Joe Downs: How you can Take Advantage of the Self Storage Investment Boom

Today, I welcome Joe Downs to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Joe is the Managing Partner of Belrose Self Storage Group, and today he shares how he built a rapidly growing national self-storage portfolio after a winding career that took him through broker-dealer equity raises, distressed debt, and multiple reinventions. He walks us through his unlikely path into self-storage, how he pivoted industries again and again, and why that resilience ultimately led him to one of the most profitable niches in commercial real estate.

Joe also breaks down the story of his very first storage deal - an overlooked 20,000-square-foot facility in Maryland that he and his partners transformed by reconfiguring units, tightening operations, and applying true hands-on management. In less than 20 months, they doubled the value of the property and sold to an institutional buyer, proving the power of the mom-and-pop opportunity and setting the foundation for the portfolio they operate today.

Later in the episode, Joe dives into the key criteria he uses when evaluating a storage acquisition: hyper-local supply and demand, population trends, competitive REIT behavior, and the demographic patterns that determine whether an operator thrives or fails. He explains why self-storage is still dominated by mom-and-pop owners, why the “silver tsunami” is creating unprecedented deal flow, and why creative financing - especially seller-financed transactions - remains one of the biggest advantages in this asset class.

With over a decade of experience across multiple real estate sectors, Joe distills the lessons, mistakes, and insights that any active or passive investor can use to identify strong opportunities and avoid costly missteps.

Welcome Joe, to The Investing Secrets Podcast…

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Looking to build lasting wealth through alternative investments? You’re in the right place.

If you’re new here, my name is Danny Gould. I’m the founder and CEO of Gould Capital, a private equity firm specializing in exclusive commercial real estate and other alternative investments. We connect investors with elite opportunities - investments that aren’t public, aren’t cookie-cutter, and most importantly, aren’t what your financial advisor is pitching.

Here’s how I got here…

1) Started as a pre-med student at Stanford University, but a lifelong dream of building the biggest hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip ignited my passion for real estate.
2) Transitioned to residential real estate, driving over a quarter billion dollars in sales, and became an industry leader in one of the most competitive markets in the world.
3) Decided to finally pursue my Hotel dreams and founded GMS Ventures alongside two experienced Hoteliers, with a total Hotel Portfolio Size of over $300M
4) Leveraged my expertise and relationships to build Gould Capital - which empowers investors to access transformative commercial real estate deals and alternative investments.

FULL DISCLOSURE
I create content to connect with ambitious investors - people who want to take control of their financial futures. If that’s you, let’s build something extraordinary together - I invite you to take the first step by connecting with me via a 20 minute Zoom Call.  Here’s my calendar: https://bit.ly/3rVfqwn