage umbrella. Um, and so being able, I think to scale right remotely. And so for me,

[5:42] I live in California, I don’t love, I actually don’t own a storage facility in California. Um, I buy all of mine, you know, in the, in the South or even in the Carolinas and Tennessee, and we run them all remotely managed. And so I was like, what is an asset class? Can I do that with? Right. And then how can I own 15 to 18 of these facilities and work from home? Right. And have that, you know, time with my four year old girl. And so thinking, I think in that regards is people get excited about boutique hotels right now. It’s like all the rage. You go on Instagram and all the social medias. And I’m like, that sounds like just chaos to me. Like everyone has their own little favorite thing, but you know, I want something that doesn’t have to do with hospitality. I want a boring subscription based business. And that’s what self storage is, is like, we are in like the industry in space to rent space. Literally we rent air. It’s like a concrete floor, um, cinder block building roll up doors and no, no lights and no, no toilets. And so that to me, I think feels very, you know, easy and successful is to have those slow mornings and not worry about, do I have

[6:45] hospitality issues or a lizard coming into my, I don’t know, room and I have to like give money back. And I don’t know, it’s, it’s just a very different, interesting world out there now in this space. And so, yeah, and, and, and expense ratios. And so I think people get really interested about this really fast, but, um, self storage and in industrial, we have one of the lower expense ratios, which is around an average of 35 to 40% expenses versus multifamily right now is 50 to 58%. And then in hotels, they’re at 60 to 68%. So just seeing that you’ve just got more room to cashflow, um, and more room, I always say for stupidity, um, you know, so that’s something that I really enjoy as well. Yeah, that’s awesome. Um, now I know that it’s, can be challenging to find, uh, deals at pencil.

[7:34] Now I, I, I worked with a client that was very into, um, self storage. Uh, they came from owning, they own another business, uh, but they wanted to invest in self storage. Uh, and they, you know, we, through that process, we, we, we looked at multiple deals, none of them penciled out. Um, and, uh, there was a lot of people accepting cash, um, so that their books didn’t reflect the full profit. Yeah. And then you’re just supposed to take their word for it. Um, that, that kind of thing that’s happening. So I guess that, that leads me to the question, um, how does one go about finding deals that actually makes sense? Yeah. And so, um, so kind of like, even like how I teach in self storage school. So you’ve got two ways, like, well, three ways really, but you’ve got on market deals where, you know, especially as real estate, um, agent investors, that’s where people take those deals to on market loop net or correctsies of the world. And those are the ones that are highly competitive.

[8:30] You know, right now it’s true. People want over asking prices and they’re willing to put it on there and trying to get it. We call it the silly money of the world. And obviously there’s great deals out there. There’s just more competition, right? It’s just more and more people attracted to it and eyeballs on it. And so how I kind of teach in the self storage school is to get really, really good at looking for those off market deals, right. And building relationships with owners. And so we are in this, you know, um, silver tsunami, like no matter how you want to look at it, it’s like, we’ve got baby boomers that are wanting to retire. Um, and it’s like high net worth individuals to high net worth individuals. And so being able to go out there in these markets, like not think like public storage and cube smarts and these first or second tier markets, where are markets that are still growing that are on these outskirts, right. That we don’t want to compete with. So finding these off market properties, um, in these, you know, areas that are still growing that have mom and pop that are unsophisticated.

[9:26] Those are the ones that I truly like to target because I build relationships with them. And then most of them, like we’re doing two seller financing deals, um, this month, closing on like a 1.5 million dollar property. That will be a seller financing deal with 3% interest interest only for seven years. So these are the parts that it’s like, how do we think creatively when yes, most of the world will skip the, Hey, nothing’s penciling. So move on. Right. Shrining object syndrome to, Hey, how can we find these, these gems and then see how we can take a good deal to a great deal and cashflow it. So a little bit, that’s kind of my secret sauce as I was a mom with a phone that no one wanted to talk to me. Like I was like, and no one wanted to talk to me. And so I got really, really good at calling, um, off market storage properties and having just real conversations with them. And then being at the very end, like, Hey, would you ever consider an offer right on their property? And that’s when the light bulb kind of went off and I got really good at negotiating these deals. And then people wanted

[10:27] to talk to me and partner. So, you know, I think that’s, I think the secret sauce is going back, like, again, going back to the basics, it’s the basics of real estate. Like where are these good deals and real estate agents? I know that’s a lot of people, um, you know, are on this podcast and listen. And it’s like, you guys have the best skillset possible, like calling people, having conversations and not doing all this AI agent reach out and stuff and items, which is cool. Cool. You know, but it’s like, how do we get back to the basics to do more, more of that? Yeah, a hundred percent. So I can never miss an opportunity here to plug the CRM, uh, that we are offering because it is a hundred percent with what you just described. Um, and it would work really well for these as well. Um, but it is forward based. So you’re, you’ve got your, your family, occupation, recreation, dreams, you track that in each contact. So you are, you’re systematically talking to people and trying to learn these things about them by asking good questions related to these things that they care about. Um, and then when you follow back up with them, you’re able to

[11:24] remember, um, these things as well. And, and I think right now we are all probably starting to feel, I think, I feel like there’s like this, like we’re kind of getting over this, this hump where people are starting to get sick and tired of AI a little bit. And if you sense that it’s fake, if you sense that it’s being generated by AI, so if it’s an email, if it’s whatever, uh, you’re just kind of immediately turned off. Or I think a lot of people are. And if you get into like the texting stuff, or if you get into like the faking your voice and trying to be, uh, you know, this fake AI agent person, um, I just think that people sense it and it, you know, I’m not saying there’s no success there, but I think that we are in a relationship business, uh, both of us. Right.

[12:06] And I think that it’s, um, something that you should treat like gold and you don’t want to, yeah, you don’t want to kill that off by trying to do less or get fancy. Um, so. No, I hear you. And I, I know, uh, we were talking about, I, cause that is something that cause people come to me all the time and they’re like, Hey Brie, like, how are you finding these off market properties? And so if you want me to, I can kind of share lies, like, you know, how do you find like self storage properties? And, and this is something that you guys can do today. Cause I think that’s the biggest part is like action, right? Like it’s less, less, less fluff, like more action is very, I preach. And so, um, before I can like share my screen and especially for like, even like real estate agents, like you guys are going to crush this, uh, which I knew this sooner, but what you think about is okay. You know, if you want to buy a social storage facility and look for these mom and pop facilities that are unsophisticated, we, I call it the market rule of fives. And so in self storage school, we talk about, okay, how do we not compete with three,

[13:04] which are these public storages, cube smarts of the world where everyone’s like, oh, there’s storage on every corner. I’m like, yeah, because you’re looking in these first or second tier markets. And then the second thing I want you guys to think about is these third and fourth tier markets are areas that they’re growing, right? There are areas where people are fleeing, right? These big areas like Atlanta, Georgia, like there’s so much traffic, same thing with Dallas. Like they’re going into these outskirts and roads are being built and data centers are being formed. And so normally these are between, you know, 5,000 people to about 120,000 people in population. Like that’s a good sweet spot to start at.

[13:39] Right. And then the third thing is, okay, people have to have money, right? To buy storage or to pay their, you know, every single month. So make it easy, right? Cause that’s the goal in business. And so I, a medium household income of $50,000 is really a sweet spot. And then my last little part to this is, you know, being able to find those, those properties or cities that have areas that are growing just by even 0.1%. So I just want you guys to keep in mind when I open up the screen, and then we’re going to look for the last part to this. The fifth one is facilities that either don’t have a website or their facilities that have a website that’s like godaddy.com or one that was like, you know, back with the rotating E, like those are the ones that exist. They’re a website. So it’s kind of like a fake thing, but it’s like, you can’t actually rent a unit online, which means they’re unsophisticated.

[14:30] So I just wanted to find that first. And so I’m just going to open up my screen and just share an area just that we were just like actually looking at like yesterday. And this is fascinating. Yeah. While you do that, I’ll just, I’ll just say to go to REIAgent.com, sign up for our newsletter, because you will get things like she just said, she just listed off some amazing tips there. We send that out every week. So it summarizes the content there. So if you’re driving around now and can’t get to it, definitely do that. I’ll also save this for later, go to YouTube, or I think it’s on Spotify and video as well, because she’s about to show us her screen. Yes, big nuggets. So what I like to go do is just go to the Googles. It’s free, right? And I’m going to put in just Sullivan, Missouri, right? Sullivan, Missouri. And so, you know, very, just, it was very fascinating. Someone just picked this town because it was like 45 minutes from where they currently live. And so this is kind of, you know, the whole area right here. And so what I’ll do is I’ll just click on nearby. And then what I’m going to do is I’m going to write self storage and I’m going to press enter. And so what’s neat about

[15:40] this is that this is called like the Google map pack. And so these are the little dots. These are all the storage facilities in this town. And so, you know, from here, what I like to do is, you know, looking on this main road right here, these are, so here’s the website, right? And then here’s no website, right? So it’s so crazy. Like, how did these facilities make it through COVID? I don’t know. It’s because they’re baby boomers. They don’t have to, they’re already making, they’re already cash flowing. They’re already making a ton of money. Why would they change? That’s really what this comes down to. And so like, what, why break it? Because it’s already working. But what’s crazy is this, you just go on. Right. And that’s where I just wanted to prove to you because people talk about it.

[16:20] And it’s like, no, like there’s this really exists out here in this world and commercial real estate. And I think this is the true opportunity at hand right now. It’s like, we’re in a buyer’s market. So like, let’s, let’s make this work. So here’s central storage. I’m just going to click it. Um, I don’t know anything about it, but it’s right here on the main road. As you enter in this town, no website. Okay. 4.3 stars, 18 reviews, um, somewhat decent, you know, cover photo at least. And then what’s, you know, fascinating, still no website, you know? And so I’m going to take my little man, drop him right here and check it out a little bit. Um, and this looks like a pretty facility. Like, would you buy this? Yeah. Yeah. I know. I’m like, like climate controlled. You have a billboard right here. Um, you know, you can definitely tell like they don’t even have an area code. Like that’s a mom and pop, um, beautiful, clean facility with maybe a little bit of expansion and free marketing all day long. And so this is where I would start the calling, right? And I would start the calling and building the relationship and just having a conversation with this owner,

[17:24] um, and building up that relationship and seeing if they would ever consider an offer, you know, on their facility. And so I think we make it sound harder than it really is. Um, but you know, from here, you know, people forget boring businesses. We have eight to 10 different revenue streams, right? So we don’t just sell, you know, self storage units, right? We’ve got climate control. We’ve got drive up. We’ve got, um, right here, this is an office, um, which we triple net lease and rent out our office to make more money on top of our facilities when we buy them. And then on top of that, this guy has a billboard that probably pays him monthly. And then I’ve got a guy, if I bought this party, I would put four more, probably two more billboards at each quarter to make more money here and maybe a cell tower. And then you’ve got tenant protection plans that you’re going to upcharge people to have $12 a unit, $12, every single one, right?

[18:14] So there’s lots of different revenue streams, RV and boat. People just forgot that boring businesses get to have just as much fun as hotels. It’s just not as pretty and beautifully Airbnb eccentric, right? Like, but to me, I’m like, this is, this is beautiful to me. It’s simple and it’s easy and I can run it remotely from a call center and a boots on the ground. And I get to do what I want to do with my, my girl and buy back my time. So I just wanted to share with you guys, I mean, I can go on and on, but, um, I wanted to make this really fast and clean and clear, but you can do this like, you know, in areas that you live, just think outside the box. Right. And that’s what I teach like in storage school. It’s like, how do we take these main foundational concepts that we’ve known for years, even in residential, apply it right to self storage and then double down. So, no, that’s awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that. Um, and you know, I, I, I’ve invested now in a couple of syndications. Um, they’ve all been mobile home parks and, uh, I bring that up because, um, you know, it’s not sexy. Yeah. Yes. And they’re not sexy. Um, but, but when you really

[19:25] dig into it and really think about it, I mean, that’s the best, uh, thing to get into really. I mean, like it is, it is a lot easier. Like, so there’s a lot, I’m not going to hate on, um, you know, Airbnbs and everything, but that, that obviously was a big craze and, um, there was a lot of hype there and it is really cool to think. And a lot of people want to buy a property that they’re going to go live in or sorry, vacation in as well. So it’s going to, you know, it’s going to give them money. It’s going to pay for itself. They’re going to be able to go to vacation there. Um, but I think, you know, it, there’s a lot of risk there. Like, you know, jurisdictions can change their laws, all those kinds of things can happen. Um, and whereas if you were to go after something that’s not as sexy, um, like, like self storage, like, um, you know, mobile home parks, um, that income could then pay for your vacations. You can go wherever you want.

[20:12] Um, that’d be another way to look at it. Right. Like, so like treat it separately. It’s like a, it’s a, it’s a business. Um, and that’s really awesome. And I’ll say something controversial. I, it’s so funny. I think just like, you know, it’s like people bought Peloton in 2020, like everyone bought a Peloton and a treadmill and they’re like, I’m going to go use it all the time. It’s at my house. No, you’re not. You want to go to different places. You know what I mean? But like, again, I get the concept of it and, um, you know, I think it’s, it’s like, what do you really need? And, you know, is it that lake house? Is it that, you know, X, Y, and Z, but only you can answer that question. You know, it’s like, will you actually use X and then do you need that? Right. Or is it, do you want more, you know, is operations for you something that’s important, um, to be remote and something that is, you know, easy and simple. And so that’s kind of, that was my, like, I think just a big, like epiphany, right. It’s like, how do I keep it simple, stupid, really? Um, and again, we’ll talk about things that are not like, I, and I’m very just authentic about, you know, like how

[21:13] this all works. And there’s days where I’m like, oh my gosh, you know, but there’s also points where it’s like, wow, it really is less headaches than some of these other asset classes that, you know, my colleagues, you know, are dabbling in. So, um, we can go down the operational, you know, pathway, or we can kind of go and talk about, um, seller financing, but it’s, it, it all comes down to, you know, your big why, like in asking yourself five times, I did that five times, like, what do you really, really want? Um, and for me, I knew I had to buy outside of California and I knew I wanted, you know, being able to have financial and time freedom for the next like 10 to 15 years and, and own a portfolio that I can do faster and easier. Um, and that to me, you know, with self storage. So, um, pick that asset class and just go for it and stay in your lane. Don’t get that shiny object. Cause that’s the biggest thing is Alex Ramose talks about, you know, everyone will have at some point in their career in life, um, a woman in the red dress or a man in the tuxedo, right. That like is dangling at you. And, and when business is profitable, it’s crazy how

[22:18] easy that dangle is, um, to get to that next level. So, yeah, no, thanks. And I, I just wanted to say, like, I’m not saying you can’t be successful and, and Airbnbs are not a good asset class to get into. It’s just, um, it’s just a clear different one that is, um, yeah, this is, so it’s good to just really understand what the business looks like on a day to day, which you’ve just described, like, you know, that’s one of the huge benefits to you is being able to be remote. Um, being able to have that time freedom, um, is, is big for you. So it’s definitely understanding all those aspects. And then obviously also, um, what does, what drives the value, um, in, in these properties is I’m assuming it’s also cap rates. Um, so, so getting really good at the operational side is important, right? So important. Yeah. So this is a really good question. Um, and so we’ll go into some fun numbers. Um, and so like getting, and that was one, one big thing is like getting really good at analyzing the deal and underwriting, right. And knowing what a facility is worth, um, because you never want to overpay. And so like the two biggest things I think is that we teach and it’s very

[23:21] important is, you know, how do you find a good deal? Right. And then how do you decrease your risk and structure it so that it works well? And so, um, you know, a big part to this is like, we bought, um, just like three years ago, we bought a half million dollar storage facility, right. With seller financing. And, and so this property was 10,000, no, about 12,000 square feet, 83 units roughly. Um, and, and what we did with it was the owner owned it outright. He’s like, I just want to, he was, it was in Louisiana. He’s like, I just want to move to the Carolinas and retire. Um, and so we use seller financing. And so we said, Hey, we’ll buy it for half a million, um, with 15% down. So 75 K down, which is less than some houses. And then we will pay you 5% interest, you know, on that for seven years.

[24:07] And so he’ll get to make over, like, it was like 600 and something, eight, 680,000 over time. But, um, that decreased our risk with seller financing. And then what’s beautiful about this is we pay him. I know this cause it goes straight from my, our bank account, 2000, like $300 a month. Right. And then we get to cashflow the rest. Um, so what we did here was raise rates, um, about 35%. And so, you know, what we’ve done with this facility is we buy it right for half a million, um, with 75 K down. And our goal is to sell it of spring 2027, um, for about 1.2 million, about a seven and a half, eight cap range. And so the whole goal, you know, from getting it from half a million to 1.2, and it doesn’t, you know, maybe people are like, Oh, that sounds like a small number, but guess what we’re going to do is 1031, go take it to a bigger deal. Right. And that’s the whole goal is how do you build your net worth and how do you build your net wealth and, and cycle that.

[25:01] Um, but the things that you do to take commercial real estate, cause residential is all on comps, right. No matter how nice my marble kitchen looks, your house is going to be based on the comps of that neighborhood in businesses. Um, they go based on your gross income, right? And it’s like your gross income and your NOI divided by your cap rate is your purchase price. Um, and so how do you increase your NOI over time? How do you increase your net operating income? And so for us, what we did was it was like a 35% increase, maybe 40. Now, um, decrease our expenses a little bit to 35, 30%, make it lean, make it automated, put a website on there. Um, we did tenant protection plans. We have a security, um, cameras up and we added portable, um, units along the fence line to add some more income there. And so it was, uh, I would say an easier lift, I would say. Um, and then in four years, we’ll go out there and sell it, um, to 1031. So that’s just an example, you know, on what is possible.

[26:01] Um, you could also refinance and go do it again, right? There’s multiple different ways to exit, but I think just the answer to your question is how do you find value? Right. And right now I’m really getting into, you know, back in the day in 2020, I mean, people were just searching for good deals where they can just increase the rates. Like, cool. That’s not creative, but you know, it worked because the 2020, everything worked. Um, now it’s like, how do you take a good deal and make it great. Right. And so how do you make a good deal, add revenue on top of that? Um, and then add additional revenues down the line and then dangle a little carrot, keep some on there. Cause you want to go exit and sell it or refinance to go do it again. Um, so that’s kind of how we teach is like, that’s the value that you get to add in self storage. Um, and how we like to look at, buy it, you know, for what it’s worth today, negotiate it, and then take it to, you know, the value that you want to do is to get a good deal. And then you’re like, you know, you’re like, you’re like, you’re like, you’re like, you’re like, you’re like, you’re like,

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[28:33] you know, sometimes having less money down, so they don’t have that capital gains hit is also still a win-win for them. If you can still make a cash flow, and have you make sure your operating expenses are, you know, really well documented, like, that’s a great win-win for you, and potentially, right? So it’s awesome. Yeah. And I mean, I’ll just put like a bow on this too. And, and this is, I think we’re in a really sweet spot. And we have no crystal ball, I’m no, you know, how do I say it, like CPA, everything like that. But I do think we are in this buyer’s market where, you know, rates have a little bit gone up, and we don’t know where they’re going to go. And they haven’t moved right in a while. Commercial real estate, we follow residential and slower, actually.

[29:16] And so we’re in this sweet spot where it’s been five years, rates are refixing from people’s loans. And people are like, I want to retire. I’ve been waiting with my hands, like sitting on my hands for three years, and they want offers. And so we’ve been getting more, you know, putting out more offers, like I put six offers out last week, more offers we’ve been putting out now than we have in the past like 24 months. And it’s because these interest rates are allowing us to be creative and think with seller financing and get more creative. People are open to looking at that now. And so just like you said, the three reasons, if you haven’t heard like seller financing is, you know, they own, normally own it outright. And so they get to be the bank, right. And so that helps us in multiple ways is where you know, decreases our risk a little bit more, because it’s backed by the property, not the bank. And then number two, we get to look at terms over time that allows us as a business owner to cash flow more. And that’s, you know, that’s rule number one in business is like, we need a cash flow, cash

[30:17] flow is king. And so that’s a really important part. And then the big biggest thing is, it’s not always about price, right? It’s about who’s gonna take over the business the best way, how much money they’ll get at the total of that seven year balloon. And then number three, how do they not pay Uncle Sam? Like I hear this all the time, right? How do I reduce my, you know, capital gains if I get a million dollars all at one time, like that’s a lot, you’re going to be paying a lot of money in taxes all the time, like if you just get that big lump sum. So I just have been, you know, moral of the story is, you know, be creative, think outside the box, and start that conversation. And the person that starts that conversation and is able to communicate that clearly, and the benefits to the seller is going to win. And that’s the cheat code there. Well, and you kind of alluded to it as well. But I mean, these are often these people’s like whole lives. I mean, like this can be like somebody’s like, you know, their biggest transaction, biggest transaction they’ve done in a long time. Yeah, business baby. And yeah, and so and so you know, that relationship thing that you’re building that

[31:24] you’re you’re talking to them, you’re focused on the relationship, you’re not just spamming them with, you know, things that is part of it. Because like you said, like, that’s important, like they want to have that torch be carried on, they don’t want to just, you know, sell out to some some commercial thing that’s gonna, I don’t know. So that’s important as well. And I’ll make one, you know, plug, we just had a storage school student purchase a 10,000 square foot property. So same literally same size as ours for on a seller financing deal in Texas, made the relationship and he worked with them for about five months. And he was able to get $90,000, the price, put 10% down $9,000 down, and is a five year balloon. And so like nine, it really changed my mindset about building relationships and taking your time and not just spraying people, but really, you know, building that relationship up. And, and it’s not always about price, but it’s about, you know, what is that win win for everyone there. And so that owner just wanted to kind of like say, give it to someone who’s actually going to help in the community. And they wanted to go on their merry

[32:33] way. So it’s just very fascinating $9,000 is like, you know, less than I even know a house mobile home, who even knows at this point, but I live in California. So my, my eyes are screwed a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. So I was just like, it’s just, you know, I think these things, when people say you have to have all this money to get in commercial real estate, you have to have all this money to buy self storage. I really think that’s the limiting belief that really just stops people because I hear in the DMs, like I talk to people all day long and they’re like, Brie, I’ve been thinking about buying storage for 10 years or eight years. And the first question I ask is like, why haven’t you done it? Like, why haven’t you done it? You know? And they kind of like, uh, cause I need a lot of money. Right. Or like, I don’t know how to find a deal. And so, but the needing the money part really gets people hung up for some reason. And it did for me in the beginning, like it was one more zero to my first house that I bought. Um, but at the same time, like if it’s a good deal and it cash flows, like you’re going to be able to take that opportunity to

[33:34] a doctor or someone who doesn’t have that opportunity and say, Hey, do you want to make money together? Like let’s go. Right. And so that gives you leverage in the upper hand. Um, and I think that’s what a lot of your real estate agents that listen to this podcast, like that’s your opportunity right now is, is to use your voice and to, you know, be different and to build relationships authentically and to think outside the box. And that’s how deals are going to be had, I think right now in this market. And that’s how you have to think. A hundred percent. Um, one, one other point I wanted to make from what you had mentioned before is like, you know, the exit strategy, um, can be to sell. Um, so you’re, you’re, you’re looking to do the value add stuff to say, increase the value, et cetera. But you also mentioned that you could do, uh, you know, a cash out refinance, refinance that deal. Um, that’s cat, that’s tax-free.

[34:22] You can, you can turn around and do whatever you want to then with that money tax-free. So you could, you could roll that into another deal. If you wanted to, you could, um, yeah, go buy that vacation. What’s cool. And like we always say, like there’s two strategies, right? Like, and you have to think every deal you buy in real estate, it’s your, how do you enter and how do, how do you want to exit? Like you have to have a plan. Um, and people that don’t have a plan, they’re just making a wish. Right. And that’s not good either. Um, but the, the guy that I just talked about bought it for $90,000, 9k down within 36 months, he will be able to either sell at 300 K at like an eight and a half cap, or he’ll be able to take about $120,000 out somewhere around there and then not kill the pig, keep the pig going and go buy another one in that market. And so those are the two opportunities, you know, to grow your net worth and to build that portfolio. Because to be honest, it’s not just one facility that would probably change your life. It’s probably one to three, right? Depending on the size that it takes, um, you know, for you and what your real monthly, you know, like goal is for

[35:28] income and your family. Um, so yeah, those are just two thought processes that I very much like teach and preach is like, how do you make sure this grows? And then how do you do it in a way that is beneficial to what you really, really want and not just like a fantasy. Yeah, no, I love it. Um, well, you’ve talked about a little bit, uh, I want to get into it a little bit more, but, um, you know, talk some about how you are, you know, doing, pursuing this, um, trying to live, um, intentionally and trying to not lose sight of what’s important, et cetera. Like by, uh, you know, what’s the point of, you know, accumulating all this wealth if, you know, you just, you die alone, unhealthy, sad, you know? Right. Yeah. No. Your approach to life.

[36:12] I love that. Cause we were talking a little bit about this and, you know, I think the summer brings up a lot of just like, Hey, what do you want? Right. And so, you know, I think for me, I’ve been really dabbling in that. I think you should always like, you have to always reinvent yourself. That’s what’s so cool about life is like, you’re growing, you’re reinventing yourself. Um, and I’m doing that constantly. And, and so, you know, for me, that’s even just getting into storage in general was to two things that I define a success is like easy mornings with my daughter. Um, and I was telling Mateus that we do hot tub Wednesdays. So easy mornings with her hot tub Wednesdays in the morning before, you know, going to school. Um, and then being able to lay my head on the pillow and sleep well, and not feel like I either, you know, like can’t either make ends me or there’s toilets breaking at like 1am. Like that’s to me, not like exciting. It’s like that actually gives me more anxiety. Um, so those are two, you know, like elements that I always think about.

[37:08] And then, you know, for me, um, you know, really defining this, it’s not the bigger, the portfolio. Like I think a lot of, I think we’re all rethinking this and seeing some of the syndications. I’m just saying some do really, really well. And we’re seeing some fall apart. Um, and it’s because they created their own beast. Like they were the more to the masses feed the beast, bigger, the amount of doors or square feet you have the, the win. And in that case, it’s not always a hundred percent true. Like for me, it’s more about, I buy two to five good self-storage deals every single year. And I’m creating a boutique, you know, storage equity firm for myself and my family. Um, and, and so I love partnering with my self-storage school students. I love also creating that for them. Cause I think that’s really what we’re here to do is to have a life on purpose and to have life options, um, and not just create like another job. Right. And don’t mean you still have to hustle. Like you still got to put in the work and like work, um, and do things that are uncomfortable. Cause I do it every single day.

[38:06] And it, trust me, it does not always feel great. Um, but at the same time, I think there’s also a point of burnout and push, push, push, you know, culture that I don’t want to go after. I’m like, it’s not worth it to me. So that’s what I’m kind of like really right now. Redefining is, you know, I found the vehicle, I found self-storage, which is the asset class. And now how do I want to do it and not be about all the money? Right. Cause you can always compound your money elsewhere too. But how do you, you know, how do you work smarter and not harder? And so that was something like a book, if you haven’t read it, 10 X is easier than two X, um, by Dan. And he is that I just, this concept is something that I’m really thinking about right now.

[38:48] I love it. Yeah. So true. Like, I mean, one of the things I preach, um, on the show is the goal of getting to be, uh, you know, having your expenses covered, um, through, uh, your investments. And it’s a, it’s a lofty goal. I mean, definitely it’s possible and various routes. Um, and, and this is certainly one of them that could be really beneficial to people. Um, but I think there’s always a time where, uh, or every agent that’s been in the business for enough time, they’re going to have ups and downs. They’re going to have various stressors. And, um, it’s really easy when the times are really good to want to, to just kind of expect that to happen forever. And just to kind of have, um, you know, increase your lifestyle, that kind of stuff. If you, if you take the approach of first increasing your, you know, your passive income, uh, to a point where you can then, you know, start increasing your lifestyle based on, you know, well, I got a new deal that brings in X amount a month.

[39:41] Maybe I can afford this new other thing or whatever. I think that’s an approach that makes you able to sleep better at night, right? You can use, um, maybe you can be more selective with the people you work with in your real estate business. Maybe you don’t want to deal with, uh, certain people that just keep you up at night. You can more easily fire, um, those negative, uh, clients because you don’t need their money. Um, and so it’s, it’s a great thing and it’s really good to, it just takes a little bit of intentionality, um, to, to plan, to think through, to not just let life happen to you so that you can, um, you know, what’s the realtor in the summer able to like, you know, travel for a month like that teacher summer. I call it the teacher summer. I want it teacher summer, which is what we try to do. Um, but I agree. Like, I think it’s that, you know, people talk about the two rules and real estate investing, which is like, what is it? Um, live below your means, right. And invest often. It’s like the two big, I can’t remember who created that.

[40:43] I did not, but, um, I always definitely try to live with that, which is like live below your means and invest often. Right. And I think what I’ve been thinking about, you know, cause it is important. They first want to go to that part of like, how do I cover my expenses and live, you know, um, day to day and not worry about it based on your investments. But I think that the biggest shift that I’m making into now is, you know, how do we, how do we compound, right? How do you leverage and use your asset classes to compound your capital? Um, smart, smartly. I don’t, that’s not a word, but like, you know, in the most, um, peaceful way like that to me right there is it’s like less is more. How do you compound, which I don’t think a lot of people talk about. I think it’s all about, you know, financial freedom. And like, to me, I don’t know why that triggers me so much, but it does financial freedom. I see like cars and like, I don’t know, like trips and I’m like, cool. But how are you thinking smarter? Like, and that’s what I want to just like, and this is, this is me thinking outside the box and me getting kind of Roo Roo because I’m going through a lot of

[41:44] this right now, but how do you compound that money and leverage it the right way where you don’t have to work harder, but you’re working smarter with your money, um, over the long haul for your family. Yeah, absolutely. I love that. Um, the other piece that I just wanted to touch on, we, we don’t really have to get into it. I know you’re not an accountant, but there’s tax advantages for these kinds of investments as well. So, uh, that’s another bonus. Like I think when you, uh, are thinking about the, the realtor 401k, if you will, like, you know, investing in different properties, you can, you can take, uh, tax advantages, um, from them as well. So definitely check with your CPA about that as well, as you’re making plans to do these things. Um, but it’s just, uh, and to me, it’s like, it’s just a no brainer.

[42:30] It’s, and, and, and, and for people that aren’t thinking about this, I guess, so in commercial real estate, um, you can do cost segregations, which is, or bonus segregations studies on the businesses that you own. And honestly, the top ones they say are self-storage, um, mobile home parks, um, and RV parks right now, for some reason, because there’s a lot of things that you can depreciate. Um, but how we like to use it is it’s like, it’s a cherry on top. We always say it’s a cherry on top. Um, and I’m no CPA, so talk to your CPA, but how we like to do it is like, we’ve got a triangle, right? So if we think about wealth, it’s like, we want cashflow, you know, to live off of and to invest often. And then we have our net worth that you’re growing. And then that bonus on top of that triad is your depreciation. Like, how are you depreciating so that you can work smarter, which means you don’t, you know, it helps offset taxes. It can help do all these X, Y, and Zs for your family. And so, you know, and everyone’s different, but honestly, you can play that game.

[43:30] And it’s a legal game that they’ve made for us. They set up for us. And I think people that have not really thought about that, you know, yet, um, should, should do it right now. But, you know, I think that’s an important piece that, you know, I call it a cherry on the top because it’s true, right. You should be already making it with those two other items, but it’s like, how do we add a cherry on top to, um, just push you right to 10 X you a little bit more. Yeah. And, and, you know, being a real estate professional allows you to write off your, again, I’m not an accountant, so definitely double check with yours. Uh, but it allows you to write off your commission. Um, so like you can, like a doctor would not be able to write off their salary, um, with, if, if they were wanting to invest in one of these, um, they could, they could typically, uh, take off their, the income they earn passively, et cetera. They could, they could write off that, but they couldn’t do their, their own income. But as a real estate professional, you can. So it’s really huge. And if you, um, to give you a small example, and I’ve said this a couple of times, but we invested a $50,000

[44:32] into a mobile home syndication. And the first year we actually only owned it for like a month, um, at this time, but we got a K one, um, of, uh, of like $66,000, we were able to write off of our income off of a $50,000 investment. So like that, that’s a huge, uh, benefit, uh, to, you know, our, our finances and that, and yeah, and it wasn’t as good the next year, but there was still like another 12 or whatever. So, I mean, it was, you know, still a great thing. And if you kind of re repeat and invest in more in these, more and more of these things that will just, uh, you know, continue to get better and, or that those savings will continue to come in. Um, hands down. Absolutely. And I’m, I’m laughing right now. Cause I, I can’t, I can’t help myself, but I’m always thinking, I’m like, um, there should be like a dating website or some type of fun podcast with about like high net worth individual, like doctors with like real estate professionals. Right. It’s like, how do we match these up so that like, you know, but I’m just laughing about this. Cause I’m like, I’m sure it exists, but if you don’t know it, that’s, that’s the, there’s a joke in real estate.

[45:36] It’s like, go marry a high net worth doctor and help each other out. Right. Obviously that’s not true. Make sure you’re like very well equipped for a good relationship longterm, but there is a joke in this industry. And I always, I, I smile every single time about it. I laugh. Or some people were doing the whole Airbnb, uh, loophole as well. Yeah, exactly. But, but anyway, um, you’ve already given us tons of gold nuggets, but I just wanted to check if you have any gold nuggets for us now. Yeah. So, um, I honestly, I think from that, it’s just more, it’s figuring out, right. It’s like, what is that asset that you truly, you know, want to double down in and go, go there. Don’t go, don’t spread yourself, you know, thin, just go like a mile deep. And then I think, you know, from that, it’s like, you have a question, right? Do you personally want to own it? Right. Do you want to own it and manage it and do all those items and have that ability to do what you can, or do you want to go place your capital with someone that’s going to do it for you? Right. So those are the two biggest pieces to, to that puzzle. Um, but I

[46:40] very much think that, you know, if, if you are in this season of like, for me, you know, as a W2 employee cubicle world state worker, you know, I wanted more and like, I wanted not just a monthly pay track. Like I wanted something more that I can like, just live this like abnormal life. Right. Not like the ones on Instagram, but like how I wanted to do it. Right. So, and I’m a rebel. I don’t want someone telling me, you know, what I can and can’t do. Um, but that’s, I think the biggest part is, you know, finding, you know, finding someone with that asset class and plugging yourself in. Right. And that’s the biggest thing is how you, how you can do this is, you know, go find, you know, community or someone that you resonate with. That’s only five places above you. Like, don’t go find a guru that charges you a million dollars, but it’s like, go find someone, plug yourself in and then, you know, go after it. Right. Like be relentless and it’s going to not feel great in the beginning, but it’s worth it. Um, and so that’s what I, you know, have very much done my whole entire life, um, to learn something, you know, and to do it exceptionally well is like,

[47:37] I don’t know all the answers, nor do I want to read about all the answers and go through YouTube university. I want to find someone that’s actually doing it and putting, you know, their mouths to that money and making it work. So yeah, that’s kind of like my little, you know, spill of kind of like what I’ve done and done faster. And I’m grateful now, like I put my house on the line. I did all these things when I was pregnant. Um, and you know, five years later, you know, built, being able to build up a self storage portfolio and get to live this life. Um, you know, I’m very grateful that I went all in, but it did not feel comfortable in the beginning. And my family questioned every single thing. They thought I was absolutely insane. So, um, sometimes you have to be a little bit insane in order to, you know, um, reap those benefits, but don’t, I just think my biggest part is you’re worth it. And if a 75, 80 year olds can run a self storage facility on a yellow pad piece of paper with tallies on their unit mix, um, and, and do in cashflow, like you can do it too, especially now with AI. Like that’s, I think the biggest part is don’t overcomplicate it. It, you know, keep things

[48:43] simple. And if you see, you know, some value to be had, um, and then you can operate it better than what’s currently going on, which a lot of baby boomers are moving out that way. Go, go out there and buy it and do it, take it down and make it happen. So that’s my thoughts. I love it. Um, and then you already mentioned 10 X is better than, uh, UX. What about, uh, do you have any other favorite books or fundamental books you think everybody should read right now? I am reading to, I actually have, I’m rereading them. It’s, um, 10 X is easier than two X. Um, and the other one that I’m reading is buy back your, your buy back your time by Dan Martell. And I think I’m rereading them this year because I feel like I get new things out of them, but I really think it’s a time where you’re like, cool, I don’t want to spin my wheels. And I feel a lot of us are just spinning our wheels, doing, doing things on routine or because they’re, you know, want to do X, Y, and Z because the other person next door is doing X, Y, and Z. And it’s like, no, how do you really want to do it? And how can we do it faster and smarter? So those are my favorite two books right now. And then just for a

[49:45] fun, I’m reading, um, it’s called the seven husbands. And so I guess, uh, it’s, it’s really, really good. It’s on like this, like high, um, book reader list. And it’s, it’s a fun, just like not work related book, but it’s so good. It’s like understanding this female based on all the seven husbands and the gossip. So definitely check it out. Erica always has to have a, uh, not, uh, intense book to a pleasure book. I agree. I’m all about it. Uh, yeah. So then finally, uh, where could people find you on social media, websites, et cetera, if they want to learn more? Yeah. So I I’m on Instagram at Brie dot the investor. So it’s just B R E E dot the investor. Um, I’m over there. That’s me. So definitely come say hi. I love when people like say hi, I can put like a face, you know, to who they are. And then, you know, I know I wanted to, um, give this just like to your listeners here, but, um, I wanted to give you guys like a playbook. So it’s a self storage, um, deal finding cheat sheet as well as a storage calculator. So if you guys do want that, um, you can either send me a DM on Instagram, um, just with the word playbook, or you can send

[50:55] it just as a text message to my business phone at nine one six five seven nine seven two zero nine. And just say, you know, Hey, I heard you on the real estate agent podcast, sorry, the real estate agent podcast, and I want the self storage playbook and I’ll send that right your way. Awesome. Um, well, thanks so much for being on the show. It’s been a lot of fun talking to you’ve given us a lots to think about last, a lot of good information. Again, if, if you are on the go, listening to this, definitely go to rei agent.com later, uh, to get the newsletter. So you can get this summarized. We do also have all the episodes as blogs, uh, so you can read them if you want, if you prefer, um, all the links would be on there as well. But, um, yeah, again, Bri, thank you so much for being on the show. Um, you’re, you’re motivating me. I want to start like calling some, uh, local self storage places. Yeah, let’s go. Let’s do it. Take care. Thank you so much.

[51:49] Thanks for listening to the REI agent. If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe to catch new shows every week, visit REI agent.com for more content until next time, keep building the life you want. All content in the show is not investment advice or mental health therapy. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.