Tim Puffer – Self Storage Investor in Lansing, Michigan and Managing Member of Focus REI, who also has experience in the insurance and risk management industry, talks to Neil Henderson and Brittany Henderson, the hosts of The Road to Family Freedom podcast. Tim discusses how he transitioned from house hacking to investing in self-storage, how he learned and found financing, and what an average day in his life looks like to keep business running smoothly.
Post-Interview Analysis
- Key Lessons Learned: Just jump right in and learn while you go and be ok with pivoting if things aren’t right for you. Remember who your ideal type of tenants are.
- How did they acquire their knowledge or what knowledge did they need to acquire? A lot of what Tim learned was by doing and watching YouTube. He also took the Scott Meyers 3-day course.
- How much money did it take to get started? The storage facility cost $1.3 million and required 20% down, which came to putting about down $260,000. He didn’t discuss how much of that amount he specifically contributed.
- How much time does it take now? Tim’s wife manages the facility. Neil’s and Brittany’s guess is probably a few hours a day spread out over the course of a day.
- Could they do this strategy from anywhere in the world? Right now it is a little bit location dependent.
What you’ll learn about in this episode
- What was Tim Puffer’s a-ha moment about getting into real estate?
- What was the first piece of real estate that Tim bought?
- How much rehab did Tim have to do and what was the total cost?
- Did he buy that initial property cash or with financing?
- What lessons did he learn from his duplex investment?
- Is there anything Tim would do differently if he was starting all over again?
- Did he have any construction or handyman background before he started?
- How did Tim Puffer go from house-hacking to self-storage?
- How did he find his first self-storage deal?
- Tim gives a description of his self-storage property.
- What was involved in the financing of the self-storage facility?
- Did he have to raise any capital to cover rehab costs?
- Did his partner have any experience in self-storage?
- What was Tim’s experience with a recourse loan?
- Does TIm utilize onsight management or automated management?
- Does he rely on his website or does he use a kiosk?
- What does a day in the life of a self-storage investor look like?
- Does he think that he will go outside Michigan at some point?
- How long does he think he could be away from the facility and still have everything working smoothly?
- Is the facility open 24 hours?
- When he purchased it, was it stabilized?
- What advice would he have for a retired landlord?
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