Unlocking the Hidden Potential: Why Self-Storage Units are the Lucrative Allowable Investment for Your Self-Directed IRA

Though we live in an increasingly mobile society, many Americans still haven’t adopted the desire to downsize their possessions to fit this transient lifestyle. That means storage space is at a premium, which opens up a potential investment opportunity for the savvy investor: storage units.

Self-storage offers many of the same attractive investment qualities that rentals, office buildings, and other properties offer, including passive income, tax advantages, and appreciation. Investment in self-storage is also made more attractive for many reasons that include:

• Many retirees downsize their homes during retirement but aren’t yet willing to part with a lifetime of possessions. Instead, they seek out additional storage space that their smaller homes can’t offer.
• Some neighborhood housing associations and new housing communities do not allow storage of vehicles like boats, RVs, or even multiple cars on the street outside homes.
• College students use storage space during summer vacation
• Businesses that have downsized and are working out of smaller office space require additional storage space.

Small distributors, start-ups without office space, or home-based businesses use storage space from which to operate their business because operating and development costs of storage units are much more affordable than apartment or retail space. These lower costs also make break-even occupancy ranges lower than other real estate investments.  

Also, if a storage unit operates on a month-to-month lease, investors can adjust rental rates to compensate for demand. To add further stability to the investment, demand for self-storage is not dependent on the economy. When the economy is booming, people tend to buy more things and thus need more storage. When the economy is slow, people downsize and seek cheaper storage alternatives for the belongings they’re not ready to get rid of.

Self-storage has the lowest default rate of all property types, but like any investment, investors must take time and due diligence to make sure that the storage unit is worth the investment. Well-run, modern self-storage in a good location is desirable to investors and provides a very liquid investment, while old industrial storage units without surveillance don’t command as much demand. As it continues to rise in popularity, self-storage could provide a tangible investment opportunity for you to invest your self-directed IRA in.

This is just one of many investment possibilities. That’s the beauty of a self-directed IRA. Since you self-direct your own IRA, you’re responsible for your own investments. We can’t tell you what to invest in or where to find available storage facilities. Self-direction is your choice, but we’re here to show you how to take advantage of self-directed retirement plans. Contact Mountain West to start investing with your self-directed IRA.