Extra Space Storage

The answer is true.

Extra space storage ran 92.6% same store occupancy in Q4 2025, the highest of any major REIT per the report.

So occupancy is up.

Self-storage, we had a rough couple of years.

Drum roll, please.

My personal choice right now is Extra Space Storage.

And the ticker is EXR.

And what is the dividend that it's currently paying?

And in his feasibility study, he would always talk about, he suggests that you have a live-in apartment at the facility.

That was Steve's first job, also a former vice president of Extra Space back in the day and current feasibility guy.

But that was your first job.

You actually lived at a storage facility and managed the facility.

Ancillary revenue really could not be more important than it is today because, again, there's only so many things that you can do with a self-storage property.

So finding a creative way to get in there and make a little extra is just what's going to set your facility apart from someone else down the road.

So if you're able to utilize a couple extra spaces, or something that's high demand, do it.

If you're able to, you know, if you haven't already had tenant protection or tenant insurance, make sure you have that.

We went to Northwest Arkansas years ago now and no REITs were there at the time that we were there.

We actually partnered with Extra Space and have them be with our property manager there for four of our sites.

It's a great market.

I mean, the population growth is growing.

I looked up who had been successful in the industry, like who had had, who is really making the money.

And I realized that 70% of these things were owned by mom and pop owners, you know, individuals that owned one or two.

And 10% of the market was owned by Public Storage, Extra Space, and CubeSmart.

And I thought, okay, those are the big conglomerates, right? I was like, well, who are all these other people in the middle? And I'm like, there's a bunch of middle fish market players like Simply Self Storage, Life Storage, SureGuard.

That was the thing that jumped out to me and what we'll remember this earnings call or earnings seasons by.

But, you know, you got to also tip your cap to Extra Space, who had same store revenue growth, same store occupancy growth.

They had guidance lifted across the board.

It seemed like their earnings were the standout across the REITs.

And then, of course, LA, a lot of the results were not able to be reported for that market because the regulations, they will pause in July of this year.

So those were some of the things that stood out to me.

I was fascinated by Extra Space.

I think they showed a half a percent decrease in expenses, which you never hear of anymore right now, right? The story for the last few years not only has been the pressure on rates, which we've seen for the first time in the history of the industry, but it's also been the increase in expenses, whether it's property taxes, insurance in a lot of markets where it's going up.

Yeah.

An operator at the meetup shared this absolute horror story of renting a unit from Extra Space in California.

So they moved in at a promo rate of $87 a month.

Seems like a great deal.

The New York ruling, right?

Exactly.

The recent ruling in New York City where the attorney general actually cracked down on extra space storage for aggressive predatory rate hikes.

Which is massive.