The Latest Industry News

Some lawmakers in Idaho are unhappy with the state’s purchase of a self-storage facility last summer, and aim to pass legislation to end similar transactions.

A state-managed endowment trust overseen by the Department of Land paid $2.7 million in August to buy the 400-plus-unit Affordable Self Storage in a Boise suburb. The controversial purchase has been under fire by local business owners and self-storage professionals who questioned if a state-run commercial business could operate fairly.

Republican Rep. John Vander Woude told the House State Affairs Committee this week that the purchase was an inappropriate expansion of government into the private sector. Vander Woude’s proposal would require state-owned businesses using non-agricultural land be sold to private persons.

Shortly after the transaction, the national Self Storage Association (SSA) sent a letter to the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) and Idaho Department of Land Commissioners expressing concerns about the state competing with the private business sector. In the letter, SSA President and CEO Michael T. Scanlon Jr. stated that the purchase of the facility by the state creates an unfair competitive advantage over other local self-storage operators and requested that Idaho divest itself of the property.

The SSA received a response in November from George B. Bacon, director of the IDL. Bacon who said the state’s practice of purchasing and managing properties including office buildings and parking lots helps mitigate taxes for Idaho citizens and supports public schools and other institutions. He further said the states followed "a traditional investor path” in purchasing the self-storage facility and local citizens enjoy certain ancillary benefits generated by the trust, such as "hunting, fishing, hiking, berry picking,” and "limited camping and motorized activities."

Sources:

• KREM: Lawmaker Takes on Idaho Expansion Into Storage Biz

INDIANAPOLIS IN, February 18, 2011 – In a move that supports the company’s best-in-class service, and focus on insurance-based solutions for the self-storage industry, Jon Vogel was promoted to the position of National Sales Manager.

2010 was a year focused on partnership at Bader. At the center was Vogel pushing for change; challenging everyone to find a better solution - one that protects owners and their tenants, resulting in happier clients and increased revenue. Vogel is an innovator who is advancing the mission of the company.

"I want to understand your business and I want you to understand mine. It’s really that simple.” Vogel states, "I’ve got the best in the industry advising me, and an experienced team to make our products easier to offer, and better for your customers. This is about protecting your storage business with insurance, so that you can concentrate on your core business.”

The focus is on educating, integrating and making Bader programs better than ever. The company has been listening to industry leaders about licensing and the importance of the right program to protect owners and tenants

Having completed his fourth year with the company, Vogel has a proven track record in Bader’s storage division showing leadership and dedication to both the company and the clients. Vogel, a true rising star, has a background in financial services and property management consulting.

About Bader
Bader Company is a national leader in insurance-based solutions for self-storage, and a fully licensed provider of Tenant Insurance.

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CONTACT:

Molly Laut – Marketing Director

mlaut@BADERco.com

888-223-3726 ext 7016

NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bancap Self Storage Group

Sells Two Trophy Los Angeles County properties sell for $26 million

January 18, 2011: Bancap Self Storage Group, Inc., the "#1 Self Storage Broker in California,” recently announced that the firm had successfully brokered the sale of two trophy self storage properties located in Los Angeles County. The two properties were 405 Self Storage in the Hawthorne area of Los Angeles County and El Dorado Park Self Storage in Long Beach, California. Dean Keller, the firm's president, was the sole broker in the transaction. The seller was a local private party and the buyer was an affiliate of a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in self storage properties.

"This was a very rare opportunity to purchase two trophy quality properties in high density coastal L.A. County locations,” Keller said, "These are the types of properties that every self storage investor would love to own – great infill locations, strong markets, good occupancy and first class construction.”

The properties sold for a total price of $26,000,000 which represented an attractive capitalization rate on the current net operating income. The all cash transaction equaled nearly $150 per net rentable square foot.

405 Self Storage in Hawthorne contains just over 87,000 net rentable square feet of self storage space demised into approximately 770 units. El Dorado Park Self Storage in east Long Beach contains over 87,000 net rentable square feet demised into approximately 825 units.

"Other than a couple of portfolio transactions, there have been very few non-distressed self storage properties that have sold in Southern California this past year,” Keller explained, "Most owners think they cannot obtain a good price in today's market, but that just is not the case. We have several motivated buyers that are aggressively looking for stabilized facilities in good markets. The key for the seller is to hire a self storage broker with a proven track record of getting the highest and best price possible. Self storage is such a unique property type and it takes a very specific expertise with decades of experience to maximize value for sellers in this unique property niche.”

Bancap Self Storage Group is the "#1 Self Storage Broker in California” with over $900 million in completed self storage sales, including many lender-owned REO properties, numerous portfolio sales, and a record setting single property sale at over $31 million. For more information contact Bancap Self Storage Group at (949) 888-5355 or visit the company web site at https://cssaweb.site-ym.com/global_inc/editor_v5_1_0/2007/www.bancapselfstorage.com

Contact:

Dean Keller

Email: DKeller@BancapSelfStorage.com

Phone (949) 888-5355

Fax (949) 203-6105 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Temple, GA – January 4, 2011) Janus International has acquired the rolling steel manufacturing line from Windsor Republic Doors of Little Rock, Arkansas. The acquisition will allow Janus to now manufacture their Challenger medium duty rolling steel door (the Janus MD door) in Surprise, Arizona in addition to the headquarters location in Temple, Georgia. Certain guide configurations will also be offered that are similar in design to those of Windsor Republic Doors. "This acquisition further illustrates our strong standing in the rolling steel community,” states Janus President David Curtis. "Expanding our manufacturing locations and capabilities offers us greater range and service to our customers.”

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Janus International is a leading manufacturer of rolling doors for the self storage, commercial and industrial markets. Headquartered in Temple, GA, Janus has four U.S. facilities and joint ventures in the U.K. and Mexico. For more information on our products, visit http://www.janusintl.com/.

Contact:

Amy Fuhlman

Director of Marketing

J A N U S I N T E R N A T I O N A L

p. 770.562.2850

f. 770.562.1991

m. 404.787.8444

http://www.janusintl.com/

amyf@janusintl.com

Visit Janus on Facebook | Linkedin | Twitter

For Immediate Release

PhoneSmart

P.O. Box U

Columbia,, MO, 65203

866.639.1715

http://www.phone-smart.info/

The PhoneSmart Call Center and Off-Site Sales Force announces its tenth anniversary.

PhoneSmart's first employee, Director Tron Jordheim, arrived for his first day of work on December 1, 2000. Jordheim spent the first week learning about the self storage industry by observing and helping out at the Storage-Mart location on Rangeline Rd in Columbia, MO. On December 7^th, PhoneSmart took its first phone calls for the existing 12 store StorageMart portfolio. By December 15^th, PhoneSmart had hired current call center manager Dana Shields to work a day a week so Jordheim could have a day off.

PhoneSmart was founded as a brainstorm by the StorageMart executive team. They were planning on building StorageMart from a 12 store portfolio to a much larger portfolio. They had other friends in the business that had similar goals. It was clear that a call center would boost store revenue and asset value. With a commitment from two other operators to sign on as clients, StorageMart started the subsidiary based on the technology platform build-out developed by StorageMart's Chief Technical Officer, Monte Ellis.

PhoneSmart's original purpose was to capture phone calls missed by self storage and other rental properties' site staff and turn them into rentals by creating reservations, setting appointments and scheduling site tours. By February of 2001, PhoneSmart had not only begun taking on new clients from various other storage ownership groups, but also clients in the multi-family apartment field and the commercial real estate sector. The same goals and protocols put in place to serve as the sales back-up for self storage businesses applied beautifully to other real estate rental projects, too.

PhoneSmart now has served over 1,000 self storage, apartment and commercial real estate projects across North and Central America with call center and training services provided in English and Spanish. PhoneSmart has helped its clients create additional revenues estimated to be over 450 million dollars.

PhoneSmart's guiding principals were and still are to provide great service to its internal and external customers while making money hand over fist for its clients and its stakeholders. Although the recent economic challenges have caused margins to become razor thin for service providers, PhoneSmart's clients continue to experience returns on investment in the magnitude of seven to ten times revenue created to service fees paid. In order to accomplish this, PhoneSmart created and continues to develop a corporate culture based on great selling and customer service skills.

PhoneSmart is not an answering service with a price list; nor is it in business to take names and phone numbers. PhoneSmart sales reps are tasked with helping callers talk themselves into renting with the storage facilities or apartment communities they called. It has never been enough to just be friendly and helpful. PhoneSmart sales reps must be friendly and helpful while taking callers off the market by creating confirmed reservations, appointments and site tours. When others answering the phones for rental properties give up when a caller expresses some hesitation or reluctance to make a commitment, PhoneSmart sales reps go to work talking through the caller's needs and situation in order to help people realize the best course of action is to make a reservation or set an appointment with the location they are already expressing some interest in with their phone call.

PhoneSmart spends enormous amounts of time, energy, focus and resources in training, monitoring, coaching and retraining its sales reps. PhoneSmart has already re-invented and re-tooled its sales processes and protocols four times in its ten years in order to account for changing consumer behavior, developments in the real estate rental markets, and the challenges posed by ups and downs in the economies of various micro and macro economies in North and Central America.

PhoneSmart, as a sales and marketing organization, has experimented with, adopted, perfected, and even abandoned many tools and practices along the way. PhoneSmart was an early adopter of call recording, ad tracking, search engine marketing, chat support, e-learning and distance learning, email marketing, web based management systems, VOIP communications, mobile advertising and marketing, text campaigns, automated call services, event-based promotions, social media marketing, speech recognition systems and other interesting technologies and processes.

PhoneSmart continues to take all of its calls for apartment communities and self storage facilities in Columbia, MO, the seat of the main campus of the University of Missouri. PhoneSmart's director Tron Jordheim has become a leading figure in the self storage industry, sharing his insights and experiences as a presenter for conferences and seminars. More information about PhoneSmart can be found at http://www.phone-smart.info/. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Villa Rica, GA – November 17, 2010) The Latin America Self Storage Association has undergone foundational changes this year, announcing a new focus, a new board of directors and a newly launched website.

LASSA's goal is to support the Latin America operator/developer/vendor self storage market by providing information, education and a platform to share ideas and concerns. LASSA will strive to show the benefits of self-storage as an investment and how it benefits individuals (end-users) as well as promotes better practices within the industry. An inaugural expo is slated for November, 2011 in Panama.

The 2010-2011 Board of Directors is as follows:

Nancy Torres, President

Cristian Batres, Vice-President

Todd Levy, Treasurer

Lucia Darnell, Secretary

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LASSA, the Latin America Self Storage Association, is a member-based association of owners, operators, developers and vendors whose goal is to further the self storage market in Latin American-based countries from an educational, networking and legislative platform. For more information on the Association or membership, visit http://www.laselfstorage.org/.

Contact:

Nancy Torres

Janus International

770.880.4659

nancyt@janusintl.com

The California Self Storage Association and Kure It officially partner to reach their collective goal of $1 million for cancer research!

The California Self Storage Association and Kure It officially announced their partnership at the CSSA's 7th Annual Conference & Member Meeting which was held in San Diego, October 13-16. Our collective goal is to lead the Self Storage Industry in the charge to raise $1 million for research that results in progressive treatments and cures for cancer.

The CSSA and Kure It will be working together to promote "Store For The Kure" and "Round Up For Research" contribution programs, which are simple to implement programs aimed at raising money for cancer research involving both the owner/operator and tenants.

Members of the CSSA have already taken on an active role in raising money as was proven when Aaron Alsweiler of Storman Self Storage Software and winner of our annually gifted surfboard (donated by Greg Wells of Cushman & Wakefield) opted to support Kure It by offering up the board to the highest bidder. That bidder was Ray Tuohy of TNT Self Storage Management who bid $1,000 all of which went directly to Kure It for cancer research.

For more information on how to participate in "Store For The Kure" and "Round Up For Research" contribution programs please call Kellie Newcombe 949.428.7081

October 11, 2010

PRESS RELEASE

XPS Solutions and QuikStor Complete Integration

Richardson, TX – Sept. 20, 2010, - XPS Solutions, the pioneer in Call Center solutions for the Self Storage industry and QuikStor, Security and Software provider to the Self Storage industry announced today that their call center integration is complete.

"QuikStor customers have been asking us for call center integration and we are proud to announce that XPS has provided a full-featured service that delivers. Their customer service and reputation in the industry makes them an excellent choice, and when combined with QuikStor software this integration provides facilities with a great overall solution,” said Tony Gardner, Vice President of Operations for QuikStor.

XPS Solutions' state-of-the art Call Center will exchange real-time data with QuikStor. Their trained professionals will provide QuikStor customers with up-to-date prices, specials, and storage availability

1251 Sherman Street, Suite 101 | Richardson, TX 75081 | T: 877.XPSUSA1 | F: 972.783.6468 | XPSUSA.COM

. "Not only will this bring value added services, it also gives QuikStor customers the added convenience of making payments in a secure and live environment,” said Michael Roberts, Vice President of Business Development for XPS Solutions.

XPS Solutions provides best-in-class call management technology bundled with state-of-the-art web solutions. The XPS suite of products captures and tracks new leads, lead sources, and receives payment transactions through the use of call center, web platform, and IVR tools.

For more information contact Michael Roberts at Mroberts@XPSUSA.com or 877-XPSUSA1.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 30, 2010

Contact:

CSSA - Erin King

(562) 304-2864

SSA - Tim Dietz

703-575-8000

California Governor Signs Bill Amending State's Self Storage Lien Law

 

September 30, 2010 – Long Beach, CA and Alexandria, VA - The California Self Storage Association (CSSA) and the national Self Storage Association (SSA) are pleased to announce that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into legislation this week a bill amending the California self storage lien law. The legislation (AB 655) was championed by the CSSA with significant funding support from the SSA. The law addresses the "Declaration in Opposition” provision of the lien law resulting in a more cost-effective process and eliminating the number of baseless "declaration” scenarios. It also provides for a more reasonably-priced lien notification method. Storage operators will need to revise their current lien procedures by the law's January 1, 2011 effective date.

"We believe that the updates to the law will create a more efficient and cost effective process for operators and their tenants to communicate when customers have fallen behind in their rent,” says Shelley Geiler, president of the CSSA, board member of the SSA and a partner of SoCal Self Storage and SSA board member. "We could not have been successful in this endeavor without the joint effort of the national self storage association and the incredible support we received from our membership.”

Previously self storage lien circumstances where the "declaration” had been employed were settled in superior court creating a lengthy and expensive legal course of action. The new law enables self storage operators to resolve lien and auction disputes in small claims court. Taking into account the typical number of lien situations each year, the potential savings from the new process will be thousands of dollars for each facility and millions annually throughout the state. Also under the new law, verification of delivery of lien notices can be satisfied through certificate of mailing rather than certified mail, a much more costly method.

"We congratulate our partners of the California Self Storage Association for all of their hard work in streamlining that state's lien law,” said Michael T. Scanlon, Jr., president & CEO of the SSA. "The national SSA is working from state-to-state to modernize many of the lien laws so that they are fair to storage operators and take advantage of today's more efficient technologies.”

According to Jim McNamee, President of West Coast Self Storage and past president of the CSSA, "It was a lengthy three year battle for these common sense changes to become law; however it was well worth it. The passage of this bill is a win-win, and will save self storage operators and their customers time and money.”

About the California Self Storage Association

Founded in 2002, the California Self Storage Association (CSSA) is the state not-for-profit trade organization dedicated to serving the California self storage industry including owner-operators, facility managers and vendors in the industry. The CSSA represents some 380 direct member companies that own and operate over 800 facilities in California. CSSA direct members range from individual facility owner-operators to multiple-facility operations, to the industry's largest publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

About the Self Storage Association

Founded in 1975, the Self Storage Association (SSA) is the national not-for-profit trade organization serving the $22.4 billion (revenues) self storage industry including owner-operators, facility managers and vendors in the self storage industry. The SSA represents some 3,000 direct member companies and another 3,000 indirect member firms [via twenty-four (26) affiliated associations] that own and operate a total of some 20,000 facilities in the US, Canada and 16 other nations. SSA direct members range from individual facility owner-operators to multiple-facility operations, to the industry's largest publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). 

Summer is the most ideal time of year to perform repairs and routine maintenance to your parking lots.  The weather is warm, and rain is rare.  Once winter arrives, if needed repairs or maintenance are not made, excessive rain will always exacerbate issues and rapidly accelerate the deterioration of various asphalt/concrete areas. Now is a great time to evaluate any potential needs your properties may have in order to analyze the potential benefits of performing work prior to the winter months.

To our fellow CSSA colleagues, CAM Services is offering complimentary site surveys which include:

*Repair/maintenance recommendations
*Detailed repair diagram with corresponding photos
*Summarize any potential "high liability" areas/issues in an effort to help maximize asset life
*Review for ADA compliance, as we have a great depth of ADA experience

We are able to handle everything at your properties from the roof all the way to the curb.  If you're interested in a site survey or you think we can be of any assistance to you, please contact Nicole Taylor or our Marketing Manager, Gabriela Reyna, today.

We look forward to meeting you at the next CSSA event!

Phone: 800-576-3050
Email: info@CamServices.com