Overview of Making $29,000/Month from One “Boring” Property (1,000 Miles Away)
This episode of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Rookie Podcast features Bree Hartman, a rookie-turned-self-storage investor who went from an accidental single-family rental to a multi-million-dollar self-storage portfolio. Bree explains how she discovered self-storage while pregnant and working a full-time W-2, how she found off-market deals using Google Maps and cold calling, and how she structured creative financing to buy properties far from home with strong cash flow potential.
Bree’s Path Into Self-Storage
Bree didn’t start in real estate.
- She worked for Fish and Wildlife and later ran a gym / worked as a personal trainer.
- Her first rental was “accidental” — she rented out her primary residence after moving into a house across the street.
- The experience was difficult and expensive, including a major baseboard repair bill from a service dog and late-night tenant issues.
- While renovating and listening to podcasts, she heard about self-storage as a “simple” business:
- no toilets
- no tenants
- no employees
- fewer headaches than residential rentals
That idea stuck, and while she was about 10 weeks pregnant, she bought a ticket to a self-storage conference in Las Vegas and decided to go all in.
The First Big Deal: A $3.1M Self-Storage Facility in Louisiana
Bree’s first major self-storage acquisition was a leap, especially for someone based in California.
How she found it
- The first deal ultimately came through one of her partners, who found the facility via a wholesaler.
- Bree had met her partners at the conference and they decided to divide and conquer on deal sourcing.
- The group used an SBA loan, which allowed them to buy with relatively low down payment capital.
Deal structure
- Purchase price: $3.1 million
- Size: 55,000+ square feet
- Unit count: nearly 300 units
- Mix: roughly half climate-controlled, half drive-up
- Financing: SBA 504 loan
- 15% down
- long-term fixed portion plus a shorter adjustable portion
- 10-year prepayment penalty
Value-add plan
The property was underperforming and priced below market.
Bree and her team improved it by:
- raising rents toward market
- adding a website and tech stack
- adding 67 RV/boat spaces within the first eight months
- benefiting from a cell tower lease on-site
Outcome / plan
- They’ve raised rents significantly since purchase.
- Their longer-term plan is to:
- add another 40,000 square feet of climate-controlled storage
- stabilize occupancy
- potentially sell to a REIT
- use a 1031 exchange to roll into another storage deal
The Second Deal: Cold Calling and Seller Financing
Bree’s second major deal came from the strategy she’s become known for: cold calling mom-and-pop storage owners.
Her sourcing process
She looks for:
- third- and fourth-tier markets
- mom-and-pop owners
- facilities with no website or an outdated one
- businesses with weak digital presence on Google Maps
Her process:
- Open Google Maps and search for self-storage facilities
- Prioritize listings with no website or a poor website
- Cold call owners for about two hours a day
- Focus on building real conversations, not just making calls
Her cold-calling approach
Bree’s goal is to:
- ask if the owner would consider an offer
- learn how they bought the facility
- understand occupancy and motivation
- open the door to seller financing
A key part of her approach is to present a price range, similar to a “Kelly Blue Book” for storage, rather than pretending to know the exact number immediately.
The seller-financed purchase
- Purchase price: $500,000
- Down payment: 15% or $75,000
- Interest rate: 5.5%
- Balloon: 7 years
- Monthly payment to seller: about $2,200
- Exit goal: sell for around $1.2 million after value-add improvements
Value-add tactics
They improved this asset by:
- raising rents
- adding a website / tech stack
- adding cameras
- adding portable units
- improving operations and marketing
How Bree Chooses Markets
Bree uses what she calls a five-point market blueprint to keep the business simple and avoid oversupplied markets.
Her market criteria
She looks for:
- Population size between roughly 5,000 and 150,000
- Population growth
- Median income high enough to support storage rents
- Unsophisticated ownership with room to improve pricing and marketing
- Healthy supply and demand
- avoid markets with heavy discounting
- avoid places where facilities are constantly offering huge promotions
Why third- and fourth-tier markets?
- Less competition from large national operators
- More mom-and-pop ownership
- Easier to find under-managed facilities
- Better chance to force appreciation through operations
Self-Storage Operating Lessons
Bree emphasized that self-storage is attractive because it can be run lean.
Why she likes the asset class
- Low expense ratio: about 35%–42%
- Minimal day-to-day labor compared with multifamily or hospitality
- Can be managed remotely
- No resident turnover in the traditional sense
- Strong demand for “simple, boring” businesses
Operational model
Her portfolio uses:
- a boots-on-the-ground person for about 15 hours a week
- a call center for sales and customer support
- remote management systems
- gate codes, lock codes, QR codes, and online rental systems
Key Takeaways
1. You do not need to be an expert to start
Bree went from one accidental rental to commercial self-storage by learning as she went.
2. Creative financing can unlock deals
She used:
- SBA financing on the larger facility
- seller financing on the smaller facility
3. The best deals often come from unsophisticated owners
Owners with no website, poor online visibility, or outdated marketing are often easier to approach.
4. Relationships matter more than call volume
Bree stressed that meaningful conversations are better than high call counts.
5. Underwrite for both the present and the exit
She repeatedly framed deals around:
- what they’re worth today
- how much value can be forced
- what the eventual exit might look like
Practical Action Items for Rookie Investors
- Search Google Maps for local storage facilities with weak digital footprints.
- Build a target list of mom-and-pop operators in growth markets.
- Practice a simple cold-call script focused on curiosity, not pressure.
- Learn the basics of:
- unit mix
- occupancy
- revenue
- seller financing
- expense ratios
- Study SBA lending options for self-storage acquisitions.
- Think about storage as a business first, not just real estate.
Bree Hartman’s Free Resource and Contact
Bree shared a free storage calculator for listeners.
- Instagram: @bree.theinvestor
- To get her storage calculator, text “storage” and “BiggerPockets” to 916-579-7209
She encouraged listeners to become deal finders, buy good cash-flowing facilities, and use storage as a path to building wealth with fewer operational headaches than traditional rentals.